Customer Reviews

Descent into Hell: A Novel

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I have heard it said that one either finds Charles Williams' novels repellingly strange or utterly fascinating. I have found this to be untrue: I find Descent Into Hell both repellingly strange and utterly fascinating. All of Williams' novels are difficult reading: the depth of his thought baffled even C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien (good friends of his, and no mean intellects themselves).

Williams' writing style and content will seem highly unorthodox to many modern Christians, but this is perhaps his greatest strength. Admittedly his works are strange, very strange (Descent Into Hell is perhaps the strangest), but at their core, beneath all the gothic style and occultic atmosphere, they are almost scintillatingly orthodox. Williams takes biblical Christianity, strips it of all the trappings and additions imposed by our culture, and dresses it up entirely different. This is not to say he regards Christianity as merely a creed; anyone who has read his books can tell you he does not "demythologize" Christianity--the books are steeped in the supernatural. Rather, he believes in a Christian cosmos, bound by both natural and supernatural laws, and subject at last to the will of the I AM.

Although Williams' style is not entirely to my Chestertonian tastes, every time I read one of his novels I can hardly stand to put it down. At times they indeed seem like "clotted glory," but rest assured that the Williams' meaning will hit you at a later date with the power of a bolt of lightning. He's just so intelligent it takes the rest of us a while to catch up....

Among the writers associated along beside C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien with the "Inkling" writers, Charles Williams' voice is arguably the most curious. Williams' seven novels discuss the triumph of a vibrant, mystical, rather unorthodox Christianity over the forces of occult despair.

Williams was by instinct a poet with more than a bit of Tennison among his influences. His books are fairly easy reading, even though he alternates between rather vivid literary allusion and an idiosyncratic stream of narrative consciousness. In this book, he personifies salvation and damnation in characters who, despite all the odd phrasing and high flown prose, seem eminently human. The passage in which a character meets a final damnation is extremely effective, neither preachy nor filled with that sort of "tacky Mr. Scratch and his horrid fire" sensibility that some writing about the afterlife can have. This, along with the other six novels in the series (the series is linked thematically and stylistically rather than by plot), is certainly worth a read.

In our time, we see a lot of Christian fiction which seeks to tell stories of salvation and damnation through the use of fantasy characters (Peretti and his imitators come to mind). Yet, Williams' work, consciously literary, willing to risk heterodoxy to make a point, and infused with a victorian poetic sensibility, consistently takes the reader to places that the modern works fail to glimpse.

In short, Charles Williams is the real thing, and well worth a read.

Charles Williams is probably the least known of the four great Mythopoeic Masters--C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald, and J.R.R. Tolkien being the other three. There is perhaps no better introduction to the works of this remarkable man than "Descent Into Hell."

Williams did not write "easy" books. His work is full of obscure allusion and even more obscure vocabulary. His prose is possibly even worse than that of MacDonald. "War and Peace" probably reads more quickly than a 200 page novel by Williams.

Bearing all this in mind, there are probably a million better authors than Williams on his best day. Where Williams stands out is in his thought. I doubt there have even been a handful of authors who have ever expressed an idea over the whole course of a novel as well as Charles Williams did.

"Descent Into Hell" showcases two pillars of Williams' thought: Co-inherence and Substitutionary Love. To simplify, these terms respectively mean (or suggest) that humanity is fundamentally, mysteriously linked and that it is possible to literally bear the greatest burdens of another.

"Descent Into Hell" is also about the pitfalls of being self-absorbed. Williams shows what a great danger this self-centeredness can be on both the physical and spiritual level.

Charles Williams is a truly eye-opening author. All that I have read of his work has changed me in some way. I give "Descent Into Hell" a strong recommendation.

Ask any minister what part of the Apostle's Creed elicits the greatest number of questions from parishioners. He or she will say without hesitation, "He descended into hell."

This is a puzzling phrase for us. If we want to have a Biblically accurate and theologically sound understanding of the most difficult phrase of the Apostle's Creed, we may wish to turn to The Book of Confessions. Or John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. Or we might want to read this novel, by one of the most dazzling Christian novelists of the past (Twentieth!) century.

