Carol Zaleski and Philip Zaleski, The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings (2015)
Love them or hate them — and there are large camps on both sides — it’s undeniable that CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien have had a huge impact on the imaginative landscape of the last century. Where did their tales of planetary travel, magical wardrobes, sinister rings, and elves, dwarves and hobbits come from? What were the sources of their Christian faith, and how was it expressed in their fiction and nonfiction? What do they still have to say to us in today’s post-modern, highly secular world?
To understand the Tolkien/Lewis phenomenon, it’s vital to see them in their context of friends, fellow academics, and colleagues, particularly the circle known as The Inklings, a semi-informal writers’ group that saw the genesis of many of their most important works. Two lesser-known members of the group, Owen Barfield and Charles Williams, played crucial roles in its development, and particularly influenced Lewis as intellectual foils and sparring partners. In The Fellowship, Philip Zaleski and Carol Zaleski explore the extraordinary creative ferment of the Inklings with zest, lucidity, and intelligence.
The Zaleskis are clearly in the friendly camp, but avoid idolizing their subjects excessively, bringing in some of their less savory sides while ultimately refraining from passing judgment. (Lewis lived for many years with a married older woman; the angelic Williams had a taste for sadism.) They adroitly juggle the stories of the four men and their overlapping paths toward Oxford, painting a fascinating picture of the flowering of a literary circle within the turbulent years of a world at war. Even in a book whose main section exceeds 500 pages, it’s not possible to exhaustively cover each life; some personal details are glossed over, the emphasis being on their “literary lives” as the subtitle states. But in general a fine balance is struck between the private and public sides of the Inklings, and much light is shed on the sources and reverberations of their work.
For any avid reader of any of these four writers, this is an essential and highly enjoyable book. Even those who disdain Lewis’s popular Christian apologetics or Tolkien’s Hobbit epic may, the Zaleskis hope, “come to see that Tolkien, Lewis, Barfield, Williams, and their associates, by returning to the fundamentals of story and exploring its relation to faith, transcendence, and hope, have renewed a current that runs through the heart of Western literature.” That’s my hope, too, and my reason for continuing to hold these four writers as touchstones for my literary life.
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The Emerald City Book Review Archive 
I struggled with and gave up on Williams’ Arthurian poetry, though I did read some of his essays in The Image of the City and, in particular, his modern grail-themed novel, War in Heaven (though I stalled on The Greater Trumps, another esoteric novel from the 30s). I particularly like the assessment Lewis gave of him (“He is writing that sort of book in which we begin by saying, let us suppose that this everyday world were at some one point invaded by the marvellous.”) as I like to think that most good writers would take this approach.
Owen Barfield I know nothing about; no doubt this study would be the one to enlighten me!
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I think I read all of the “esoteric” novels though something about them didn’t sit well with me. Now that I know more about Williams’s personal life I would certainly read them in a different light.
I highly recommend Barfield’s book History in English Words — I believe it’s still in print. I have not read any of his more philosophical works but his study of Coleridge is very highly regarded.
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Thanks for the Barfield recommendations, Lory; as for the esoteric Williams novels, I found them a little unsavoury in a way, but couldn’t quite put my finger on how or why.
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This sounds so interesting. I tend to like to dig into the intellectual roots of writers and of books.
I had not previously hear of Barfield or Williams. I really love Tolkien and I think Lewis was a worthy intellect whose books are worth reading. I think that I would like this book.
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I do too, Brian! It was so interesting to read not just about the four writers in isolation, but about all the strands interweaving them.
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Although I am not familiar with the work of Barfield or Williams, this looks like a fascinating read. My husband would love this book as he enjoys reading the work of Tolkien and Lewis. Thanks for this review!
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I’m very glad to help spread the word to lovers of Lewis and Tolkien, in particular. Williams and Barfield are very interesting characters, as well.
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I like that the authors include all four men, and not just one. This sounds like a really interesting book; I’ve been a C.S. Lewis fan for a long time. It’ll be fun to see him in context with these other writers.
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It’s both fun and enlightening.
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I’ll have to read this!
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I do hope you will!
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Lewis and Tolkien are two of my favourite authors. This sounds like a fascinating read. I will have to make a note of it.
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If you enjoy biographies of your favorite authors at all, this is really a must.
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What a great review, Lory! I do enjoy a good literary biography now and again, and I’ve had my eye on this for a couple of weeks now. I’d particularly like to learn more about the other two Inklings, about whom I know virtually nothing. I’ve got collections of letters of Tolkien and CS Lewis (the Tolkien letters are a selection, and an awfully good one!), so I feel I do at least know a bit about those two, in addition to having read their lovely books.
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There are a lot of pieces to put together with such a group biography, but the Zaleskis do it very well.
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I love Tolkien and Lewis, so this sounds like a fascinating read to me! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it 🙂
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I hope you’ll read it and let us know what you think.
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