The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams by Philip and Carol Zaleski.

I got this book for Christmas, and I’ve been reading it, slowly, ever since then. The summaries and critical analysis of the various Inklings’ published works can be a bit dense at times, and I’ll have to admit that my eyes (and brain) glazed over when I came to the pages of explication about Owen Barfield’s “anthroposophy” and his related thoughts thereunto. You’d have to pay me money to read Barfield’s original writings or those of his mentor and guru, Rudolph Steiner. The informative analysis of Charles Williams’ novels and other writings, on the other hand, gave me some insight into which of his books I might like to delve into someday. And I’m always up for a re-hash and reminder about what’s good and lovely and valuable in the literary oeuvre of Lewis and Tolkien.

This book also rewarded me with some interesting tidbits of information about each of the Inklings, and I gained a new appreciation for Warnie, C.S. Lewis’s brother and lifelong companion. As an Inkling, Warnie was apparently the “de facto host, greeting new arrivals, taking hats and coats, serving drinks.” Warnie comes across in this book as his younger brother’s supporter, helper, and genial lifelong friend, despite Warnie’s struggle with alcoholism and recurring drinking bouts that placed him in the hospital repeatedly and drove Jack (C.S.) Lewis to prayer and to worry over Warnie’s health.

Charles Williams does not appear in the finest light in this foursome of literary lights. I really hadn’t read much about Williams, except as he related to C.S. Lewis’s life, and I haven’t read any of Charles Williams’ books. Now, I’m not sure I want to, although I may still try All Hallows Eve someday. However, Williams seems to me to have been slightly mad, deeply involved in occult practices, and not very honest with himself or with his fellow Inklings. And yet, they all, except perhaps for Tolkien, loved him. He is said to have brought to any gathering of the Inklings or any other group a brightness and volubility that enlivened the group and made the fellowship more exciting and vibrant than it ever was without him.

I am particularly interested in how a community of thinkers and writers and Christians like the Inklings can begin and coalesce in the first place. Can one create such a fellowship, or is it destined to only happen organically, similar to a good friendship? What are the pre-conditions for an Inkling-like small group? Or is trying to re-create such a group doomed to failure without the presence of such luminaries as C.S. Lewis and JRR Tolkien? And what was it that brought the Inklings to a close? Was it the death of Charles Williams? Or Joy Davidman’s intrusion into the life of Lewis, the group’s acknowledged leader? Or just old age and divergent paths? I’m not sure this book completely answers any of those questions of mine, but it does attempt to speak to many of them.

The Fellowship is a sympathetic but also critical treatment of the life and and works of the four most prominent and faithful of the Inklings, also touching on others who played a more minor role in the group’s brilliance and inspiration. Lewisiana and and the legacy of JRR Tolkien are certain to be with us for quite some time, and the influence of those two Inklings in particular cannot be overestimated. Both men have much to say to the twenty-first century reader, and any book that succeeds in illuminating their lives and the lives of those who influenced them is certainly worthwhile reading.