Between the 1930s and 40s, a group of writers and literary enthusiasts calling themselves The Inklings would regularly meet for drinks and discussion at Oxford University. Valuing narrative in fiction and pushing boundaries of ideas into fantasy, two members of the group would put out some of the most famous novels ever written and still widely read today. You may have heard of them: The Lord of The Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia. While J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis are the most notable writers, the Inklings at large would produce a wealth of literary criticism, philosophical writings, plays and novels that really shaped the literary world of their day. The group included others such as Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, Jack A. W. Bennett, Lord David Cecil, Nevill Coghill, Hugo Dyson, Adam Fox, Robert Havard, Gervase Mathew, James Dundas-Grant and C.S Lewis’ brother Warren Hamilton Lewis. You can read about them all in Phillip Zeleski's book The Fellowship.
The Inklings began under undergraduate Edward Tangye Lean at Oxford’s University College in 1931 as a way for the group to read their unfinished works aloud and get feedback from their peers, which consisted of both students and academic dons. C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were among the attendees under Lean, but when he completed his time at Oxford in 1933, the pair moved the group to Oxford’s Magdalen College to be with their peer group. This group lasted until 1949, regularly meeting each Tuesday at The Horse and Child pub at Oxford for drinks and discussion and then each Thursday in C.S. Lewis’ room for reading aloud manuscripts. These meetings were “a feast of reason and flow of soul,” as J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote.
The Eagle and Child pub where The Inklings would regularly meet.
This group has had a long legacy in the literary world with many works still commonly read today and both Lewis and Tolkien’s fantasy novels having received multiple film adaptations and video games. Wheaton College in Illinois has the largest collection of original manuscripts of The Inklings and has their own similar society, humorously named the WhInklings. There are many books about the group as well as their original works, and you can read all about them here at Herrick District library or through your Hoopla app.
The Inklings were a group of writers and literary enthusiasts that formed at Oxford University in the 1930s-40s and included writers such as C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield and more. Check out the history of these writers and some of their works! HerrickDL AdultPicks
