The creators of "Narnia" and "Middle-earth", C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien were close friends and professional colleagues. They met frequently with a community of fellow writers at Oxford in the 1930s and 1940s, all sharing their works-in-progress. The group became known as the Inklings. This important study challenges the standard interpretation that Lewis, Tolkien, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, and the other Inklings had little influence on one another's work, drawing on the latest research in composition studies and the sociology of the creative process. Diana Glyer invites readers into the heart of the group, examining diary entries and personal letters and carefully comparing the rough drafts of their manuscripts with their final, published work. Her analysis not only demonstrates the high level of mutual influence that characterized this writers group but also provides a lively and compelling picture of how writers and other creative artists challenge, correct, and encourage one another as they work together in community.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
Well-Researched and Interesting:
Glyer has put together an incredibly researched study of the relationships of "The Inklings," the social gathering that included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien among others. "The Company They Keep" is not a casual read for the Narnia fan; it is a scholarly exposition of the influence that the Inklings had upon one another and the way that that influence appears in their works. Using a formula for determining influence created by another scholar, Karen Lefevre, Glyer analyzes the way the Inklings served... more info
The Company They Keep:
Glyer's book provides valuable insight for fans and scholars of The Inklings collective works. She has a fresh slant on material that most Tolkien and Lewis readers have seen in other formats. Her agenda, though, presents the idea of "influence" in a changing light. I think that she opens doors of critcical opportunity that will allow much more fruitful sorts of investigations of Lewis, Tolkien, and William's work.
Scholarly and Accessible:
The Company They Keep is scholarly writing at it's best. I used it with gifted high schoolers with excellent results. The students became excited about how Glyer did such extensive research and then wrote about it in such an interesting and readable way.
The literary community as a source of Tolkein's and Lewis's fantasy classics:
The fantasy literature of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkein is so imaginative and idiosyncratic that one accepts that they wrote such lasting works somewhat obstinately and mainly privately almost as a hobby with little hope they would ever be published, much less popular. The picture of J. R. Rowling writing the beginnings of the first Harry Potter book sitting along at a table in an English shop comes to mind with this image of the earlier authors. Lewis and Tolkein are known to be good friends as well as... more info
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