(urth) Charles Williams

[Fernando Gouvea]

On 12/17/2012 12:04 PM, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote:
> Fernando Gouvea wrote:
>
>     I would definitely start with /War in Heaven/,
>
>
> Several good reasons to start here, including it's Williams's first 
> novel. There is a definite development of the density of his novels as 
> they go along.

I think the first is actually /Shadows of Ecstasy/, though it was 
published only later. And probably should have remained in the drawer.

>     The two best of his novels are, in my opinion, /Descent into Hell/
>     and /All Hallows Eve/,
>
>
> Not surprisingly, these are his last novels and quite dense.

And also the ones that read better if the reader understands Williams's 
rather strange theological ideas. That said, /Descent/ is a wonderful 
study of the notion of damnation.

>     Williams' poetry is worth a look, but many people find it
>     impenetrable. It's certainly old-fashioned.
>
>
> If by "old-fashioned" you mean "early 20th-century modernist," I must 
> agree. There is a strong kinship between Williams' poetry (I refer to 
> the Arthurian poetry, which is all I have read) and Eliot's work. 
> (Eliot, by the way, praised Williams's novels and wrote an 
> introduction to at least one of them.)

I think that's a good description, though there are some late-Romantic 
things there as well. What's most old-fashioned about it is that it is 
intended as narrative, rather than as an exploration of the personal, 
which is where most poetry seems to be these days.

Fernando

-- 
=============================================================
Fernando Q. Gouvea                http://www.colby.edu/~fqgouvea
Carter Professor and Chair
Dept. of Mathematics and Statistics
Colby College                     Editor, Carus Mathematical Monographs
5836 Mayflower Hill               Editor, MAA Reviews
Waterville, ME 04901              http://www.maa.org/maareviews

Food for thought is no substitute for the real thing.
   -- Walt Kelly, "Potluck Pogo"

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.urth.net/pipermail/urth-urth.net/attachments/20121217/861f7acb/attachment-0004.htm>