Contents:
Where the Shadows Lie: The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. Annotated by Douglas A. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-Earth. The Letters of J. The Monsters and the Critics.
Edited by Verlyn Flieger and Douglas A. Smith of Wootton Major. Edited by Verlyn Flieger. Tales from the Perilous Realm. Zaleski, Philip and Carol Zaleski. The Literary Lives of the Inklings. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Understanding The Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism.
In a sense it shows the progress through the earthly kingdom. Walking Tree Publishers, He has a poetic sensibility that expresses itself best in mythopoeia, the making of myth. Greenwood Press, , Further details - the title of the new anthology and cover reveal - will come closer to publication, which is anticipated in Q1 of This was like in
I am not going to tell you a story of this world. And I am going to tell you a story of this world.
Inklings, Stories, and Pirates: A Collection of Thoughts and Short Stories [ Cassandra Goulette] on www.farmersmarketmusic.com *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Inklings. Inklings, Stories, and Pirates: A Collection of Thoughts and Short Stories - Kindle edition by Cassandra Goulette. Download it once and read it on your Kindle.
It is for you to find out where the story came from. Or I will tell you. Or something in between. For no apparent reason the One chose to become many. For no apparent reason. The key here is whether it was apparent, not whether it was without reason. How can one ascertain the appearances of the reason of the One?
The One alone knows the reason for being, and from thence does faith in the One arise. A faith based on reason. But no apparent reason. We are going to enter a world together. Likely it is a world with which you are deeply familiar. Or somewhat familiar if you have chosen me or I have chosen myself to be your guide into this world.
But to enter the world together we must, on this day, begin outside it. Usually we awaken already within the circles of this world, if we have chosen to explore it. But today we shall suspend time—for who is more able to suspend time than that which or whom we wish to encounter on this journey? We shall suspend time and enter the imagination of a world before time, the world before the world, the world even before the waking into reality of imagination. I wish to explore Creativity as Trickster.
The ambiguity, the shape-shifting, the amorality, the potential and paradox: Is the Trickster really Trickster? Or does Creativity take hold for some time, and make Trickster what Trickster is? The world into which were are entering is one that happened to be penned by a single author, or so it is often said. You probably already know his name if you know me. Can you imagine that moment when a cosmogonic myth made itself apparent to a single human imagination? What must that have felt like? How many times has that happened in the history of our one species?
How many beginnings have been retold of our world? But the Secondary World Tolkien shaped, a world called Arda, is one that tells the stories of other sub-creators, other divinely created beings who wished to create in their own measure and derivative mode. A world within a world, sub-creators under sub-creators. The desire to create itself, what we might call the embodiment of Creativity, has a Trickster form.
Again, can you imagine that moment when a cosmogonic myth made itself apparent to a single human imagination? Their singing, unbeknownst to them, shaped the world they would eventually build. The musical strands wove together and formed the first harmonies:.
But one among the Ainur wished not to be a sub-creator, one whose musical threads were woven into the melodies of all others seamlessly. He wished to be a creator in his own right. His name is Melkor, and at this moment he is the first embodiment of the Trickster in the Deeps of Time before the world of Arda is brought into being. The two melodies played simultaneously, conflicting yet interwoven: The one was deep and wide and beautiful, but slow and blended with an immeasurable sorrow, from which its beauty chiefly came. For it was the sorrow of the third theme, sorrow in response to the violence of the disharmony, that gave it its profound beauty.
Many Trickster themes are woven into this narrative, although the Trickster is not embodied by one being alone. The Trickster energy moved quickly from being to being, never settling but still creating the dynamism of the moment.
The Music of the Ainur is the moment of Creation, when the world is first imagined into being. It cannot be done again, and there are no mistakes. So it is that Trickster does indeed make this world, or rather shapes it, by being many agents of creativity in succession. Seest thou not how here in this little realm in the Deeps of Time Melkor hath made war upon thy province? He hath bethought him of bitter cold immoderate, and yet hath not destroyed the beauty of thy fountains, nor of thy clear pools.
Behold the snow, and the cunning work of frost! Melkor hath devised heat and fires without restraint, and hath not dried up thy desire nor utterly quelled the music of the sea. Behold rather the height and glory of the clouds, and the everchanging mists; and listen to the fall of rain upon the Earth! To this, the Ainu of the Waters responded: In his rebellion Melkor became identified with the Trickster.
He had wandered through the Void looking for the Secret Fire, that which grants true Being to the creative impulse. He represents the paradoxical category of sacred amorality. Creative Trickster energy moved on, and found its home in other sub-creators who walk the fine line between good and evil, following the ambiguous path of ingenuity and clever creativity. Melkor has a foil among the Ainur, one who also desired to make his own independent creations: Is that thy desire?
