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The Place of the Lion by Charles Williams
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The Place of the Lion (original 1931; edition 2011)

by Charles Williams

Series: Aspects of Power (3)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
6411136,090 (3.9)1 / 28
One man must save the human race from total destruction when a small British village is invaded by a terrifying host of archetypal creatures released from the spiritual world In the small English town of Smetham on the outskirts of London, a wall separating two worlds has broken down. The meddling and meditations of a local mage, Mr. Berringer, has caused a rift in the barrier between the corporeal and the spiritual, and now all hell has broken loose. Strange creatures are descending on Smethem--terrifying supernatural archetypes wreaking wholesale havoc, destruction, and death. Some residents, like the evil, power-hungry Mr. Foster, welcome the horrific onslaught. Others, like the cool and intellectual Damaris, refuse to accept what her eyes and heart tell her until it is far too late. Only a student named Anthony, emboldened by his unwavering love for Damaris, has the courage to face the horror head on. But if he alone cannot somehow restore balance to the worlds, all of humankind will surely perish in the impending apocalypse. An extraordinary metaphysical fantasy firmly based in Platonic ideals, The Place of the Lion is a masterful blending of action and thought by arguably the most provocative of the University of Oxford's renowned Inklings--the society of writers in the 1930s that included such notables as C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Owen Barfield. With unparalleled imagination, literary skill, and intelligence, the remarkable Charles Williams has created a truly unique thriller, a tour de force of the fantastic that masterfully engages the mind, heart, and spirit.… (more)
Member:blueviolent
Title:The Place of the Lion
Authors:Charles Williams
Info:Faber and Faber (2011), Paperback, 206 pages
Collections:To read
Rating:***
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The Place of the Lion by Charles Williams (1931)

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» See also 28 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 11 (next | show all)
Note on why added: Pre-fantasy, influenced CS Lewis, said to be philosophically interesting
  eri_kars | Jul 10, 2022 |
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3757516.html

Williams was one of the other Inklings apart from J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, and for some reason I decided to start reading him with this work, though it is not his most popular (according to both LibraryThing and Goodreads, that would be Descent into Hell). I confess I did not get much out of it. Platonic archetypes begin to appear disruptively in today's world (England in 1931) and disrupt but also ennoble our hero and heroine. All a bit confusing really. ( )
  nwhyte | Sep 13, 2021 |
What can I say about this deeply odd book?

I'd read a couple of Charles Williams' novels along time ago. They were out of print and it was fun tracking them down, before the internet destroyed the fun of hunting for books in ramshackle stores.

The fantastical story of The Place of the Lion moves along at a fair pace. Some of the strange phenomena are rather beautifully described. Beyond that? Anomalies and contradictions... Unlike his drinking partners, Tolkien and Lewis, Williams makes explicit his Christian message in his battle between Good and Evil. This stretches credence from time to time as his rather stuffy and academic characters are turned into super-heroes. It's like imagining your local vicar transformed into the Incredible Hulk. It's not really clear whether the appalling class prejudice is Williams' own or supposed to be the folly of his characters. Much of the dialogue comes straight out of a Biggles adventure and the obscurantism of the vocabulary deployed suggests the petty elitism of Will Self.

What can I say, then? You won't read anything else like it, that's for sure... ( )
1 vote PZR | Jul 28, 2018 |
A rather enigmatic novel steeped in esoteric mythology. To get the most out of this you will need to be at least an ameteur medievalist with the ability to suspend reason a bit. Charles Williams was one of the Inklings, an informal literary discussion group associated with the University of Oxford, England, for nearly two decades between the early 1930s and late 1949. Shows some affinity to Lewis' "That Hideous Strength," but is somewhat less accessible. ( )
  bness2 | May 23, 2017 |
See the review of my other copy ( )
  antiquary | Dec 12, 2016 |
Showing 1-5 of 11 (next | show all)
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From the top of the bank, behind a sparse hedge of thorn, the lioness stared at the Herfordshire road.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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One man must save the human race from total destruction when a small British village is invaded by a terrifying host of archetypal creatures released from the spiritual world In the small English town of Smetham on the outskirts of London, a wall separating two worlds has broken down. The meddling and meditations of a local mage, Mr. Berringer, has caused a rift in the barrier between the corporeal and the spiritual, and now all hell has broken loose. Strange creatures are descending on Smethem--terrifying supernatural archetypes wreaking wholesale havoc, destruction, and death. Some residents, like the evil, power-hungry Mr. Foster, welcome the horrific onslaught. Others, like the cool and intellectual Damaris, refuse to accept what her eyes and heart tell her until it is far too late. Only a student named Anthony, emboldened by his unwavering love for Damaris, has the courage to face the horror head on. But if he alone cannot somehow restore balance to the worlds, all of humankind will surely perish in the impending apocalypse. An extraordinary metaphysical fantasy firmly based in Platonic ideals, The Place of the Lion is a masterful blending of action and thought by arguably the most provocative of the University of Oxford's renowned Inklings--the society of writers in the 1930s that included such notables as C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Owen Barfield. With unparalleled imagination, literary skill, and intelligence, the remarkable Charles Williams has created a truly unique thriller, a tour de force of the fantastic that masterfully engages the mind, heart, and spirit.

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