The Inklings Variety Hour

This week, I interview William O'Flaherty, author of The Misquotable C.S. Lewis and creator of much other C.S. Lewis content, which you can find here: Amazon.com: William O'Flaherty: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

The Essential C.S. Lewis: William O’Flaherty – Essential C.S. Lewis (essentialcslewis.com)

 

Here is William's podcast, All About Jack, as well as his Youtube channel, Knowing and Understanding C.S. Lewis.

 

William and I talk about common misquotations of C.S. Lewis that have appeared on the Internet and speculate about the human tendency to misattribute sayings to important figures.

 

Enjoy, and thanks as usual to Logan Huggins for producing!

 

As always, if you have questions or would like to join us on the show, email us at InklingsVarietyHour@gmail.com

 

Stay tuned--next week, we'll discuss The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald!

 

This final episode on Charles Williams' "spiritual thriller," Descent Into Hell, takes the form of an interview with modernist scholar Sørina Higgins. 

We talk about specific aspects of the final two chapters of Descent Into Hell, but in the context of a larger conversation about Charles Williams himself.  Among other questions, we'll discuss:

• How was Williams perceived by not only the other Inklings, but by famous poets in his own day?
• What similarities does Williams' work have with that of other Inklings?
• What was The Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, and why is it important to Williams' life and work?
• What was going on in Williams' own personal life that may have influenced the darker ending of Descent Into Hell?
• How can Chris make further goofy connections between this subject matter, Back to the Future, and The Simpsons?
• Why does Williams' appeal endure, despite his obscurity and (somewhat) checkered biography?

Check out more of Sørina Higgins' work, including her books, here: https://sorinahiggins.wordpress.com/

Here is her CFP (Call for Papers) for the book she is editing.

Here is the page for her new podcast!

Thanks, as always, to Logan Huggins for producing this episode!

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel more than free to email us at InklingsVarietyHour@gmail.com.  

Thanks for listening!

This is a new, short segment I want to try called "Tolkien in Ten."  The idea is to give a short, simplified, ten-minute summary of an important figure in Tolkien's extensive mythology--meant to be accessible to those who have not read The Silmarillion, etc.  Feel free to leave any feedback at InklingsVarietyHour@gmail.com.  

This week, we're looking at Eärendil, who is one of the most important figures in Tolkien's myth.  

We'll be back next week with our concluding episode of Charles Williams' Descent Into Hell.  

Sorina Higgins and Sophie Burkhardt join Chris to discuss Chapters 8-10 of Charles Williams' Descent Into Hell.

 

Episode Description to Come!

Chris, Logan, and Sophie discuss Charles Williams' novel Descent Into Hell, chapters 6-7.

Among other things, we discuss

• The Unusual Structure of Descent and Why it Defies Summary
   
   
• Prayer for the Dead
   
   
• Distinctions between Charles Williams secondary world and those of Tolkien/Lewis'
   
   
• Influence of Williams' ideas on Lewis (and maybe Tolkien)
   
   
• That famous "Weight of Glory" quote
   
   
• Enchanted, Invisible Worlds: Williams' Unseen World versus Faerie
   
   
• Isolation and Community as Hell and Heaven
   
   
• Heaven in the Fresco at Voroneț
   
   
   
• Echoes of Chapter 7 in Lewis' The Great Divorce
   
   
• Heaven as fact and Hell as self-deception
   
   
• The personality (or lack thereof) of the dead man; his supposed lack of moral agency
   
   
• What to do if you ever see a ghost
   
   
• The dead man's groan, the earthquake, and the harrowing of hell
   
   
• All good actions as extensions of God's goodness
   
   
   
• Dopplegangers in the movies

  

Thanks to Logan Huggins for producing this episode!

 

Sophie, Anika, and Sorina join Chris to discuss Chapters 5-6 of Descent Into Hell--possibly Charles Williams' most profound novel.  You can find the new audiobook by Apocryphile press here.

Please leave us a good review on iTunes if you like this podcast!

We discuss:

Chapter 5: Return to Eden

• Wentworth's continued damnation and the interconnectedness of characters
• Rejecting joy and ignoring facts
• Williams' Romantic Theology and the Way of Affirmation of Images
• The nature of Lilith, in Hebrew myth, in George MacDonald, in pop culture, and in Charles Williams
• Rejection of beggars, lovers, and inconvenience as the path to hell

Chapter 6: The Doctrine of Substituted Love

• Does it work?
• Some theological objections
• Why is a contract necessary?
• Chasing down your shadow...