Something new is introduced that would have not existed otherwise, without the seeming rebellion of the sub-creator, or the unexpected move of the Creator to give them life. A sub-creator shapes a world within a world, Art from the raw material of Imagination. A world within a world naturally has its boundaries, but while within the world it can be difficult to see where the boundaries lie, if it is possible to see them at all. Only when a new world is created do we see that boundary drawn, the moment sub-creator and Creator work together to breathe life into new form.
The Trickster waits at the boundaries, the crossroads, the borders, leaping between those who dare to draw a line against what has come before to make something new and different. In this world we have entered the Trickster seems particularly evasive, changing names and changing shapes, crossing from good to evil and back before there was good and evil to cross between. If he who seems to be a Trickster falls from grace, the Trickster energy moves on, finds somewhere else to be. And what is the Imperishable Flame, the Secret Fire?
Why was there a great Music to begin with? Why were the Ainur brought into being? Is that not the sign of the Trickster? Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art.
Victims, Heroes and the Journey from the Underworld. Christopher Tolkien London, England: HarperCollins Publishers, , PageMill Press, , The Astrology of J. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. New World Library, Robert Hale Limited, Edited by Sonu Shamdasani. White, Martyn Skinner, and so many others. So what do you think? Want to edit one of those?
Which of these posts did you like the most? Do you have ideas of your own to add? Here is a luscious little post over on Pilgrim in Narnia by artist Emily Austin about the process of creating the winning cover design for The Inklings and King Arthur. Do read it; I think you will love it! A Pilgrim in Narnia. However discerning your enjoyment of it is already, I warrant it will be deepened and increased, as mine was, by reading this. View original post 1, more words.
You can watch the recording of the event here:. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Owen Barfield brought hope to their times and our own in their Arthurian literature. Yet each of these major writers tackled serious and relevant questions about government, gender, violence, imperialism, secularism, and spirituality through their stories of the Quest for the Holy Grail. This rigorous and sophisticated volume of studies does so for the first time. Listen in to hear the editor and contributors talk about this exciting new book! Her interests include British Modernism, the works of the Inklings, Arthuriana, and magic.
She holds an M. His academic interests include how the creation of fictional universes helps in spiritual formation, theological exploration, and cultural criticism. Tolkien, and the Inklings. He lectures widely in England and North America on Theology and Literature and has published poetry, theology, and literary criticism and has worked as a librettist.
Malcolm has edited two poetry anthologies for Lent and Advent: Malcolm has a particular interest in the imagination as a truth-bearing faculty and continues to reflect deeply on how poetry can stimulate and re-awaken our prayer life. Malcolm enjoys sailing, walking, old books, live music, riding his Harley Davidson motorbike and all the varieties of the British countryside and weather. Malcolm is also part of the rock band Mystery Train, regularly performing gigs at Grantchester, Cambridge and other places around Cambridgeshire. Please have a look! In this adventure of reading I ended up as a textual editor.
But I have also been in awe of that other kind…. View original post more words. Please let me know if you have any cool or annoying stories about ordering it, reading it, using it as a doorstop, stopping traffic with it, or anything else. Friends and colleagues have been asking for the Table of Contents on social media; here it is. Enjoy — and please help spread the word! There are lots of important chapters in here, and I want them to get a very wide readership indeed. The Inklings and King Arthur. Texts and Intertexts 1. The Matter of Logres: Arthuriana and the Inklings.
Medieval Arthurian Sources for the Inklings: Mixed Metaphors and Hyperlinked Worlds: A Study of Intertextuality in C. From Myth to History and Back Again: Inklings Arthuriana in Historical Context. Spiritual Quest in a Scientific Age. Geographies of Gender Arthurian Peregrinations in George MacDonald. The Acts of Unity: Stout Conclusion—Once and Future: The Inklings, Arthur, and Prophetic Insight. This valuable work would be a fine addition to the shelves of scholars and thinkers everywhere.
These richly varied essays are a welcome introduction to the Arthurian writings of the Inklings, the group of Oxford intellectuals who included J. Lewis, and Charles Williams. Each essay explores an aspect of the Arthurian legend as it was re-imagined in the first half of the twentieth century, shaped by two world wars and far-reaching social change. Engaging with key themes of Arthurian reception, from medieval origins to mythic geographies, Christian modernism, gender, and imperialism, this vibrant new collection is the first comprehensive overview of Arthur in the world of the Inklings.
This serious and substantial volume addresses a complex subject that scholars have for too long overlooked. The contributors show how, in the legends of King Arthur, the Inklings found material not only for escape and consolation, but also, and more importantly, for exploring moral and spiritual questions of pressing contemporary concern. Collingwood, and more creative writers than can readily be remembered. Lewis, Owen Barfield, and Charles Williams. Packed with information, and engagingly written, this provides a new view of the Inklings and of their intellectual and cultural world.
