The Novels of Charles Williams

by Charles Williams

" There is nothing else that is like them or that could take their place." - T. S. Eliot " I have just read your "Place of the Lion" and it is to me one of the major literary events of my life ... There are layers and layers-first the pleasure that any good fantasy gives then, what is rarely (tho' not so very rarely) combined with this, the pleasure of a real philosophical and theological thirdly, fourthly, what I neither expected nor desired, substantial edification." - C. S. Lewis "I want to make clear that these novels of Williams ... are, first of all, very good reading. To him [Williams] the supernatural was perfectly natural, and the natural was also supernatural. And this peculiarity gave him that profound insight into Good and Evil, into the heights of Heaven and the depths of Hell, which provides both the immediate thrill, and the permanent message of novels. Williams is telling us about a world of experience known to him ... he communicates this experience that he has had.
The Novels of Charles Williams is a collection of seven gripping novels. These "supernatural thrillers" are all set in the modern world but present human life as being controlled by unseen powers that operate at another level. In this respect, they are very similar to the Harry Potter series. The reader is shown that the supernatural is, in fact, perfectly natural, and exerts an influence on every aspect of our daily existence. On one level, these novels are gripping stories, but at another, they are a unique blend of fantasy, theology, morality and the supernatural which has not been surpassed, and which leave a deep impression on the reader. Charles Williams was physically frail and for financial reasons never attended university; however, he had a vivid imagination and an inquiring mind. He was always interested in books, and after school he started life packing books but rose to be a proof-reader and then an editor at Oxford University Press; he was appointed a lecturer at Oxford University, and was even awarded an honorary M.A. by the university. As an author he was very versatile, writing novels, plays, poetry, popular theology, and academic works on literature. He was one of the "Inklings", a group that included C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. One can see his influence on Lewis and Tolkien. Williams is most remembered for his novels which are collected in this omnibus edition. This edition contains the seven novels War in Heaven, Many Dimensions, The Place of the Lion, The Greater Trumps, Shadows of Ecstasy, Descent into Hell, and All Hallows' Eve, and also the short story, Et in Sempiternum Pereant, which features the protagonist of Many Dimensions.

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy

1090 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

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

[C.L. Francisco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charles Williams' fantasy novels are neither comforting nor easy to read, but they are fascinating in their exploration of alternate realms of spiritual reality. Some of them, particularly Shadows of Ecstasy (which uses emerging African nationalism as a major plot element) are definitely dated, but fascinating nonetheless. My favorite is probably Descent into Hell, which paints a horrific portrait of one man's slow slide into nothingness. But it also explores a fascinating variation on substitutionary love, in which, through prayer, one person takes on herself the pain another finds unbearable.

Running a close second for me is The Greater Trumps, a curious tale wrapped up in the mystery of the Tarot. But all his fantasy novels are well worth the read, even if you don't agree with his ideas.

My one criticism of his work is that he can pontificate at times. I don't care for my fiction to preach at me. But the pleasure of reading his books far outweighs this minor irritation.

[Susan Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm on a mini mission to read the 'other' Inklings' books (Tolkien's and Lewis's circle). Williams's work has been described as both fantasy and science fiction, but I'd call his books spiritual thrillers. (I found out that C.S. Lewis is in agreement with me - he called them 'spiritual shockers'.) His premises are based on various esoteric suppositions: the Holy Grail falls into enemy hands; King Solomon's crown, guarded for generations, contains a magical stone that enables the user to traverse time and space; the 'original' pack of tarot cards is linked to a set of mystical figures that appear to control the movement of the universe; Plato's ideal forms begin appearing in a garden in England, and threaten to draw our world into them. To me, there are a couple of reasons Williams is no longer popular. The writing is often uneven (for example, he diverges from the plot to go into philosophical expositions), and it's also based on the sort of Oxbridge classical education that far fewer people have nowadays unless they are particularly nerdy (cough, cough). Which is all to say, that parts of these books I loved, but parts left me feeling flat. This cheap kindle collection is a good way to give his works a go, but be warned - there are a lot of typos.
Update: I finished the final two books in this collection (Shadows of Ecstacy and Descent into Hell) and found them quite disturbing (I have a low threshold for supernatural horror content). Shadows of Ecstacy in particular still has me thinking - though the main premise is whether one can control life (and death) by controlling the passions, it told the story through the lens of racial and colonial issues, which threw an uncomfortable light on these issues in the present day.