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Location
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Document Type
Presentation
Event Website
https://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/mythcon-53.htm
Start Date
3-8-2024 4:30 PM
End Date
3-8-2024 5:20 PM
Description
At the zenith of the Inklings’s social and creative energy, Tolkien wrote a poem about “Our Dear Charles Williams.” It is a long poem—over three pages—full of praise, gentle teasing, and inside jokes. Many references may escape the casual reader or the Tolkien scholar who is less familiar with Williams’s works. Furthermore, the exact nature of the friendship between Tolkien and Williams has been frequently debated. In every friendship, loss is inevitable, whether through time, distance, conflict, or finally death. This is one such story. J.R.R. Tolkien and Charles Williams were friends for about six years–from 1939 until Williams’s sudden death in 1945. Williams seemed to have had a steady affection and admiration for Tolkien, enjoying his company and his writings, while Tolkien’s feelings went through a dramatic change. In this talk, I’ll clear up confusion about their mutual admiration and provide a gloss of lines from the poem “Our Dear Charles Williams.”
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Included in
Our Dear Charles Williams: Tolkien’s Feelings about the Oddest Inkling
Minneapolis, Minnesota
At the zenith of the Inklings’s social and creative energy, Tolkien wrote a poem about “Our Dear Charles Williams.” It is a long poem—over three pages—full of praise, gentle teasing, and inside jokes. Many references may escape the casual reader or the Tolkien scholar who is less familiar with Williams’s works. Furthermore, the exact nature of the friendship between Tolkien and Williams has been frequently debated. In every friendship, loss is inevitable, whether through time, distance, conflict, or finally death. This is one such story. J.R.R. Tolkien and Charles Williams were friends for about six years–from 1939 until Williams’s sudden death in 1945. Williams seemed to have had a steady affection and admiration for Tolkien, enjoying his company and his writings, while Tolkien’s feelings went through a dramatic change. In this talk, I’ll clear up confusion about their mutual admiration and provide a gloss of lines from the poem “Our Dear Charles Williams.”
https://dc.swosu.edu/mythcon/mc53/schedule/28
