Charles Williams (1886-1945)

Williams, who for most of his career was employed by the Oxford University Press in London (he moved with the Press to Oxford in 1940), is now generally thought of as one of the circle of Christian literary figures associated with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. His works include religious drama (including Thomas Cranmer of Canterbury, 1936), poetry, criticism, theology (such as He Came Down from Heaven, 1937), and a series of seven novels, which he called ‘metaphysical thrillers’. The last of these, All Hallows’ Eve (1945), is set in wartime London, and is probably the most eerie and bizarre of them all. Yet it, too, develops the theme of Christ-like redemption. Critics feel that Williams will be remembered longest for his Arthurian poem, Taliesin through Logres (1938), and its sequel, Region of the Summer Stars (1944). But a number of his books are still in print, including all of the novels, and his popularity, though not as great as that of Lewis or Tolkien, continues to grow.