A Charles Williams Reader

by Charles Williams

This reader brings together three of Charles Williams’s best-known novels—Descent into Hell, Many Dimensions, and War in Heaven. These powerful stories represent the high point of Charles Williams’s genius and illustrate the mystically and theologically oriented themes so characteristic of his work. Whether read independently or as a loose trilogy, each of these psychological thrillers explores our very real relation to the supernatural world lying just behind the appearances of daily life. The first selection, Descent into Hell (1937), is arguably Charles Williams’s greatest novel. It is a multidimensional story about people who close themselves in with self-centeredness until they are no longer able to love. The result is hell on earth. Many Dimensions (1931) offers a haunting look at the evil that penetrates the human heart. Replete with rich religious imagery, this tale explores the nature of predestination and free will and the ends to which they lead. In War in Heaven (1930), Charles Williams gives a contemporary setting to the traditional story of the search for the Holy Grail. This eerily disturbing work takes readers on a Bunyanesque journey through the shadowy places of the human mind. Now available for the first time in a single volume, these three classic novels by one of the masters of religious fiction are sure to delight a new generation of readers.

Genres: Classics, Fiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Please see: Charles Williams


Charles Walter Stansby Williams is probably best known, to those who have heard of him, as a leading member (albeit for a short time) of the Oxford literary group, the "Inklings", whose chief figures were C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. He was, however, a figure of enormous interest in his own right: a prolific author of plays, fantasy novels (strikingly different in kind from those of his friends), poetry, theology, biography and criticism. — the Charles Williams Society website

Reviews

[Vickijean Hartley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am surprised by how few people are familiar with the works of Charles Williams. His combination of the spiritual and the supernatural is unsurpassed. With the current popularity of mystical fiction, Williams deserves a look, especially from Christians. One of the things that makes his work so compelling is that sense of "battles in heaven" as we go about our everday lives. These books may be a bit intense for some people, certainly eerie, but if you like a Christian view of the supernatural, Williams is for you.

[Winnie Thornton · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Descent into Hell" (my favorite), "Many Dimensions" and "War in Heaven" all in one book. One of the best things about Williams is his ability to describe preternatural stuff (the stuff that special effects would take care of in movies today) with clarity, elegance and power. That, and his knack for capturing the conversation and odd quirks of real people.

[Cheryl Okimoto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Williams is not for the fainthearted, but he is very interesting for anyone who likes books that challenge one's thinking. Some of the things that make reading this book challenging is that it was written almost a hundred years ago and in the UK, so the way he rights and some of the idioms he uses are not familiar to today's readers; he sometimes uses Latin phrases or refers to rituals of the Church of England; his subject matter is very spiritual, in his "world" there is a very thin veil, no, not even a veil, more of a mist, between the spiritual and physical worlds, and it's easily, even accidentally crossed over. I'm not sure I like all his literary devices, but the overall stories are greater than the sum of their parts. After finishing this book, I am challenged to examine my life and wonder if I am as much like the Archdeacon in "War" as I would like to be.

[Dusan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is surprising how few people know of and have read Charles Williams. Being the third person in Inklings (with JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis) he was the oldest and died before turning 60. His complex spiritual stories appeal less to broader readership than the Ring or Narnia. Still he is the one that, in my humble opinion, brings together the broadness of Christian spirituality of Lewis, with darkness of Tolkien's storylines. He remained solidly adult writer.. not that I am saying that the Chronicles of Narnia or Lord of the Rings are compromise to the audiences... still..