The Novels of Charles Williams

by Thomas Howard

The fanciful novels of Charles Williams have long fascinated a rather elite reading public - T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, and C.S. Lewis, for example, were among his great admirers. But those books - which include 'The Place of the Lion' 'Descent into Hell' and 'All Hallows' Eve' - are also dense and perplexing, and even the writer's fondest devotees have found the meanings of his fiction elusive. Here at last is a clear and informed guide to the complexities and rich rewards of Charles Williams' novels. As Thomas Howard notes, Williams' tales might best be described as metaphysical thrillers, in which Williams used occult machinery in much the same way that Conrad used exotic locales and Joyce used the to vivify human experience and awaken readers to its range and possibilities. One tale might feature a chase for the Holy Grail across Hertfordshire fields, while in another the picture may switch with no apology at all from a policeman at a crossroad to the Byzantine Emperor. As Howard lucidly demonstrates, the controlling factor behind Williams' work is an essentially Christian worldview in which heaven and hell seem to lurk under every bush and the constant theme is order versus disintegration. Concentrating on Williams' novels, Howard brilliantly illuminates the major concerns that informed all of Williams' thinking. Howard also considers Williams' work in the context of modern fictional practice and assesses its place in the tradition of the English language novel.

Genres: Nonfiction, Literary Criticism, Biography, Christian, Literature

302 pages, Paperback

First published April 28, 1983

About the author

Thomas Howard (b. 1935) is a highly acclaimed writer and scholar.

He was raised in a prominent Evangelical home (his sister is well-known author and former missionary Elisabeth Elliot), became Episcopalian in his mid-twenties, then entered the Catholic Church in 1985, at the age of fifty. At the time, his conversion shocked many in evangelical circles, and was the subject of a feature article in the leading evangelical periodical Christianity Today.

Dave Armstrong writes of Howard: "He cites the influence of great Catholic writers such as Newman, Knox, Chesterton, Guardini, Ratzinger, Karl Adam, Louis Bouyer, and St. Augustine on his final decision. Howard's always stylistically-excellent prose is especially noteworthy for its emphasis on the sacramental, incarnational and ‘transcendent’ aspects of Christianity."

Like C.S. Lewis, who he greatly admires and has written about often, Howard is an English professor (recently retired, after nearly forty years of teaching), who taught at Gordon College and then at St. John's Seminary. He is a highly acclaimed writer and scholar, noted for his studies of Inklings C.S. Lewis Narnia Beyond: A Guide to the Fiction of C.S. Lewis (2006, 1987) and Charles Williams The Novels of Charles Williams (1991), as well as books including Christ the Tiger (1967), Chance or the Dance (1969), Hallowed be This House (1976), Evangelical is Not Enough (1984), If Your Mind Wanders at Mass (1995), On Being Catholic (1997), and The Secret of New York Revealed.

Reviews

[booklady · Rating 5 out of 5]

My friend, Julie reminded me about this very helpful reference for any reader of Charles Williams. It is arranged with an Into (about the author) and then chapters for each of the 7 novels.

Back in 2005, I read the sections about the author and 2 novels. Most of the information about the books is thematic and general in nature but does include plot explanatory material, extremely helpful when reading Williams, who most find difficult to follow.

Howard is upfront, even blunt about the vagueness and impenetrability of much of William's writing. But then his stories are usually about the intersection of past/present, thoughts/reality, this world/the next, among a cast of characters both alive and not, so reading him truly wants translation.

The Novels of Charles Williams is not meant to replace the actual reading of these novels, but to assist those wanting to fully understand and appreciate Williams' spiritual vision which can be so mystically obscure.

For myself, I would say this reference is positively essential to getting the full impact of Williams. Howard has confirmed suppositions, corrected wrong impressions and shed light on/in areas where Williams had completely lost me. Don't read Williams without it!

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really helpful guide to Williams's novels (out of date though it may be, as lots of new things have come to light about Williams's life, so take the biographical portion as a general sketch and rely on later scholarship that has access to more information about him). Howard writes engagingly and his fore- and back-matter are extremely helpful. The chapters on each novel are really a play-by-play of the chapters with a few excurses. Very helpful Williams is a master of imagery and idea but not exactly prose and character and all the other things that make novels good. Howard effectively argues for Williams's place in literary studies without trying to make Williams something he isn't. I would like to keep a copy of this in my library as a companion for my further adventures in Williams.