Charles Williams should be better known that he is, as a brilliant scholar, inventive writer and faithful Christian of modern times. A forceful, inventive and compelling person, Willams was a member of the famous "Inklings"-the creative Oxford University Christian writers whose company included C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien.

The setting of the book is an affluent suburb of a large city where a group of interesting residents have prevailed upon one of their most famous neighbors, a world-renowned playwright, to produce his newest play. We meet them all as the rehearsals are taking place-and we learn that each person is on a spiritual journey fraught with dangers, toils and snares. There is love and lust, loss and confusion, the meaning of life and the meaning of work, all wrapped up in the preparations for performing the play.

If Shakespeare is to be trusted, all the world's a stage... Williams uses the metaphor of the play to portray life, in this world and the next. So we have the world of "The Hill" (their neighborhood-but could it be any suburban enclave), intersecting with the world of the play. We also have a larger challenge. For, as he does in all his novels, Williams reveals the intersection between the "real world" and the spiritual realm. Past and present at times merge. Memory and hope combine. People make choices that will affect their lives for all eternity. Sometimes, without thinking.

We meet the wise and kindly playwright, Stanhope. The eminent and ambitious historian Wentworth. The beguiling and mysterious Mrs. Samile. The fear-stricken Pauline, whose perils help us grasp the key to the most famous verse in Galatians... "Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." For that passage alone, the novel is unsurpassed.

But you will also not want to miss Wentworth's Choice. Classic Christian truth portrayed unforgettably.

If you are of a literal bent, you may find it hard to wrap your mind around some of his images. Don't give up! Allow yourself to be guided by a pro, into a world you may not have visited before. Read this book slower than you are accustomed to read novels. Intersperse its reading with Biblical study on the same concepts: wholeness, healing, Christian love, jealousy, anger, fear, faithfulness, joy, life and life eternal.

(Note: This novel is one of a series that also includes these titles, by the same author and from the same publisher: All Hallows Eve, War in Heaven, Many Dimensions, The Place of the Lion, The Greater Trumps).

If you find this review helpful you might want to read some of my other reviews, including those on subjects ranging from biography to architecture, as well as religion and fiction.

Charles Williams was certainly an intriguing and brilliant writer and I agree with the reviewer who concluded her review by describing him as the real thing. He had an influence on CS Lewis as one of the Inklings (Tolkien , Lewis and Williams are probably the three best known members of the group). Genius though he was, William's has been overshadowed by Tolkien and Lewis. Nevertheless his books are worth investigating if this offering is anything to go by.

Regarded as the key to his thought, Descent into Hell is a tour-de-force, containing a wealth of (at times explosive) imagery. As the other reviews have noted, it focuses on two characters in particular - Pauline Anstruther and Laurence Wentworth. The story centres on the production of a play by a poet called Peter Stanhope, who becomes a friend of Pauline by reason of her having a part in the play. Pauline confides in Stanhope and discloses to him a secret fear she has had for many years. She is offered by Stanhope the choice of giving her fear to him and letting him bear it for her. This then leads to a climactic point in the story when Pauline has to offer to bear the burden of one of her ancestors. Here we see the old medieval notion of substitution, which is the central theme of Descent into Hell. At this point Williams misunderstands the Christian teaching on substitution, giving his characters the part of Saviour-Redeemer (which is unique to Jesus Christ). I mean by this that he portrays his characters as bearing burdens which Christ alone can bear. See the books recommended at the end of this review for an example of how CS Lewis at one point (in his personal life, not his writings) was influenced by William's doctrine of substitution (Lewis greatly admired William's as a writer and speaker).

The character of Wentworth in the story reveals how compulsive a fantasy life can become. Choosing to take to himself an insubstantial fantasy of the woman he desires, he becomes increasingly in-coherent, and enclosed in himself - finally falling into the hell of self, an abyss of non-being.

I recommend anyone reading this book to also study two chapters from the writings of Leanne Payne - a chapter entitled Incarnational Reality - The Key to Carrying the Cross in her book - The Healing Presence, and also the appendix of Real Presence entitled The Great Divorce, by the same author.
These chapters will shed light on some of the erroneous extremes in William's writings and thought.

W. H. Auden and T. S. Elliot admired this eccentric author and found his novels great reading. My small voice echoes "Darn Right!" Gently invite anyone still laboring under the illusion that you "make your own reality" or that "by following your heart you'll never go astray" to a good slow read of this mystical horror. Laurence Whitworth is as good a cautionary protagonist for which one could hope. Two parallel themes, the lightness of love's burden and the burdened suicide's call to light are both deeply moving. After my third reading I'm glimpsing what Williams' tried to reveal, but hope subsequent rereads will take me even deeper. Don't give up! this book's worth every minute you spend in it.

In a housing development called Battle Hill just north of London, a local drama group is staging a play written by the distinguished playwright/poet Peter Stanhope. There is a brutal history of ancient bloodshed that seems to hover over this geographical spot, presenting itself as a sort of pressure canopy over the participants in the play. Of these, Pauline Anstruther is particularly bedevilled (literally obsessed with personal fear), and becomes, in many ways, the central focus of the book. She is the only character who seems to understand what Stanhope has set out to accomplish through his play. On the site of Battle Hill, an ancestor of Pauline's was burnt at the stake as a heretic under the persecutions of Mary Tudor. Whether real or imagined (does it matter?) Pauline is pursued by a "doppelganger", a type of ghost which seems to be yourself dogging your own footsteps. It always appears when she is alone and it stays at a considerable distance. Her fear centers around the question of what will happen to her when it finally catches up to her, and perhaps even touches her. She is relentlessly pursued.

Stanhope, seeing and understanding her struggle, begins to instruct her in the ways of "substitution". By this he means that one can, by mutual consent, take on the fears, pains or BURDENS of another. Honestly, when I read of this in Chapter 6, I was overwhelmed by the revelation of it all... what to me has become a very profound, albeit difficult truth. The concept of the deliberate agreement and intention for one person to carry the other's burden, just as one might a parcel. Stanhope takes our feeble understanding of "bearing one another's burdens" up a notch or two... or three. He literally offers to take Pauline's burden of fear upon himself, by suggesting to her "...what can be easier than for me to carry a little while a burden that isn't mine?" She, as can be expected, is completely confused, so he continues to explain: "To bear a burden is precisely to carry it instead of. If you're still carrying yours, I'm not carrying it for you - however sympathetic I may be. It's a fact of experience. If you give a weight to me, you can't be carrying it yourself; all I'm asking you to do is to notice that blazing truth."

He instructs her that the next time she is alone and afraid, she is to put HIM in her place and let HIM be afraid FOR her. He, in turn, takes it upon himself to BE afraid in her stead. He does this by visualizing the situation that she is frightened of and opening himself fully to the negative emotions she might feel as a consequence, but because he is not embroiled within the situation by weight of past emotional connotations, it is an altogether lighter burden for him to bear. It works. She receives a powerful deliverance as a result of his sacrifice, and further finds that the doppelganger that she has run from for all those years, turned out to be no great horror, but her ideal spiritual self. After reading chapter 6, I immediately re-read Isaiah chapter 53 in the Bible and realized that Williams' ideas were not entirely original, but were definitely communicated in a new and beautiful way that emphasizes the responsibility we have one to another.

There are so many other characters and situations about this book that one could discuss, but for brevity I wanted to focus on that which meant the most to me personally. It does become arcane at times... no, it is ALWAYS arcane, but that is the nature of all of Williams' work. I've heard commentary that suggested this is Williams' most complex novel but I disagree. I feel it is conversely the least strange of all of his stuff.

Everyday characters participate in the grand abstractions of good and evil, their lives becoming destroyed or glorified by their willingness or refusal to participate. Williams' notion was that the metaphysical is intimately available to all of us, and the stories he tells challenge the materialistic, amoral view common in our culture (and thus Williams' lack of popularity). The action of many of his other novels make for a good read at any level; Descent into Hell is less adventurous and more philosophical. But his fictional treatments of a young woman's willingness to participate in Eternity, and a man's willingness to succumb to complete degradation of the spirit are both clear and memorable

Ere it shall be told. Ere Babylon was dust, the Magus Zoroaster, my dead child, Met his own image Walking in the garden. That apparition, sole of men, he saw. -Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound

Charles Williams is less well known than his fellow Inklings, like C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, but like them he wrote a series of novels which combine elements of fantasy and Christian symbolism. The action of Descent into Hell takes place in Battle Hill, outside London, amidst the townspeople's staging of a new play by Peter Stanhope. The hill seems to reside at the crux of time, as characters from the past appear, and perhaps at a doorway to the beyond, as characters are alternately summoned heavenwards or descend into hell.

Pauline Anstruther, the heroine of the novel, lives in fear of meeting her own doppelganger, which has appeared to her throughout her life. But Stanhope, in an action central to the author's own theology, takes the burden of her fears upon himself--Williams called this The Doctrine of Substituted Love--and enables Pauline, at long last, to face her true self. Williams drew this idea from the biblical verse, "Ye shall bear one another's burdens :"

She said, still perplexed at a strange language : 'But how can I cease to be troubled ? will it leave off coming because I pretend it wants you ? Is it your resemblance that hurries up the street ?'

'It is not,' he said, 'and you shall not pretend at all. The thing itself you may one day meet--never mind that now, but you'll be free from all distress because that you can pass on to me. Haven't you heard it said that we ought to bear one another's burdens ?'

'But that means---' she began, and stopped.

'I know,' Stanhope said. 'It means listening sympathetically, and thinking unselfishly, and being anxious about, and so on. Well, I don't say a against all that; no doubt it helps. But I think when Christ or St. Paul, or whoever said bear, or whatever he Aramaically said instead of bear, he meant something much more like carrying a parcel instead of someone else. To bear a burden is precisely to carry it instead of. If you're still carrying yours, I'm not carrying it for you--however sympathetic I may be. And anyhow there's no need to introduce Christ, unless you wish. It's a fact of experience. If you give a weight to me, you can't be carrying it yourself; all I'm asking you to do is to notice that blazing truth. It doesn't sound very difficult.'

And so Stanhope does take the weight, with no surreptitious motive, in the most affecting scene in the novel. And Pauline, liberated, is able to accept truth.

On the other hand, Lawrence Wentworth, a local historian, finding his desire for Adela Hunt to be unrequited, falls in love instead with a spirit form of Adela, which seems to represent a kind of extreme self love on his part.

The shape of Lawrence Wentworth's desire had emerged from the power of his body. He had assented to that making, and again, outside the garden of satisfied dreams, he had assented to the company of the shape which could not be except by his will and was imperceptibly to possess his will. Image without incarnation, it was the delight of his incarnation for it was without any of the things that troubled him in the incarnation of the beloved. He could exercise upon it all arts but one; he could not ever discover by it or practise towards it freedom of love. A man cannot love himself; he can only idolize it, and over the idol delightfully tyrannize--without purpose. The great gift which the simple idolatry os self gives is lack of further purpose; it is, the saints tell us, a somewhat similar thing that exists in those wholly possessed by their End; it is, human experience shows, the most exquisite delight in the interchanges of romantic love. But in all loves but one there are counterpointing times of purpose; in this only there are none.

As he isolates himself more and more with this insubstantial figure, and dreams of descending a silver rope into a dark pit, Wentworth begins the descent into Hell.

Because of the way that time and space and the supernatural all converge upon Battle Hill, the book can be somewhat confusing. But it is rich in atmosphere and unusual ideas and it is unlike any other book I've ever read. It is challenging, but ultimately rewarding if you stick with it.

GRADE : B

I am sympathetic to both those who were put off by the perceived opacity of this book and those who loved it. Contrary to what one reviewer wrote, it is not an easy book to read unless one's mind is uniquely conditioned, attuned, and receptive. (And though there must be more than only one mind like that out there, there cannot be very many.) Intelligence and some familiarity with theology, Judeo-Christian folklore of the occult, multi-dimensional conceptualizations, English literature and culture, etc. help a great deal, and may be essential for the patience, stamina, or faith it takes to read it. If one is looking for an easy read, this will not be it. If one is willing to read, and re-read (even aloud sometimes), think, and read, perhaps, once more, (as he would read a poem) this book will reward you richly.