The Thinklings

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- Rick Warren

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

"There will be no more pints with Charles"

Posted by Bill @ 12:28 pm CDT
Filed under: Tribute, Questions . . .

I lifted this verbatim from the excellent Inklings blog. This was written by C.S. Lewis' brother, Warnie, following the death of their friend and fellow Inkling Charles Williams.

[The King's Arms on the junction of Parks Road & Holywell Street, Oxford]

Tuesday 15th May, 1945.

At 12.50 this morning… the telephone rang, and a woman's voice asked if I would take a message for J — "Mr. Charles Williams died in the Acland this morning". One often reads of people being "stunned" by bad news, and reflects idly on the absurdity of the expression; but there is more than a little truth in it. I felt just as if I had slipped and come down on my head on the pavement. J had told me when I came into College that Charles was ill, and it would mean a serious operation: and then went off to see him: I haven't seen him since. I felt dazed and restless, and went out to get a drink: choosing unfortunately the King's Arms, where during the winter Charles and I more than once drank a pint after leaving Tollers at the Mitre, with much glee at "clearing one throats of varnish with good honest beer": as Charles used to say.

There will be no more pints with Charles: no more "Bird and Baby": the blackout has fallen, and the Inklings can never be the same again. I knew him better than any of the others, by virtue of his being the most constant attendant. I hear his voice as I write, and can see his thin form in his blue suit, opening his cigarette box with trembling hands. These rooms will always hold his ghost for me. There is something horrible, something unfair about death, which no religious conviction can overcome. "Well, goodbye, see you on Tuesday Charles" one says — and you have in fact though you don't know it, said goodbye for ever. He passes up the lamplit street, and passes out of your life for ever.

There is a good deal of stuff talked about the horrors of a lonely old age; I'm not sure that the wise man — the wise materialist at any rate — isn't the man who has no friends. And so vanishes one of the best and nicest men it has ever been my good fortune to meet. May God receive him into His everlasting happiness.

Warren (Warnie) Lewis
Brothers & Friends (Harper & Row 1982)

I'm intrigued by Charles Williams, who is often left in the shadow of C.S. "Jack" Lewis (the "J" written about above, I'm pretty sure) and "Tollers", better known as J.R.R. Tolkien. Recently I read the novel Looking for the King, by David C. Downing, which is a piece of historical fiction featuring the Inklings. Downing's portrayal of Charles Williams and his grail-lore is fascinating, and I think it's time I picked up something written by Williams. Any suggestions?

As a side note, the Kings Arms, pictured above, is still in business. I had some fabulous bangers and mash there last year when I visited Oxford. What I wouldn't give to be enjoying a day in that amazing town right now.

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Comments on ""There will be no more pints with Charles"":

1. Jared - 10/19/2011 3:18 pm CDT

I've tried Williams -- Many Dimensions and something else, I forget what -- and find him impenetrable. But your mileage may vary.

I do like his notion of the Logres, though, which Lewis picked up and ran with (in *That Hideous Strength* especially) and reflect on it in a book I have coming out next year called Gospel Deeps.

2. nhe - 10/19/2011 3:49 pm CDT

Didn't CS Lewis allude to this in "The Four Loves"? I seem to remember him lamenting the loss of a friend, (I don't remember if it was Williams or Tollers) and talking about how he didn't just miss his his friend, but he missed the part of his friend that brought out something uniquely in each of his other friends, and how sad that made him feel. I think it was Tollers he was referring to in 4 Loves, at least that's how I always retell it.

I think this a beautiful picture of trinitarian community. There's just something in me that feels like this is a huge part of "what its ALL about".

3. Jared - 10/19/2011 4:46 pm CDT

nhe, I remember that quote, but I thought the guy who died who changed the friendship circle was Williams.

4. Bill - 10/19/2011 5:14 pm CDT

If C.S. Lewis was referring to someone who died, it couldn't have been Tollers, who didn't die until 10 years after Lewis passed on.

nhe, I hear you. Community is a beautiful thing - though we're not all as active as we once were, my relationship with the other Thinklings has felt this way - interacting, challenging, growing in thought together until the other guys become part of who I am.

5. Evan - 10/19/2011 7:20 pm CDT

I share Jared's experience. Impenetrable is the appropriate word for me as well.

I own a book called "A Charles Williams Reader" which includes three of his best known novels:

Descent into Hell
Many Dimensions
War in Heaven

I've begun reading all three at various times, and a couple more than once. I've never gotten more than a few chapters into any of them before giving up. I trust the opinion of Lewis and others that they are great and unique fiction, but I personally just can't understand them.

6. nhe - 10/20/2011 8:31 am CDT

Thanks for the clarification....I read 4 Loves a long time ago but don't own a copy. I've used Lewis's story about Williams often as an illustration in small groups, but I've always explained it as Lewis talking about Tolkien......fortunately no one called me on it. :)

7. Lars Walker - 10/20/2011 9:18 am CDT

I think I've read all of Williams's novels, and personally I liked them a lot (though there are problematic aspects). I think I'd recommend "Descent Into Hell," or "War In Heaven."

8. damien - 10/21/2011 8:06 am CDT

try "the place of the lion."

9. Karl - 10/23/2011 10:38 pm CDT

I'd start with The Place of the Lion. And stick with it, Williams writing is dense and difficult to follow at first but rewards the patient. Our contemporary lack of grounding in the Classics somewhat hamstrings most late 20th and early 21st century readers, as Williams assumes you will get his sometimes obscure allusions to various classical stories, events, mythologies and the like. Besides Place of the Lion I also enjoyed "Descent into Hell." His The Descent of the Dove is also quite a worthwhile read, though it's not a novel.

He had a profound impact on CSL's later writing. JRRT didn't like his writing or religious thought nearly as much as Jack did. He had some dark stuff in his past and continued to kind of dabble in some questionable things (both ideas and practices) throughout his life. But a deep and profound thinker, if quirky and difficult to penetrate. Some Inklings scholars believe Williams was probably a genius in terms of raw IQ, and maybe had the highest IQ of anyone in that group although his hadn't been honed, trained and polished via university training - he was largely self educated beyond what we would call high school IIRC.

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