Thanks as always to Logan Huggins for producing!

If you have any questions or would like to contact us, just email us at InklingsVarietyHour@gmail.com.

Sophie, Meagan, David, and Sorina join us for Descent Into Hell--possibly Charles Williams' most profound novel.  You can find the new audiobook by Apocryphile press here.

 

We discuss:

Quest of Hell

• The apparent plotlessness of Descent
• Wentworth's rejection of community
• How the novel is like a play
• Modernist drama
• C.S. Lewis' disastrous dinner with T.S. Eliot and Williams

Vision of Death

• Struther's Martyrdom
• The Right and Wrong way to recite poetry
• The Four Virtues of Poetry
• The Mountain of Abnegnos, meeting yourself, Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, visualization techniques, and other occultic contexts for this chapter (thanks, Sorina!)
• Knowing yourself and knowing love
• Final Question: Adapting Descent Into Hell

Here, by the way, is the Perelandra opera.

Thanks as always to Logan Huggins for producing!

If you have any questions or would like to contact us, just email us at InklingsVarietyHour@gmail.com.

It's time again for that novel-est of novelists, Charles Williams!

Feel free to read Descent Into Hell here (there's a new audiobook by the way.)

Meagan, Chris, Sophie Burkhardt, and David L. Carter discuss Charles Williams' Descent Into Hell, Chapters 1-2!

They discuss...

Chapter 1: The Magus Zoroaster

(In which Pauline Anstruther, who has a bit part in that new Peter Stanhope play Battle Hill is putting on, meets her own image walking toward her on the way home.)

• Diana Pavlac Glyer's The Company They Keep
• Williams' plays including Judgement at Chelmsford, and T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral.  
• "A Terrible Good": Can goodness be terrible?
• Plays and plot cohesion
• Pastorals and Woodland Tree Spirits

Chapter 2: Via Mortis

(In which a nameless construction worker, some time ago, killed himself to get back at the world, only to find that he still exists, and maybe wanders unsteadily toward redemption.)

• Mostly plot summary here
• Potential purposeless of an immortal existence (Queen song from Highlander reprise)

That's it for now!  

Check out Sophie Burkhardt's podcast here: Beneath the Willow Tree on Apple Podcasts

Check out David L. Carter's work here: Amazon.com: David L. Carter: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

 

Thanks, as always, to Logan Huggins for making us sound better than we normally would!  I wish I had him around to edit what I say in real time.

 

Next week: Sorina Higgins joins us to discuss Chapters 3-4!

Kora Burton rejoins Chris to discuss Tolkien's last fairy (or is it faerie?) story, "Smith of Wootton Major" (1967). 

Smith of Wootton Major is a short story, a parable about the nature of what Tolkien called “fayery” or “Faerie,” an evocative fairy tale in its own right, as well as a melancholy meditation on the loss of artistic capacity.  Though told simply enough for children to understand its plot, Tolkien called it “an old man’s book.”

 

Thanks as always to Logan Huggins for producing this episode!

 

If you have any questions or would like to contact us, please do so at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.  We'd love to hear from you.

Next week: Sophie, Meagan, David, and Sorina join us for Descent Into Hell--possibly Charles Williams' most profound novel.  Feel free to start reading or listening now.

Kora Burton joins Chris to discuss Tolkien's last fairy (or is it faerie?) story, "Smith of Wootton Major."  

Smith of Wootton Major (1967) is Tolkien’s last work of fiction and was begun as part of an Introduction to an edition of George MacDonald’s The Golden Key–an edition that was never published.  Tolkien began by writing a kind of parable about a stupid baker making a cake for children that inadvertently had something faerian in it.  But when he found this illustration was taking on a life of its own, he discarded the introduction entirely and worked on the story–which he realized was in part a critique of the things he did not like about George MacDonald, among other Victorians (still, I find it owes a real debt to The Golden Key and Phantastes, as much as it does to anything medieval).  Smith of Wootton Major is a short story, a parable about the nature of what Tolkien called “fayery” or “Faerie,” an evocative fairy tale in its own right, as well as a melancholy meditation on the loss of artistic capacity.  Though told simply enough for children to understand its plot, Tolkien called it “an old man’s book.”

One of my favorite history of English podcasts, just in case you want more philology or historical linguistics: https://historyofenglishpodcast.com/

Thanks as always to Logan Huggins for producing this episode!

 

If you have any questions or would like to contact us, please do so at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.  We'd love to hear from you.

Next week: We enter Faerie with Smith!