Literary Birthday – 20 September – Charles Williams

Charles Williams was born on 20 September 1886 and died on 15 May 1945.

Charles Williams Quotes

1. An hour’s conversation on literature between two ardent minds with a common devotion to a neglected poet is a miraculous road to intimacy.
2. Nothing was certain, but everything was safe – that was part of the mystery of Love.
3. Love was even more mathematical than poetry. It was the pure mathematics of the spirit.
4. I think in order to move forward into the future, you need to know where you’ve been.
5. It is as pleasant as it is unusual to see thoroughly good people getting their desserts.
6. How can one bargain for anything that is worth while? And what else is worth bargaining for?
7. The devil, even if he is a fact, has been an indulgence;… while he exists, there is always something to which we can be superior.

Charles Williams was a British poet, novelist, playwright, theologian, and literary critic. Williams became an editor at the Oxford University Press (OUP) and continued to work there until his death in 1945. He was also an Anglican Christian, an occultist, and a member of the Inklings, the literary group that included C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. Williams’s unusual combination of Christianity and occult interests shaped his distinctive approach to fiction. He set his supernatural and metaphysical stories in ordinary 20th-century England rather than in imaginary worlds, bringing the fantastic into familiar surroundings. This made his spiritual thrillers feel particularly uncanny, as the supernatural seemed to exist just beneath everyday life. His best-known novels include Descent into Hell and War In Heaven. His work combined the everyday with the supernatural and explored spiritual and metaphysical ideas through suspenseful, sometimes unsettling stories. Williams was also known for his charismatic personality and his gifts as a teacher. He was described as an enthusiastic and inspiring lecturer who could explain complex texts clearly and recite long passages of poetry from memory. His unusual life and work have earned him the nickname ‘The Oddest Inkling’.

Source for image: ClarendonHouse

by Amanda Patterson
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