A gathering with an acknowledged bias toward and emphasis on Charles Williams, The Inklings and King Arthur offers new insights on the difficult and demanding Arthurian poetry of this least critically studied Inkling. But it has as well an impressive array of essays on all the preeminent Inklings—Tolkien and Lewis and Williams and Barfield—that will be a significant contribution to the study of their Arthurian works in particular and of twentieth-century Arthurian literature in general.
In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that the Arthurian legends and their world were of vital importance to the writing and thought of the major Inklings. With its stellar cast of scholars and interpreters, this volume is an indispensable resource for Inklings and Arthurian studies, and indeed for all who seek to understand the modern mythopoeic imagination. The Literary Lives of the Inklings. The Inklings and King Arthur: While many readers have long noted the presence of Arthurian motifs and allusions in the works of the Inklings, few are aware of how extensive these connections are.
This book should be on the shelf of all Inklings readers. King , Montreat College, author of C. The Inklings and King Arthur is a very significant addition to serious study of the Inklings circle of C. Tolkien, and their friends. It distinctively focusses upon the group rather than only on Lewis, Tolkien, or other members individually, as has often been the case.
The circle is represented convincingly in featuring four of the shaping members, all important writers, and their common interest in King Arthur and the Matter of Britain as a living and breathing tradition. This theme is demonstrated to be an important key for unlocking the heartbeat of the informal group, and dispels the persistent myth that the Inklings were not part of, nor relevant to, the concerns of modernist writers after World War I.
Lewis, Tolkien and Their Circle, J. The Gift of Friendship , and other books relating to the Inklings. This book is essential reading, not only for scholars of fantasy literature, but for all those interested in understanding how traditions and writers shape each other. Drout , Wheaton College. Just when serious students of C. In short, this is an important book. I intend to recommend it to my students. This ground-breaking collection presents new scholarship on topics as diverse as violence, historicity, gender, medievalism, ecology, mysticism, and personal biography at the nexus of Arthuriana and Inklings studies.
Those interested in the Inklings or in modern interpretations of the Arthurian mythos will find much thought-provoking material in these pages. A Journal of J. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature. Here are discussed some fascinating cultural shards. This book identifies a very important thread in the intellectual curiosity, creative work, and spiritual convictions of the Inklings.
For students of the Arthurian tradition, it will reveal an under-appreciated chapter of the Arthur story from the early twentieth century. For Inklings enthusiasts, it will unfold a fascination they might never have known that the Inklings shared. This volume follows Arthurian leylines in geographies of myth, history, gender, and culture, uncovering Inklings lodestones and way markers throughout. A must read for students of the Inklings, particularly those interested in Charles Williams. This is a wonderfully rich and long overdue examination of a theme in the Inklings that has never had the attention it deserves—a theme that locates them firmly within the mainstream of the British imagination.
These studies are theoretically sophisticated, lively and original, and will be of the greatest interest to students of English literature in general as well as Inklings enthusiasts. Will King Arthur ever return to England? This rigorous and sophisticated volume studies does so for the first time. Four and a half years ago, a previously-unpublished work by J.
The Fall of Arthur , his only explicitly Arthurian writing. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Owen Barfield. It became immediately obvious that a scholarly study of these works was necessary. It rigorously and accessibly examines the Arthurian works of Tolkien, Lewis, Williams, Barfield, their predecessors, and their contemporaries.
It brings together established, well-known scholars and emerging voices. It employs many theoretical perspectives and interacts with a wide variety of important conversations. And the Inklings themselves are going to come from the grave to celebrate. Tomorrow, they are going to have a Twitter party to celebrate the publication of The Inklings and King Arthur! Meanwhile, go order a copy! Order one for a friend!
Order a dozen for anybody you forgot at Christmas! It is an intriguing fact of literary history that the Inklings were individually fascinated by the Arthurian legends. Arthurian themes run through C. Charles Williams, who published two Arthurian books of poems and one Grail novel, left much of his work on his desk after his sudden passing in King Arthur seems to be one of the centrifugal forces of the Inklings as a loose literary collective. It is this observation that drew a…. This celebration will take place between noon and 1: Corey Olsen will introduce this new collection of scholarship.
Copies will be available for purchase. It is an edited essay collection that examines the Arthurian works of Tolkien, Lewis, Williams, Barfield, their predecessors, and their contemporaries. Emily writes about her design:. Not only is a pipe a rather apt symbol for the Inklings, but smoke itself is such a dynamic and fascinating substance that I felt it would prove an excellent visual counterpart to the ever-adapting Arthurian stories.
The image as a whole had the potential to evoke thoughts of legend, history, imagination, and storytelling.