Customer Reviews (4)

The only blamk verse I read
I really don't like blank verse, yet Williams verse, with its intense focus on the Incarnation, is great. I think it helps to have read his theological works first and to be fairly well read on Arthurian myths, but an some level any Christian should hear "the song of another" Williams bore.

One of the three books I really want on a Kindle so I can carry with me.

Invocation, Invitation and Incantation
"The cone's shadow of earth fell into space, and into, other than space, the third heaven. In the third heaven are the living unriven truths, climax tranquil in Venus. Merlin and Brisen heard, as in faint beelike humming round the cone's point, the feeling intellect hasten to fasten on the moving earth's hide. In the third heaven the stones of the waste glimmered like summer stars."That's the only poetry I can recite and I probably got it wrong. It's from Taliessin Through Logres and The Region of the Summer Stars, Williams' two cycles of Arthurian poetry (here in one volume). Without reading C.S.Lewis' commentary in Arthurian Torso (also in this volume)I wouldn't know what he meant, but these lines have something most poetry doesn't; they sound like an incantation, pulsing with power and vision. Like everything Williams wrote, they seem to pull you into another place and the walls between the two worlds dissolve. That's the effect of hearing these poems. Understanding them is another matter. Numerous critics have pointed out that they're rather hard to understand; C.S. Lewis penned his significant commentary in an effort to make Williams' last (and unfinished) poems accessible to a wider audience. He brilliantly succeeded both in opening these poems to the reader and showing how they complement Williams' other writings and echo his ideas. Lewis couldn't keep these two cycles from going out of print, but this Eerdmans volume, scarce as it is, gives credence to Williams' self-penned epitaph, "Poet, Under the Mercy."

Bad Poetry but Great Commentary
This book comes in four parts 1)Taliessin through Logres (collection of Charles Williams' poems about the Arthurian saga as seen through the eyes of the court poet Taliessin) 2)The Region of the Summer Stars (more ofWilliams' poems about the Holy Grail) 3)Arthurian Torso, consisting of a)Charles Williams prose work on the history of the Grail/Arthurian legend,entitled The Figure of Arthur, and b)C.S. Lewis's commentary on Williams'poetry, entitled Williams and the Arthuriad.A fine introduction by MaryMcDermott Shideler accompanies the Eerdmans edition of this work.

Ifound Arthurian Torso to be the best part of the book by far.By itself,it deserves a five star rating.Williams traces the fascinating history ofthe Grail with the legend of King Arthur and the Round Table using acombination of scholarly acumen and lucid tutorial explanations.In otherwords, it is both accurate and understandable.Lewis, in turn, addsinsightful commentary about both the Arthurian saga and Williams' poems onthe subject.Lewis's wisdom and lucid prose are as delightful to read onthis matter as they are about other subjects he tackled.

Unfortunately, I think the poetry will appeal to very few people.I giveit a one star quality (which, when combined with the five star quality ofthe Arthurian Torso give the book an overall rank of three.)Even C.S.Lewis admits that Williams' biggest fault is his obscurity.(There aretimes when even such a scholar as Lewis - who not only loved the Arthurianlegend, who adored poetry, and who had discussed this poetry at length withWilliams himself - found himself puzzled by parts of it, describing partsof it as "cryptic", or saying "I end in doubts" or"There are things in this piece which I do not understand.")

I was unmoved by this poetry.It was like trying to read something inan unfamiliar language - no meaning was conveyed.

So all in all,this book receives a mixed review.If the Arthurian legend interests you,then this work is worth obtaining, simply for the Arthurian Torso sectionof it.If you get anything out of the poetry, it will be a bonus.

The deepest, most richly-layered poetry I have ever read.
This poetry takes some time to master, but it is well worth the effort.It recounts the rise and fall of Arthur's kingdom from the point of view of Taliessin, the court poet.The non-linear lyric pieces are a perfection of the craft; especial standouts are "Taliessin's Song of the Unicorn," and "The Queen's Servant."Perhaps if enough people become familiar with this hard-to-find classic, it will reappear in print!All lovers of Arthuriana:this is a must. Tawny M. Goswitz ... Read more

Product Description
This book is meant as an introduction to the works of certain contemporary poets, for those readers who do not know them, while not being, it is hoped, entirely without interest for those who do. Charles Williams was one of the finest-not to mention one of the most unusual-theologians of the twentieth century. His mysticism is palpable-the unseen world interpenetrates ours at every point, and spiritual exchange occurs all the time, unseen and largely unlooked for. His novels are legend, his poetry profound, and as a member of the Inklings, he contributed to the mythopoetic revival in contemporary culture. ... Read more

Product Description
A classy blond, a beautiful yacht, an island in the Bahamas -- every man's dream. But for Ingram it's a nightmare.

