Download or read book Charles Williams written by Grevel Lindop and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015-10-29 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first full biography of Charles Williams (1886-1945), an extraordinary and controversial figure who was a central member of the Inklings—the group of Oxford writers that included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Charles Williams—novelist, poet, theologian, magician and guru—was the strangest, most multi-talented, and most controversial member of the group. He was a pioneering fantasy writer, who still has a cult following. C.S. Lewis thought his poems on King Arthur and the Holy Grail were among the best poetry of the twentieth century for 'the soaring and gorgeous novelty of their technique, and their profound wisdom'. But Williams was full of contradictions. An influential theologian, Williams was also deeply involved in the occult, experimenting extensively with magic, practising erotically-tinged rituals, and acquiring a following of devoted disciples. Membership of the Inklings, whom he joined at the outbreak of the Second World War, was only the final phase in a remarkable career. From a poor background in working-class London, Charles Williams rose to become an influential publisher, a successful dramatist, and an innovative literary critic. His friends and admirers included T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, Dylan Thomas, and the young Philip Larkin. A charismatic personality, he held left-wing political views, and believed that the Christian churches had dangerously undervalued sexuality. To redress the balance, he developed a 'Romantic Theology', aiming at an approach to God through sexual love. He became the most admired lecturer in wartime Oxford, influencing a generation of young writers before dying suddenly at the height of his powers. This biography draws on a wealth of documents, letters and private papers, many never before opened to researchers, and on more than twenty interviews with people who knew Williams. It vividly recreates the bizarre and dramatic life of this strange, uneasy genius, of whom Eliot wrote, 'For him there was no frontier between the material and the spiritual world.'
Download or read book Descent into Hell written by Charles Williams and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2015-02-17 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this provocative, classic metaphysical thriller, a group of suburban amateur actors plagued by personal demons and terrors explore the pathways to heaven and hell Certain inhabitants of Battle Hill, a small community on the outskirts of London, are preparing to mount a new play by the neighborhood’s most illustrious resident, the writer Peter Stanhope. Each actor struggles with self-absorption, doubt, fear, and sin. But “the Hill” is not like other places. Here the past and present intermingle, ghosts walk among the living, and reality is often clouded by dreams and the dark fantastic. For young Pauline Anstruther, who is caring for an aging grandmother and frightened by the specter of a doppelgänger who gets closer with each visitation, the prospect of heaven exists in the renowned playwright’s willingness to bear the burden of her terror. For eminent historian Lawrence Wentworth, the rejection of his desire pulls him deeper inside himself, leaving him vulnerable to the lure of the succubus and opening wide the entrance to hell. A brilliant theological thriller, Descent into Hell is an extraordinary fictional meditation on sin and personal salvation by one of the twentieth century’s most original and provocative literary artists. Charles Williams, a member of the Inklings alongside fellow Oxfordians C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Owen Barfield, has written a powerful work at once profoundly disturbing and gloriously uplifting, an ingenious amalgam of metaphysics, religious thought, and darkest fantasy.
Download or read book The Greater Trumps written by Charles Williams and published by Read Books Ltd. This book was released on 2019-05-01 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1932, “The Greater Trumps” is a novel by British writer Charles W. S. Williams. At its heart, it is a story of how to use the original Tarot cards to divine the meaning of all cosmic processes, illustrated throughout with beautiful images of a deck of Tarot cards originally designed by the French engraver and map-maker Claude Bardel in 1751. Charles Walter Stansby Williams (1886 – 1945) was a British theologian, novelist, poet, playwright, and literary critic. He was also a member of the “The Inklings”, a literary discussion group connected to the University of Oxford, England. They were exclusively literary enthusiasts who championed the merit of narrative in fiction and concentrated on writing fantasy. He was given an scholarship to University College London, but was forced to leave in 1904 because he couldn't afford the tuition fees. Other notable works by this author include: “The Greater Trumps” (1932), “War in Heaven” (1930), and “The Place of the Lion” (1931). This volume is highly recommended for lovers of fantasy fiction, and it would make for a fantastic addition to any collection. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with the original text and artwork.