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just re-read the section about Charles Williams in Humphrey Carpenter's book "The Inklings: JRR Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams and their friends". (see https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... )

This book on Williams' novels is educational in its explanations of the very "thick" (often obscure) writings in Williams' novels. I have read several of Williams' novels, and this book was helpful. Try though I might, I do not find Williams writings that worthwhile.

Reading from Humphrey Carpenter's book (Part Two, Chapter 1 "CW"), I was reminded of Charles Williams' interest and pursuit of occult knowledge through the writings of A.E. Waite and membership in his Order of the Golden Dawn. Williams' expertise in the occult (Tarot cards, black and white magic, etc) shows up in his novels and poetry. His poems "Witchcraft" and "Antichrist" are interesting in showing up the "oppositeness" that Williams loved to focus on... not all on the "white" elements but also the "black" magical elements.

Having read this, I wonder if Dr. Howard has comments as to how these writings inform the novels of Charles Williams?

[Starcatbooks]

I remember this book well: at one point I had most of it memorized. As his Teaching Assistant at Gordon College in the mid 80s, I checked and fixed all the footnotes for this book.

[Jlnpeacock Peacock · Rating 5 out of 5]

A guide is often a very helpful person in understanding certain novels, mysteries, and life. As Dante had his guide in his travels, Mr. Howard was a generous leader in providing a path through some of the obscurities of Mr. Williams’ novels. I had no background for some and was appreciative of the additional information. Many times I was just too dense to see all the implications. I feel the need to reread the works now.

[Kron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible. Not only did the in-depth analyses illuminate Williams' dense writing but they made me want to read his works all over again.
Would recommend to anyone who wishes to get into Williams' novels.

[G. Salter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Howard takes a notoriously hard novelist to analyze and makes him accessible, showing the unique ideas that defined his novels.

[Jonathan Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the introduction, afterword and chapters 4-7.

More of a 'Reader's Guide' than a work of criticism, since it takes the texts entirely on their own valuation.

[Chris Zull · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've not actually read this whole book, but have completed the chapters on the novels of Williams' that I have to this point read (War in Heaven, Many Dimensions, The Place of the Lion, The Greater Trumps), and I feel that makes me qualified to give Howard's book a rating. Thomas Howard (a Catholic convert and brother to famous Evangelical Elisabeth Elliot) wrote his doctoral thesis on Charles Williams, which certainly makes him as qualified as anyone for the project he undertakes herein.

Fans of Charles Williams will not deny that his books can be frustratingly dense, his themes and allusions obscure, and his prose oddly structured. And yet, we find ourselves deriving significant enjoyment nonetheless. This is a credit to the stunning imagination of Williams, that we feel the desire (need?) to persevere through his more frustrating passages.

Howard does an excellent job in his introduction of laying out the major spiritual themes which all of Williams novels point back to, most significantly Substitution, Co-Inherence, The Way of Affimation, Submission, and Romantic Theology. Each chapter is devoted to one of Williams' seven novels, and does a good job of offering a concise and streamlined summary of the plot, and an analysis of the meaning behind the book's events and the characters' decisions. I found his chapter on Many Dimensions especially lucid and helpful.

Even Williams' more esteemed admirers, which included C.S. Lewis and T.S. Elliot, acknowledged the obscurity, density, and "oddness" of his novels. No amount of scholarly analysis can completely unlock the mysteries of these stunning novels; T.S. Elliot said once that "What Williams had to say was perhaps too large for any one genre to contain, he had to flit about it like a hummingbird..." (that may be a minor paraphrase, I am working from memory; the gist remains intact). And yet for some readers, myself included, we find our frustration outweighed by the pleasures we are able to derive. Thomas Howard probably does about as good a job as can be done explaining these books.

[Rhonda]

Back in the late '80's I read all Williams' novels that Eerdmans reprinted a few years earlier. Now I'm trying to re-read them and then read Howard's chapter on that novel. I think Howard goes a little too easy on Williams for the train wreck that was Shadows of Ecstasy, which was his first novel. I'll update with good quotes as I go along; I finished The Place of the Lion and Descent Into Hell on vacation, so those are next.

[Andrew Stout · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very helpful in elucidating Williams' fascinating obscurity. I think that Howard tries too hard to downplay Williams' fascination with the occult, almost to the point of denying that he had any interest in it at all. This is clearly not true, made all the more evident by the number of times that Howard finds it necessary to address the issue.

[Gil Gilliam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic resource for those wanting to begin to understand all the themes and messages within his novels. I'm headed to step 3 of the 3 step process: 1. Read novel 2. Read chapter about novel in this book 3. Re-read novel