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| The Inklings: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Their Friends | |
|---|---|
| Publication Information | |
| Author | Humphrey Carpenter |
| Publisher | George Allen and Unwin (UK) Houghton Mifflin (US) |
| Released | October 1978 (UK) 1979 (US) |
| Format | Hardcover; paperback |
| Pages | 287 |
| ISBN | 0048090115 |
| Preceded by | The Silmarillion {1977) |
| Followed by | Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien (1979) |
The Inklings: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Their Friends is a biography book by Humphrey Carpenter, originally published in 1978. This book is an account of the Inklings, a literary discussion group associated with the University of Oxford, of which J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams were some of its prominent members.
It includes a large number of previously unpublished extracts from letters and other writings by J.R.R. Tolkien, including a poem to Charles Williams. Also includes a reproduction of a note to Dr. Warfield M. Firor from the Inklings, to which Tolkien added his name and a potted four line biography.
Contents
- Part One
- "Oh for the people who speak one's own language"
- "What? You too?"
- Mythopoeia
- "The sort of thing a man might say"
- Part Two
- C.W.
- "A tremendous flow of words"
- Part Three
- "They are good for my mind"
- "We had nothing to say to one another"
- Thursday evenings
- "A fox that isn't there"
- "Hwart! we Inclinga"
- Part Four
- "No one turned up"
- Till We Have Faces
- Appendices
- A. Biographical notes
- B. Bibliography
- C. Sources of quotations
- D. Acknowledgements
From the publisher
Critically acclaimed, award-winning biography of CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien and the brilliant group of writers to come out of Oxford during the Second World War.
C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and their friends were a regular feature of the Oxford scenery in the years during and after the Second World War. They drank beer on Tuesdays at the ‘Bird and Baby’, and on Thursday nights they met in Lewis’ Magdalen College rooms to read aloud from the books they were writing; jokingly they called themselves ‘The Inklings’.
C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien first introduced The Screwtape Letters and The Lord of the Rings to an audience in this company and Charles Williams, poet and writer of supernatural thrillers, was another prominent member of the group.
Humphrey Carpenter, who wrote the acclaimed biography of J.R.R. Tolkien, draws upon unpublished letters and diaries, to which he was given special access, in this engrossing story.
Publication history and gallery
- UK editions
-
1978 hardcover
-
1981 paperback
-
1997 paperback
-
2006 paperback
-
2024 paperback
- George Allen and Unwin hardcover (1978), pp. 287. ISBN 0048090115
- Unwin Paperbacks paperback (1981), ISBN 0048090131
- HarperCollins paperback (1997), ISBN 0261103474
- HarperCollins paperback (2006), ISBN 0007748698
- 2006 paperback edition, ?th impression (2024)
See also