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Charles Williams

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Author

The Resume

    (September 20, 1886-May 15, 1945)
    Born in London, United Kingdom
    British author, literary critic, and theologian
    Member of The Inklings along with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien
    Famous for his 'supernatural thrillers,' especially 'Descent Into Hell' (1937), and his originals thoughts on Christian theology
    Novels included 'War in Heaven and Many Dimensions' (1930), 'The Place of the Lion' (1931), 'The Greater Trumps' (1932), 'Shadows of Ecstasy' (1933) and 'All Hallow's Eve' (1945)
    Plays included 'The Masques of Amen House' trilogy: 'The Masque of the Manuscript' (1927), 'The Masque of Perusal' (1929) and 'The Masque of the Termination of Copyright' (1930)
    Other plays included 'The Chaste Wanton' (1929), 'A Myth of Shakespeare' (1930), 'A Myth of Francis Bacon' (1930), 'Seed of Adam' (1937), 'The Death of Fortune' (1939), 'Tower of Light' (1940), 'The Three Temptations' (1942) and 'Hour of the Octopus' (1945)
    Poetry collections included 'The Silver Star' (1912), 'Poems of Conformity' (1917). 'Divorce' (1920), 'Windows of Night' (1924), 'Heroes and Kings' (1930), 'Taliessin through Logres' (1938) and 'The Region of the Summer Stars' (1944)
    Theological works included 'He Came Down from Heaven' (1938), 'The Descent of the Dove: A Short History of the Holy Spirit in the Church' (1939), 'Witchcraft' (1941), 'The Forgiveness of Sins' (1942), 'The Image of the City and Other Essays' (published posthumously, 1958) and 'Outlines of Romantic Theology' (1990)
    Biographical works included 'A Short Life of Shakespeare' (1933), 'Bacon' (1933). 'James I' (1934), 'Rochester' (1935), 'Queen Elizabeth' (1936), 'Henry VII' (1937) and 'Flecker of Dean Close' (1946)
    Subject of Humphrey Carpenter's non-fiction work, The Inklings (1978)
    First major English language publisher of the works of Soren Kierkegaard

Why he might be annoying:

    Much of his work was not published until well after (sometimes decades) his death.
    Although never accused of sexual immorality, his multiple close friendships with young female fans caused considerable consternation among his fans and friends.
    He constantly used the term, 'Romantic' in his work but never defined it.
    His work was called, 'difficult' and 'obscure' and one of his friends speculated the only way to understand his work was to have had a long time close friendship with him.
    His own personal spiritual/religious life was hard to understand; he considered himself an orthodox Anglican but attended a pagan, Fellowship of the Rosy Cross temple; admired and identified with the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches but never considered joining either.
    He defended Caiphas and Pilate, pointing out they were just doing their job, which is not generally recognized as much of a defense.
    He was weird looking.
    None of his work has ever been filmed.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He died young at the age of 58.
    Awarded a scholarship to the University of London, he had to drop out after a year due to his family's poverty.
    Separated from his wife by WWII, he wrote her 700 love letters in five years.
    Despite his lack of a college degree, he became a lecturer at Oxford which later awarded him an honorary MA degree, their equivalent of a PhD.
    He started working at Oxford Press in 1908 as a proofreader, and quickly became an editor, a job he kept until his death in 1945.
    He was famous for his theology of co-inherence which posited that in love the Holy Trinity and humanity intermingled in a very real, tangible way.
    His work, 'The Figure of Beatrice' inspired Dorothy L. Sayers to learn Italian and write her famous translation of Dante's Divine Comedy.

Credit: tom_jeffords


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 13 Votes: 61.54% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 40 Votes: 90.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying