Description
Book SynopsisThe works of J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams and Owen Barfield have had a profound impact on the contemporary world. Together they were The Inklings, a small literary group of friends who set out to explore the 'mythopoeic' or myth-making element in imaginative fiction. The Magical World of the Inklings reveals how each of these writers created a 'magical world' which initiates the reader into hidden and powerful realms of the creative imagination. Originally published in 1990, this new edition has been substantially revised and expanded. It gives a thorough overview of the works of all four writers, including some of their lesser known work and posthumous publications, and explores the very practical way in which the creative imagination is invoked within the reader through the 'magical world' each writer constructed. In this respect, Gareth Knight's background as a leading expert on both magic and myth gives him a unique perspective which takes this book some way beyond the sphere of straightforward literary criticism.
Trade Review"Because of the combination of information, understanding and insight on which it is founded, The Magical World of the Inklings is more than outstanding. It is not in the same league with anything else I have come across." - Owen Barfield. "It is only recently that the full play of Lewis's neo-Platonism is reaching a wider public. Nobody has more revealingly shown the occultic and mythical character of this world-view, and its influence on Lewis's fiction, than did Gareth Knight in his superb book The Magical World of the Inklings." - Dr Andrew Walker, Director of the Centre for Theology and Culture, King's College London.