It starts when he agrees to help find Dragoon, a vanished schooner. The money isn't much -- but the statuesque blond who hires him is!

Now it looks like he's going to get deep-sixed. Run hard aground, pinned down by rifle fire and sitting on top of a bilge full of gasoline, something's going to blow!

"One of the great tales of this or any other era!" (B-O-T Editorial Review Board) ... Read more

Product Description
Five tales by Charles Dickens ("Oliver Twist," "Great Expectations," "A Tale of Two Cities," "David Copperfield," and "A Christmas Carol") retold in the form of comic strips. ... Read more

Product Description
Charles Williams (1886-1945), poet, novelist, critic, biographer, lay theologian, and 'Inkling'; exercised a great influence, both as a personality and through his writings, on English letters in his own day; and now, after a period of relative neglect, interest in him has grown once more. This international symposium, a product of this revival, is presented as a contribution to the serious study of Williams and his work. Its contents reflect not only the extraordinarily wide range of his writing, but also the many contacts he made both personally and through his work at the Oxford University Press. Contributors look at his literary background and context, describe the part he played in introducing Kierkegaard to the English-speaking public, discuss his theology of love, and compare his work with that of friends, disciples and associates. Two papers concentrate specifically on one of his remarkable novels, 'The Place of the Lion'. Between them, they give a glimpse, or a series of glimpses, of an unusual man and a fascinating writer whose influence and importance are being recognized more and more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Lookism
Many people suffer mental distress because of real or imagined defects in how they look. Self-esteem is often linked to personal appearance.The authors of this book think that is not a bad thing. They deliberately emphasize the link between looking "good" and feeling good. They target a very vulnerable group. Adolescents are especially likely to be worried about how they look.
The illustrations are likely to upset any victim of obesity.All the photographs of young people exercising show them of ideal body weight, without facial blemishes, and, when in groups, with the males taller than the females.No obesity victims are shown exercising.
The drawings are egregiously offensive.In one, a victim of severe obesity is shown sitting and crudely mocking a baseball player. In others the overweight are shown with midriffs bulging out of ill-fitting clothes.
Anyone reading this book (and maybe the authors themselves) should be given the opportunity to read Lucy Grealy's "Autobiography of a Face" and "Weight Bias" edited by Kelly D. Brownell.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Neither is This Thou
Critics of Charles Williams tend to be either summarily dismissive or gushingly laudatory. Here's a book that's neither. There are much easier books on Williams; they are easier because they take Williams' unique vocabulary, use his definitions, and introduce the reader to his ideas. Two of the best are Mary McDermot Shideler's Theology of Romantic Love and a short pamphlet by John Heath Stubbs.

This book braves dangerous waters, by dragging Williams into mainstream criticism, where he's often not welcome. To do so, the author must make certain concessions, as the ideas and vocabulary of Williams and those of mainstream criticism mostly clash. What he does is almost make up his own vocabulary with which to talk about both streams, although some of it is drawn from Williams, mostly the word and his idea of "co-inherence". In a simple definition, that's a deconstructed version of "incoherence", although it also has an ancient theological meaning. Cavaliero, however, sees it as related to Williams' ideas of exchange and substitution, and uses it as a unifying theme throughout the book. Nearly all critics have seen this in a theological way in Williams' writing, but Cavaliero also applies it to Williams' style and form.

In many ways I couldn't connect to this book. I don't think anyone who was not widely read in Williams would want to read it, with certain exceptions. Since he mentions so many other authors, many also not currently popular, including John Buchan, Sax Rohmer, LeFanu, T.F. Powys, Arthur Machen, and Evelyn Underhill, one can also read the book the other way, from a familiarity with those authors. I found these parts dazzling, since I once read Lord of the World by R.H. Benson merely because a review suggested the writing was similar to Williams'. The only novels I've found, for the most part, that go on from Williams, as it were, are Chesterton's. Even though many of these authors are not currently well known, it's yet interesting for the author to compare them with Williams in various strengths and weaknesses, as well as style.

