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The Place of the Lion Paperback – February 14, 2003
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- Print length244 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherRegent College Publishing
- Publication dateFebruary 14, 2003
- Dimensions5 x 0.55 x 8 inches
- ISBN-101573831085
- ISBN-13978-1573831086
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- Publisher : Regent College Publishing (February 14, 2003)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 244 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1573831085
- ISBN-13 : 978-1573831086
- Item Weight : 9.8 ounces
- Dimensions : 5 x 0.55 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #3,428,463 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #44,494 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
- #67,150 in Classic Literature & Fiction
- #134,101 in Literary Fiction (Books)
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The mixture of meanings reflects the theme of the other world opening up into, and destroying, this world. Williams portrays the chaos and confusion this could cause, and the various kinds of reactions by characters. The most substantial characters - Anthony, Damaris, his beloved, and his friend Quentin - all have some knowledge of the supernatural world as depicted in literature and the Bible, but they don't necessarily believe it until it impinges on their world. For instance, Damaris studies and writes her thesis on medieval literature, specifically Abelard. She is aware of the religious beliefs of the period, but she does not share them. They are only of academic interest. It is only after an encounter in which Abelard comes alive, and becomes death, that she realizes the truth - that Abelard was real, not just an historical figure or concept.
Williams integrates his interest in philosophy and literature without becoming overbearing or too obscure (a criticism made by friends of other works of his). Christianity is the true account to which the story conforms, but it also incorporates Plato's Ideas, Aristotle's Forms, and the argument between universals and specifics that Abelard became noted for, at least in his own autobiography.
Odd story. I think if I was more up on my platonic philosophy and the person of Abelard I would enjoy it more. Its somewhat difficult to grasp some of the concepts.
I enjoyed the writing, the style. Maybe a little verbose at times but overall enjoyable. It is set in a small English town and reminds me of other books set in the pre-WWII English towns - such as HG Wells Invisible Man or Food of the Gods. Great lines here and there: "Where they were going he could not tell, but they went with glory..." Very poetic. Enjoyable.
This particular edition has a lot of odd typos - spaces within words. They are on many, many pages. Example: "but neither would sh e avoid them." Sometimes two or three on a line. You can read through it pretty easily but if I were to buy it again I would certainly look for a different edition. The book is well put together and in good shape otherwise. A sturdy paperback that will withstand numerous reads.
Overall I marked off 1 star for the weirdness of the story/heavy reliance on Plato (which for some would be a benefit) and one star for the typos in this edition.
I read this because of Charles Williams' connection with CS Lewis, that (reportedly) Lewis was heavily influenced by Williams's novels. I've read Descent into Hell and War in Heaven previously. I did not find those to be major obvious influences on Lewis's Ransom Trilogy, but there are obvious parallels with Place of the Lion. Glad I read it.
So who am I to disagree.
This book is at times extremely powerful, and I could feel the awe of God come through more than once.
It's also very weird and I don't think I understood it very well 😅
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This was the novel that made such an impact on CS Lewis that he wrote to the author and that generated such a deep and respectful friendship between the two men. Lewis later said it was like reading George Macdonald for the first time. Williams and Lewis became firm friends and, having read this 1931 novel, it’s easy to see how Williams’ strange, supernatural mystery-thriller had a shaping influence on the Narnia stories - even if only to affirm the supernatural-natural cross-over as one continuous reality in a work of fiction. The difference is that in Williams’ story the foreground setting is the ordinary world of the 1930s, and the other world keeps breaking into it. In the Narnia stories the characters are taken out of this ordinary world and into the ‘supernatural’, as it were. Here, ‘Narnia’ both good and evil, keeps infiltrating, invading, infesting the regularity of our world, cutting telephone lines, morphing the landscape, producing strange ‘mighty’ beasts that either fight for or against redemptive processes.
I’ve never read a novel with so many ‘special effects’ that seem almost a century ahead of their time. Williams often imagines what we are now used to seeing in sci-fi and horror movies. Landscapes shift, electric fire outlines footsteps, rows of buildings collapse or burst into flames without burning out, terror is loosed upon the world and those who are on the side of good, protected by a supernatural eagle, under whose wings they need not fear, need to overcome, by resisting, the forces of evil, who destroy those who surrender to them.
It’s a classic story of Good v. Evil but with a definite mystical Christian emphasis (although highly fictionalised in a kind of fantasy-horror genre that I’ve never read before). How many novels have you read where a mysterious power of good sweeps into a little church gathering while they are breaking bread, and is followed by this exchange:
Richardson (passing by): ‘I hope you had a happy service?’
They both looked at him with delight. ‘Now that’s very kind,’ the old gentleman said. ‘Thank you sir, it was a very beautiful service.’
‘Beautiful.’ the old lady said. She hesitated, fumbling with her umbrella; then, taking sudden courage, she took a step towards Richardson and went on, ‘You’ll excuse me sir, I know it’s old-fashioned, and you being quite a stranger, but – are you saved?’
Downside: sometimes truly chronic sentence construction (odd for an OUP editor, which was his day job). Once or twice I got a bit lost in terms of where we were in the story, but flicking to and fro in the pages soon set me right side up. So you’ll need to read continuously rather than put it down for a few days and then hope to pick it up again. Also, the imagistic representation of Christian ideas might strike you as more classical (Greek) than evangelical but it’s a work of fiction aiming more for dramatic impact rather than theological precision (cf. The Great Divorce by CSL).
One of the charms of this story is that such a cosmically catastrophic event unfolds itself in a quaint little English village and the process does not advance much beyond the bounds of that little corner of the world before the very ordinary protagonist begins to fight back (or be used by the archetypes of goodness and wisdom to combat this assault of the natural world by hostile archetypes like power and subtlety). Salvation for the village, and by extension the world, is found when the protagonist and his previously self-absorbed scholastic girlfriend step into their roles as a type of Adam and Eve and he exercises dominion over the creation with her help (not unlike C.S. Lewis's space trilogy). The idea that the power to resist the undoing of this world comes through such mundane and ordinary means as human love and friendship (for example, modern mass-market housing projects crumble for having had no one living and relating in them but an old flat is protected for having had two close friends living, conversing, relating together there over the years) is written beautifully. The people, things and spaces of the world are saved only as they have associations with and "memories" of genuine human relationship which is itself a reflection of the nature of God.
This is an intriguing book and I quite enjoyed it, though at times I found myself thinking I would likely get more out of it if I had more background in medieval Roman Catholic theology and the philosophical schools which influenced it. I found some of the dialogue a bit more airy and theoretical than seemed plausible at such active and cataclysmic moments of the story in which it was placed. However, the author's ability to describe epiphany or repentance/conversion moments with a mix of human thought and emotion, dawning spiritual awareness and underlying spiritual realities is nearly unparalleled in anything I've read.
As with other Inklings, the author's love for simple, ordinary, physical life and the profound spiritual goodness, joy and grace to be found in the midst of it comes through clearly. This has made me want to read more of Charles Williams. However, if you still want to be able to read contemporary Christian fiction, avoid books like this as it will only serve to emphasize just how trite and trashy most of what passes as Christian fiction today really is.
For some more excellent fiction with similar themes, try The C. S. Lewis Space Trilogy-3-Copy Boxed Set .









