J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, the famed fantasy novelist and university professor, was a regular member of the Inklings. The group offered a listening hear and constructive feedback as he prepared his planned sequel to The Hobbit, which eventually came to be known as The Lord of the Rings.
For more information
Houghton Mifflin, 1977
J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter
First published shortly after Professor Tolkien’s death, Carpenter’s biography was authorized by the Tolkien estate, granting him full access to Tolkien’s papers along with interviews with family and friends.
Find it:
Urbana Theological Seminary Library
Your local library
Goodreads
Houghton Mifflin, 2002
J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century by Tom Shippey
Tom Shippey explores how Tolkien’s major and minor writings operate as a canon of literature, working together to reveal Tolkien’s distinctive understanding of myth, language, culture, and the nature of good and evil.
Find it:
Urbana Theological Seminary Library (forthcoming)
Your local library
Goodreads
Praeger, 2001
Women Among the Inklings: Gender, C. S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams
by Candice Fredrick, Sam McBride
This academic volume considers the place of women within the all-male Inklings group. The second chapter, “Women as Mythic Icons: Williams and Tolkien,” considers the similarities regarding women in the writings and thought of Charles Williams and J.R.R. Tolkien.
Find it:
Urbana Theological Seminary Library (forthcoming)
Your local library
Goodreads
C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)
Clive Staples “Jack” Lewis, who like Williams published in a wide variety of disciplines, was the driving force and organizer of the Inklings. Lewis read to the group drafts of his space trilogy, a collection of science fiction/fantasy novels depicting a cosmic war of good versus evil. Elwin Ransom, the series’ protagonist, might be thought of as a composite character of Tolkien and Williams.
For more information
Tyndale House, 2013
C.S. Lewis: A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet by Alister E. McGrath
From one prolific author, British academic, and Christian apologist to another, Alister McGrath offers an exciting new biography of Lewis that challenges the received understanding of the circumstances of Lewis’s conversion from atheism to Christianity.
Find it:
Urbana Theological Seminary Library (forthcoming)
Your local library
Goodreads
Wipf & Stock, 2008
The Longing for a Form: Essays on the Fiction of C.S. Lewis, edited by Peter J. Schakel
In the essay “That Hideous Strength: A Double Story,” Richard Purtill explores the relationship between C.S. Lewis’s science fiction novel, That Hideous Strength and the supernatural novels of Charles Williams.
Find it:
Urbana Theological Seminary Library
Your local library
Goodreads
Univ. of MA Press, 1992
Planets in Peril: A Critical Study of C.S. Lewis’s Ransom Trilogy by David C. Downing
Chapter six of this critical examination of C.S. Lewis’s science fiction trilogy is of interest for those looking to learn about the relationship of Williams and Lewis. Entitled “Models, Influences, and Echoes,” it details the influence of Charles Williams on Lewis’s thought and writing.
Find it:
Urbana Theological Seminary Library (forthcoming)
Your local library
Goodreads
References
J. A. W. Bennett, ‘Lewis, Clive Staples (1898–1963)’, rev. Emma Plaskitt, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy2.library.illinois.edu/view/article/34512, accessed 14 April 2014]
T. A. Shippey, ‘Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel (1892–1973)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy2.library.illinois.edu/view/article/31766, accessed 14 April 2014]
Book covers from Goodreads.com