Review: ‘The Inklings of Oxford. C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Their Friends’ by Harry Lee Poe

This coffee table book was published in 2009 and I remember buying it shortly afterwards when in Oxford, possibly in the same year when I visited Oxonmoot in September (at least, that seems reasonably probable.)

As is the nature of such books it is brimming with lovely photographs of Oxford, both city and its suburbs, and it is well worth getting for the photographs alone. The book is only available in a paperback edition, not a hardback, but that does not distract from a pleasant reading experience; it feels solid to the touch and its large measurements (21.9 x 1.6 x 28.6 cm; ~DINA4 or US letter) are fitting to a coffee table book.

The text as written is well-researched and does not seem to have any glaring mistakes - I am not as good on minute details when it comes to Lewis but given that Poe is rather evidently knowledgeable about him I am quietly assuming this to be excellent, some odd typos excepted [Neibelungen instead of Nibelungen, for example, or St Chappell for Sainte-Chappelle (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)].

Unfortunately, this is where the good parts of the book end for me and I will try and explain to you why I am rather miffed at this particular publication.

It does not come as a surprise that Grayson Carter’s review (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) [PDF] with Sehnsucht: The C.S. Lewis Journal gives it the thumbs up.

Scholars and admirers of Lewis (and the Inklings) will take great pleasure in this visually delightful and informative contribution. No doubt, it will grace coffee tables throughout North America and beyond and provide a most welcome gift to sympathetic friends and colleagues.

And when I read the name of Pieter Collier in the preface I was both pleased and shocked at the same time: Pieter is one of the eminent Tolkien collectors in the world - besides being one of the eminent salesmen on all things Tolkien - and he does know both Tolkien’s life and works.

Having said this, he is no published scholar and when you read names like Walter Hooper and Colin Duriez among other C.S. Lewis scholarship names you know where this is heading - no corresponding Tolkien scholars are named. So this told me a lot about what I could expect with the book’s contents.

Do have a look at the interview Pieter did with the author (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre). I read it after I had read the book and to me it borders on the absurd with these two statements:

The book is fairly well balanced,…

It took thirty years to research the book and two months to write it.

This book is not fairly well balanced. It is a decently written summary of C.S. ‘Jack’ Lewis’ life, interspersed at chosen moments with mentions of Tolkien and some other Inklings. At no time does anyone else take pole position in the telling but CSL. To me, the book is misnamed.

It took thirty years to research the book and two months to write it. The summary delivered does not go beyond the scope of Carpenter’s Inklings or any of Duriez’s books. Add some Diana Glyer and you’re there. These are all good books, particularly Glyer’s work on the Inklings’ fellowship, but to claim that it took thirty years to research sounds odd…

The author makes clear the inspiration to writing this happened in 1979 with his first visit to Oxford but ‘research’?

Given the fact that this book clocks in officially at 172 pages as a coffee table book this will tell you that the length of the actual text is possibly on the same level as the wikipedia entries of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien combined - excluding the discussions of their works, of course, as these take up a lot of internet space.

So, yes, as a coffee table book with an introductory text to C.S. Lewis’ life and works - plus a few notes on other people here and there - it is a lovely book.

However, do not expect anything of substance and not a full portrayal of the Inklings. It’s a C.S. Lewis book.

And at some points Poe gets dangerously close at overdoing it with his oversimplifications and allusions - on page 85 he is wildly comparing Bilbo and Frodo at Bag End with Jack and Warnie at the Kilns, and on page 86 Warnie may have partially inspired both Bilbo and Samwise Gamgee. Please do not make me recite his arguments on why the Ring der Nibelungen and the Lord of the Rings are evidently intertwined…

You may be a little surprised at my rather ill-tempered review but there are moments when I simply cannot bear the overbearing attitude of Lewis scholars when it comes to Tolkien anymore: Lewis was the fun one, Tolkien did not have any friends (rather ill-temperedly put.)

If you ask me - CSL was a bachelor with almost no responsibilites and had way more good luck when it came to his family and/ or his social status than JRRT (no, Ms Moore does not count in comparison to having a family of six, four kids, and the administrative responsibilities Tolkien took on with his chairs in Oxford) and yes, we owe him one thing: He motivated Tolkien to keep on writing.

Others have worked on this as well but Glyer has written the seminal text on this with The Company They Keep (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre). Tolkien did not need help in writing, he did not need anyone else’s ideas - unlike CSL, one might argue in some cases -, but he needed someone to egg him on. Lewis was his encouraging audience for a while, then Christopher took over this role.

So, to bring this rant - and I have only just realised it really is more of a rant than a review - to an end:

If you are looking for a book with lovely photographs of Oxford from 2007 - adding a few archival pieces from the Wade (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) and people like Billett Potter - and an entertaining and short introduction into C.S Lewis’ life and works with a smattering of other Inklings’ mentioned this might be a good coffee table book for you. I bought it for the photos.

However, if you are expecting a book on the “Inklings of Oxford” you will be disappointed as it is essentially a book with only one person in the foreground - that is, CSL - and at no other point does anyone else play an essential role. What it does not tell you in the title is that it is essentially a promotional Christian publication.

The only tour of the four mentioned at the end of the book I would also do with you is the one leading you from St. Giles to the Trout. Any guided tour as mentioned in apps and/or guides of today with a thematical emphasis will work out better - and already did in 2009.

My apologies for this rant but I would love to have those about two hours back - reading the book took decidedly less than an hour, writing this more. And I did edit this post to make it fairly well balanced…

[Additional review: The official CSL website (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre).]

One week early release for my supporters here on Steady.