Download or read book The Place of the Lion written by Charles Williams and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2015-02-17 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One man must save the human race from total destruction when a small British village is invaded by a terrifying host of archetypal creatures released from the spiritual world In the small English town of Smetham on the outskirts of London, a wall separating two worlds has broken down. The meddling and meditations of a local mage, Mr. Berringer, has caused a rift in the barrier between the corporeal and the spiritual, and now all hell has broken loose. Strange creatures are descending on Smethem—terrifying supernatural archetypes wreaking wholesale havoc, destruction, and death. Some residents, like the evil, power-hungry Mr. Foster, welcome the horrific onslaught. Others, like the cool and intellectual Damaris, refuse to accept what her eyes and heart tell her until it is far too late. Only a student named Anthony, emboldened by his unwavering love for Damaris, has the courage to face the horror head on. But if he alone cannot somehow restore balance to the worlds, all of humankind will surely perish in the impending apocalypse. An extraordinary metaphysical fantasy firmly based in Platonic ideals, The Place of the Lion is a masterful blending of action and thought by arguably the most provocative of the University of Oxford’s renowned Inklings—the society of writers in the 1930s that included such notables as C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Owen Barfield. With unparalleled imagination, literary skill, and intelligence, the remarkable Charles Williams has created a truly unique thriller, a tour de force of the fantastic that masterfully engages the mind, heart, and spirit.
Download or read book War in Heaven written by Charles Williams and published by . This book was released on 2021-02-16 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Williams gives a contemporary setting to the traditional story of the Search for the Holy Grail. Examining the distinction between magic and religion, War in Heaven is an eerily disturbing book, one that graphically portrays a metaphysical journey filled with marvels and black magic, God and the Devil. "The telephone was ringing wildly," begins War in Heaven, "but without result, since there was no-one in the room but the corpse." From this abrupt - and darkly humorous - start, Williams takes us on a 20th-century version of the Grail quest, with an Archdeacon, a Duke, and an editor playing the old Arthurian roles. Throughout, Williams reminds us that these legends were above all about divine, not just human, romance.
Download or read book The Novels of Charles Williams written by Thomas Howard and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2004-09-14 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fanciful novels of Charles Williams have long fascinated a rather elite reading public - T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, and C.S. Lewis, for example, were among his great admirers. But those books - which include 'The Place of the Lion', 'Descent into Hell', and 'All Hallows' Eve' - are also dense and perplexing, and even the writer's fondest devotees have found the meanings of his fiction elusive. Here at last is a clear and informed guide to the complexities and rich rewards of Charles Williams' novels. As Thomas Howard notes, Williams' tales might best be described as metaphysical thrillers, in which Williams used occult machinery in much the same way that Conrad used exotic locales and Joyce used the subconscious: to vivify human experience and awaken readers to its range and possibilities. One tale might feature a chase for the Holy Grail across Hertfordshire fields, while in another the picture may switch with no apology at all from a policeman at a crossroad to the Byzantine Emperor. As Howard lucidly demonstrates, the controlling factor behind Williams' work is an essentially Christian worldview in which heaven and hell seem to lurk under every bush and the constant theme is order versus disintegration. Concentrating on Williams' novels, Howard brilliantly illuminates the major concerns that informed all of Williams' thinking. Howard also considers Williams' work in the context of modern fictional practice and assesses its place in the tradition of the English language novel.
Download or read book The Descent of the Dove written by Charles Williams and published by . This book was released on 2016-01-01 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles Williams was a writer of unusual genius. He had an ability to make theological matters not merely interesting to the lay person; but to make them appear, what they in fact are, matters of Life and Death.
Download or read book The Hot Spot written by Charles Williams and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2012-09-18 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A small Texas town heats up as a drifter turns to crime in this “ingeniously plotted” tale of guilt, greed, and lust that inspired the Dennis Hopper film (The New York Times). In a town so small that Main Street is only three blocks long, there isn’t a lot to do—other than work, ogle women, and think about fast ways to get rich. After a year of aimless wandering, Madox has landed here, nearly broke and with no prospects but a dead-end job selling cars to yokels. Until one afternoon a fire at the burger joint draws the attention of everyone in town—including the men who are supposed to be guarding the bank. It’s almost too good to be true, but there it is—$15,000 lying around, watched by no one. Now all Madox needs is a little nerve and a second distraction. And while one woman will give him the nerve, another will make him ready to kill.
