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Introduction: The Inklings
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16954 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
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4 / 1990 |
598 Words |
| Author
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Carson Daly
Carson Daly is a former professor of English literature who
taught a course on the Inklings at the University of Notre
Dame. |
A genius for friendship is a gift that great men frequently lack, but it was a talent that C.S. Lewis possessed to an extraordinary degree. A brilliant scholar, critic, novelist, essayist, writer of children's books, and Christian apologist, he was always on the lookout for like-minded men whose wit, erudition, and virtue could rival his own.
In this search he did not go unrewarded. At Oxford, Lewis discovered a large, if select, circle of men who shared his interests and talent, but who also recognized his brilliance and appreciated his gift for fostering lifelong friendship. For them "Jack" (as they called him) was simply the "unforgettable friend," a description that runs like a leitmotiv through reminiscences about Lewis by those who knew him well.
Indeed, it was his remarkable talent for friendship that enabled him to found the Inklings, a distinguished group of dons, writers, critics, theologians, and humanists who met weekly to read their unpublished work aloud to each other.
Beginning in about 1933, Lewis and several other Oxford scholars began meeting at the Eagle and Child pub (rechristened the Bird and the Baby by them) for Tuesday morning readings and critiques of each other's work. Later, from 1940 to 1949 or so, the Inklings often also met Thursday evenings after dinner in Lewis' rooms at Magdalen College. At such gatherings, J.R.R. Tolkien first read his epic fantasy, The Lord of the Rings; Lewis unveiled Perelandra, the second of his fascinating "space trilogy"; and Charles Williams treated fellow members to a recitation of his spiritual thriller, All Hallows'
... (1939 of 3610 Characters)
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