A Charles Williams Reader by Charles Williams

Let me start this review with the punch-line: this by far the weakest of Williams' novels. While I personally found 'Shadows of Ecstasy' weaker than the others, it still offers insights-especially regarding the place of great literature as an ethical value system within Christianity. And it is possible that, considering the lapse of time which separates the two final novels, Williams had simply become more involved with other areas.

By 1933 Williams had greatly improved in his technique but I suspect that the earlier version may have had limitations which he could not effectively overcome and his creative interest may have waned. Perhaps the relative weakness of this novel lies in the fact that the original was simply not as inspired as those novels that followed. If it has been lost we can only theorise but It would be interesting to see exactly what changes Williams made. I wonder if the original version of the novel is extant. Williams confronts the problem of anti-Semitism and-to a lesser extent- Racism. Certainly we can see his love of poetry and sophisticated literary analysis. Roger Ingram is evidently a self-portrait of Williams himself. On the other hand, the African King has a powerful nobility of character and Nigel Considine certainly effectively conveys a very ambiguous charisma. At one point Roger Ingram tells Isabel that what Rosamond requires is 'Prussic Acid'. Isabel does have some quite good moments but she is only a secondary character and her sister, Rosamond, is little more than a silly stereotype. Generally the women in Williams are better realised than those in Tolkien or Lewis.

Nor is the characterisation of women as good. The great mystical disclosure moments which are such significant features in the other books are far less effective in this one-indeed, they are rather pallid. Despite that revision I don't think it is as successful as the four written between 19. However, 'Shadows of Ecstasy' was actually the first novel Williams wrote and the 1933 publication was an extensive revision of the earlier work. There were only to be two more: 'Descent Into Hell' in 1937 and 'All Hallow's Eve' in 1945. It also marked the end of his first sequence of novels. 'Shadows of Ecstasy' was published in 1933, a year after 'The Greater Trumps'.

A Charles Williams Reader by Charles Williams