Download or read book Charles Williams written by Alice Mary Hadfield and published by New York : Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1983 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A biography of the British editor, critic, poet, novelist, dramatist, and theologian describes his influence on Auden, Lewis, Sayers, Eliot, and Tolkien".
Download or read book The Novels of Charles Williams written by Charles Williams and published by Benediction Classics. This book was released on 2020-09 with total page 1090 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Novels of Charles Williams" is a collection of seven gripping novels. They have inspired C. S. Lewis and numerous other writers of fantasy.
Download or read book And the Deep Blue Sea written by Charles Williams and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2012-09-18 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Edgar Award Finalist: A sailor stranded in the Pacific Ocean finds there are a million ways to die His life in pieces, Harry Goddard buys a thirty-two-foot sloop and sets out to sail the Pacific. He is a thousand miles from anywhere when his craft strikes an unseen object, and begins taking water. For all his desperate efforts, he cannot save her, and Harry is forced into his life raft, to drift without food, water, or shelter from the sun. He is near death when the Leander rescues him. But by the time his trip is over, he’ll wish he’d taken his chances in the open water. A tramp freighter sailing under the Panamanian flag, the Leander is en route to the Philippines when its crew spots Harry and takes him aboard. But as he regains his strength, Harry uncovers a murderous conspiracy that could destroy the ship that saved him.
Download or read book Esotericism and Narrative The Occult Fiction of Charles Williams written by Aren Roukema and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-05-29 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Esotericism and Narrative: The Occult Fiction of Charles Williams situates the life and fiction of the Inkling Charles Williams in the network of modern occultism, with special focus on his initiatory experiences in A.E. Waite’s Fellowship of the Rosy Cross. Aren Roukema evaluates fictional projections of magic, kabbalah, alchemy and ritual experience in Williams’s seven novels of supernatural fantasy. From this specific analysis, he develops more broadly applicable approaches to the serious expression of religious experience in fiction. Roukema shows that esoteric knowledge has frequently been blurred into fiction because of its inherent narrativity and adaptability, particularly by authors already attracted to the syncretism, multivalence and lived fantasy of the modern occult experience.
Download or read book All Hallows Eve written by Charles Williams and published by . This book was released on 2020-01-15 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles Williams had a genius for choosing strange and exciting themes for his novels and making them believable and profoundly suggestive of spiritual truths. All Hallows' Eve is the story of a man and woman whose love was so great it could bridge the gap of death; of evil so terrible as to be unmentionable, of a vision so beautiful it must be true.
Download or read book Man on the Run written by Charles Williams and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2013-01-15 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pursued by the police, a desperate man fights to stay free—and stay aliveDIV It’s raining hard when the man leaps off the train. He lands safely and creeps into town, praying he will find someplace to hide. It’s nearly daylight, and the police are not far behind. He breaks into an unoccupied seaside cottage, and is overjoyed to find coffee, whiskey, and cigarettes. But before the fugitive can relax, the doorknob rattles. The police are at the door./divDIV /divDIVRussell Foley, third mate on an oil tanker, is not a cop killer. But the night before he got into a fight with a police detective, and a few hours later the cop was found stabbed to death. Unable to explain himself, he bolts, hoping to evade the police and somehow find the real killer. But for a man who cannot stop running, justice can be a hard thing to find./div
Download or read book The Concrete Flamingo written by Charles Williams and published by Overamstel Uitgevers. This book was released on 2012-09-18 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A beautiful fraudster gives a drifter a chance at an irresistible score Jerry Forbes, on the run in Fort Lauderdale, is careful not to tell Marian Forsyth his real name. But Marian already knows his secrets. She’s been following him since Miami Beach, fascinated by this handsome drifter since the first time she heard his voice. Finally she tells him the truth: Together, they’re going to steal a fortune from a rich sap named Harris Chapman. The plan is simple—all they have to do is ask. Marian chose Jerry because he could be Chapman’s double. With a little coaching, he’ll be able to walk into the rich man’s bank and take whatever he likes. But it’s not long before the plan gets complicated, and Jerry is smart enough to know that when a heist turns sour, it’s not the women who die.
Download or read book The The Angels of L19 written by Jonathan Walker and published by . This book was released on 2021-08-19 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Place of the Lion written by Charles Williams and published by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. This book was released on 1951 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A story of good vs. evil, chaos vs. order which unfolds into real suspense and supernatural conflict.