Williams, Cavaliero shows, infused his point of view into everything he wrote. So does Cavaliero, with the interesting result that he identifies connections between Williams' writing and life that are unique to his viewpoint. One he calls the Impossibility. I didn't get a very good handle on this, but it's an extremely engaging discussion, which crops up all through the book, and refers to the harmony or conflict between nature and fortune, the words again used in a specific way. More interestingly, Cavaliero traces this theme in Williams' critical writings, The English Poetic Mind, and Reason and Beauty in the Poetic Mind. The other dazzling idea is that of absolute relativity. This doesn't mean that everything is morally relative. What it does mean I am not equal to explaining. But the effect of it traced in the novels and plays is that one has the choice to either accept the facts of the universe or rebel against them. The first is (to put it badly) the beginning of heaven; the latter the road to hell.

Cavaliero follows a certain progress through the novels as Williams found his voice and style, and rather than simply retread the plots, he shows the working out of ideas. Both this book and Thomas Howard in The Novels of Charles Williams find a great deal to talk about in these books which other critics have dismissed. Cavaliero also has a good feel for the plays, which contain some of Williams' most quotable lines, but can be as puzzling to contemporary readers as they were to his own contemporaries. Where Cavaliero excells is in his treatment of the poems, as the early poetry is often dismissed by critics. He follows his two themes of the Impossibility and absolute relativity through to the later novels, Descent into Hell and All Hallows Eve, and the last two cycles of poems, devoted to the Arthuriad and the Matter of Britain, Taliessin Through Logres and The Region of the Summer Stars, there finding Williams confident not only in gaining adequate forms to work out his themes, but also an authoritive voice and accomplished style.

This is a book of criticism, such that the reader would benefit most from having read what is criticized, that is the novels, poems, plays, and essays. One also might want to read the conclusion first, as there the author lays out his points clearly and succinctly. Like many readers of Williams (self included) he is an enthusiastic disciple, eager to bring the ideas Williams popularized with his specialized vocabulary out to the world, and even has included three indices: one general, one of works by Williams, and one for 'special subjects', organized by his ideas and terminology. But he is nevertheless a critical reader, and his major achievement is to bring Williams' writings out of the cave of specialized reading and into the mainstream of criticism. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (2)

balanced and realistic
This is a balanced and realistic history of witchcraft in western civilization. It shows how infectious is suspicion, the desire for power and envy that it can obliterate Christian principles from the practices of the church and lead to horrifying persecutions of suspected witches within Europe and the U.S.It also acknowledges that these same dark forces of envy, desires for power and vengeance have lead some to seek satisfaction through spiritual practices known through the ages as witchcraft. This book does not take sides for or against the institutional church, but is far more realistic and balanced. There are no easy formulae in this book, nor any niave summations of good versus evil in human institutions. It reminds us that evil forces are often most potent when people think their actions most justifiable and right.

All Hallow's Eve
Readers interested in The DaVinci Code and the landslide of conspiracy theories, secret histories and occultic exposes that will inevitably accompany it may want to discover this lost (and recently reprinted) classic. Williams published this the same year as The Descent of the Dove: A History of the Holy Spirit in the Church, and it would seem at first that these books cover two sides of the supernatural, but it's not quite that way.

Williams is unique, among other things, for his skepticism, as summed in the epigram, "Believe and doubt well." His take on witchcraft isn't based on believing or not believing in it but in looking at it in history and in relation to the rest of his ideas. To understand his approach, consider his credentials and the accidents of when he wrote. He was a member of A.E. Waite's Order of the Golden Dawn, a mystical society whose members included Evelyn Underhill, author of Mysticism, and poet W. B. Yeats, known for his poem, "The Second Coming." No doubt he derived much of the local color, as it were, and ideas for his novels from this involvement.

Aleister Crowley, the self-styled "Great Beast" tried to wrest control of the Golden Dawn. Whatever one thinks of "Mr. Crowley" as Ozzy Osbourne sang of him, he seems to be the model for a certain type of magician who appears in Williams' novels. Williams delves briefly into the events surrounding the dark history of the Malleus Mallificarum, the witch trials, the mysteries associated with the Knights Templar, the Illuminati and the "secret histories" which these days are so much in vogue in contemporary fiction.

