Kat Forbes: Outside Reading #3

Entry # 10 (Outside Reading # 3) A mutual distrust of Charles Williams

Katherine Forbes

One of the largest mysteries about C.S. Lewis unraveled in Carpenter’s The Inklings has been, in my opinion, his devotion to Charles Williams, and Charles’ important place among the Inklings.  He is an entirely obscure character next to the well-renowned Lewis and Tolkien, yet Carpenter goes into great detail about his life and published works.  When reading about Williams his contrast to Lewis is very striking, and to me he came across as nothing short of a lunatic.  Carpenter tries to attribute his bizarre, borderline sociopathic manner of thinking and social behavior to the education he was provided by his father but I am not entirely convinced.  The way he goes about becoming obsessed with various women (other than his wife), toying with the idea of taking advantage of others, exploiting them, and causing them severe pain; walking along the edge of that fine line between moral-less creativity and pure evil.  He was well-known for having great charismatic power over others, making him overwhelmingly popular but I think I would have been revolted by the sheer sight of him.  Tolkien, like me, also had an immediate and very powerful dislike for Williams, although Tolkien of course was introduced to him in real life by Lewis.  I think was a mark of excellent intuition and stoutness of character on Tolkien’s part, and Tolkien, understandably, never wavered from this opinion, being witness to the vulgarities which would explode out of William’s bizarre and uncomely mind on a regular basis.

 
The mystery therefore, is why Lewis was so entirely enamored by Williams for such a long time, and Tolkien merely able to tolerate the man.  Carpenter tries to paint Tolkien as slightly jealous of Williams for stealing the devotion of his friend, but once more I strongly disagree.  It is true that Lewis and Williams enjoyed each other’s literary works; it was the very foundation of their friendship, but how is it that Tolkien had absolutely nothing intellectually in common with Williams while Lewis did?  After-all Lewis and Tolkien surely had a great number of things in common, for they were most devoted friends.   I do not know enough to hypothesize but can only quote Tolkien on the matter: “Lewis was bowled over.  But Lewis was a very impressionable man, and this was abetted by his great generosity and capacity for friendship.”