As in The Descent of the Dove, he often suggests alternate explanations, one being that in eras when the established church seemed to be on the side of the oppressors, by whatever political machinations, people would naturally look for some other power to invoke or side with satan (which means "enemy") whom Milton depicted as warring in heaven 'gainst heaven's matchless king. If the Knights Templar took pot shots at crosses on church steeples, Williams suggests, it might be for no darker device than to improve their skill as archers.

As Williams himself writes, this is not the book for followers of Crowley; it doesn't tell how to conjure the Ape of Thoth or guide the reader through the Necromonicron (a sort of magic in which Williams probably did not believe). As an editor at Oxford University Press, Williams was one of the most widely-read men of his generation (and far more than most in ours). Unlike the recent revisionist "histories" and fictionalized reversions, Williams presents an brief overview of mostly unkown history and as with all his books, his ideas seem increasingly relevant. ... Read more

Product Description
Poetry and Consciousness brings together C. K. Williams's meditations on psychology, an epistemology of poems, considerations of poetry and its relations to history and to the novel, exploring the causes and consequences of that fruitful breakdown of language the author calls "narrative dysfunction." A former Guggenheim fellow, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, and noted critic, Williams reveals the influences that helped spur and shape the development of his art.
The essays explore the world of poetry and of poets, tracing the curious forces that generate the deeply rooted but richly unfamiliar languages of verse. Williams addresses a broad audience, justifying poetry as a form of embodied consciousness that helps us situate ourselves in history, a concrete form of opportunity and responsibility. The essays examine the very structure of consciousness and suggest tools for living that enable both writers and readers to approach their own situated selves as well as other selves and other poets.
C. K. Williams has authored ten books of poetry, including Flesh and Blood, A Dream of Mind, and The Vigil. He currently teaches in the Writing Program at Princeton University.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Valuable Insight Into Williams's Poetry.
While initially I read the essays in this collection as sources for a paper on Williams, I found it extremely useful to my own writing to read his thoughts about poetry and discussing his ability to briefly focus on his surroundings in so many of his poems that result in powerful and deeply felt poems. In one essay, "On `From My Window' " Williams discusses the actual events that inspired the poem, mentioning,"much of our moral education consists in.... apparently minor, oblique encounters." ... Read more

Product Description
An important chapter in the story of Anglo-Americanliterary relationships in the twentieth century is the friendship ofthe American poet William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) and the Englishpoet Charles Tomlinson (1927- ). The two men assisted and encouragedeach other in a variety of ways, and their transatlantic dialoguecontinues to interest readers and critics of modern and contemporarypoetry. This edition includes the correspondence of Williams andTomlinson, a selection of their critical writings, observations ontheir relationship by Hugh Kenner, Paul Mariani, and Donald Davie, anda selection of poems by Tomlinson that show the influence of Williams. ... Read more

Product Description

Catalogue of the exhibition at Williams College Museum of Art (entitled "Beauties . . . of a Quiet Kind"), August 1993-January 1994. Foreword by Linda Shearer; additional essay by Marion M. Goethals; catalogue entries by Vivian Patterson and others.

Customer Reviews (2)

Last novel by the master of noir writers
I finished reading Charles Williams' last published novel, _Man on a Leash_ (1973). It wasn't published by Gold Medal though its content is equivalent. The plot moves quickly with a few twists thrown in. The protag is an ex-baseball player (couldn't hit the MLB curveball) with a sketchy "CIA-esque" background. There is an unusual double kidnapping and resolution. A few funny lines thrown in for good measure.Not Mr. Williams best novel, but a good introduction to the master of the noir writers.

A good story, well told and satisfying.
Eric Romstead would be the first to admit he didn't know everything there was to know about his father.Hell, he hadn't even seen the old man in four years.But when he's told by police that his father was killed in a drug deal gone bad, he knows full well that isn't the real story.

Man on a Leash by Charles Williams is an exciting, suspenseful murder mystery told as a third person narration.Williams consistently employs detailed descriptive passages that serve to draw the reader right into the action packed plot as it swiftly unfolds.Moreover, Eric Romstead, his murdered father Gunnar and key supportive characters are well fleshed out and realistically depicted.

This is a fine example of mystery writing.A compelling story with realistic characters told in straightforward fashion.You can't ask for more than that.Highly recommended. ... Read more