Diana Pavlac Glyer - Bandersnatch: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and the Creative Collaboration of the Inklings

Praise for Diana Pavlac Glyer and
The Company They Keep

Diana Glyers is the best account we have, not only of the friendship between Lewis and Tolkien, and the other Inklings, but also of the practical help and support they offered to each other: as critics, editors, collaborators, motivators. For both Lewis and Tolkien, the spark came from flint and steel, and Diana Glyer shows the many ways they struck it. Her book is an indispensable account not just of friendship, but also of the paths of creativity.

Tom Shippey, author of The Road to Middle-earth and J. R. R. Tolkien, Author of the Century

This is an indispensable contribution to the study of what may fairly be called the 20th centurys most influential group of writers.

Michael Ward, author of Planet Narnia

I love The Company They Keep. I quote it all the time for its insights into the friendship of these important authors.

Alister McGrath, author of C. S. LewisA Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet

Reading the remarkable The Company They Keep: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien as Writers in Community proves that Diana Pavlac Glyer has vaulted into the company of the very best thinkers and writers on the Inklings.

REVIEW: Mythlore: A Journal of J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This is an impressive piece of work, and it has the great merit of being both authentically scholarly and entertaining at the same time. Just start reading. You will find yourself drawn straightaway into an account of things that (Ill wager) would have the Inklings themselves turning the pages.

Thomas T. Howard, author of The Novels of Charles Williams and Evangelical Is Not Enough

Glyer concludes that writers dont create in a vacuum; every artists work is inevitably embedded in the work of others. Community doesnt stifle creativity or individual expression. Rather, it fertilizes and nurtures it. For anyone interested in how a favorite book came to be, and especially for artists exploring their own craft, The Company They Keep is a must read.

John Adcox, author of The Widening Gyre and Raven Wakes the World

The Company They Keep is a wonder of a book. In a relatively short treatment, it manages to be scholarly enough to satisfy the most meticulous Inklings scholar yet lively enough to engage readers who have only a passing interest in Lewis or Tolkien. It successfully addresses the needs of both scholars in composition studies and teachers of writing as they seek to understand how writers groups work, and how to best employ these techniques to improve writing. And the book will appeal to the wider group of people who hope to become more creative by using exemplary role models. This book deserves to be read and incorporated into our classroom techniques. It deserves to be assigned as a text to our students as they become better writers. And it deserves to be enjoyed as the insightful read that it is.

REVIEW: Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition and Culture

Glyers prose is not only a delight to read, but it is also full of keen analysis and valuable insight into the nature of the Inklings complicated interrelationship. The Company They Keep is truly an important contribution to Inklings studies as well as an excellent example of how literary critics can approach the thorny issue of influence in a careful, balanced way.

REVIEW: Mythprint: The Monthly Bulletin of the Mythopoeic Society

If you thought you knew everything there was to know about the Inklings, this book will change your mind. Theres still more to be discovered about how they interacted. Glyers style is brisk, clear and engaging. But beyond that, her insights into the Inklings are exceptional.

TOP REVIEW: Scribblerworks.com

Reading it was simply pure enjoyment!diving into another and delightful world. It is simply a tremendous reading experience.

Bruce G. Charlton, M.D., editor-in-chief, Medical Hypotheses

Glyer sees the hidden currents that serve as influences among writers, which makes this book as much a study about the act of writing in community as it is about the Inklings themselves. In other words, one need not be interested in the Inklings to be drawn in. Its a fascinating case-study in group dynamics and the creative process, and because the two main subjects of the book, Tolkien and Lewis, also happen to be two of the past centurys most important writers, the book serves as a lens into the mechanism of genius as well.

REVIEW: APU Research Reporter

The beauty of this book lies in the clarity and eloquence of the authors prose. It is one of those extraordinary academic works that is actually easy and enjoyable to read. Whether you are a new fan of these authors or you have been studying them for years, you will find plenty to enjoy within the pages of this book.

REVIEW: www.theOneRing.com

Heres the thing. Glyer obviously did her homework. I see many familiar quotes, always used in the right place, never distorted or misemployed. Shes also found some good stuff that Ive never read, or havent read for years and years. She has an impressive bibliography (anyone wishing to study the Inklings ought to buy the book for the bibliography in and of itself) and superlative notes. But heres the real appeal: the engaging, lucid, crystal-clear writing style that graces her steel-strong research.

Sherwood Smith, author of Inda, The Fox, and Wren to the Rescue

I found myself captured by her engaging writing style, the breadth of her research, and the cogency of her argument. Her work will influence the texture of Inklings scholarship for years to come. Its good, very good indeed.

Verlyn Flieger, coeditor (with Douglas Anderson and Michael Drout) of Tolkien Studies

The Company They Keep certainly contributes to the ongoing conversation about Lewis, Tolkien, and the others, but rather than being an addition to that conversation, this book will undoubtedly redirect its course. From now on, the rest of us will talk about these pivotal writers and scholars differently. Glyer has taken these writersand by extension all artists and scholarsout of their solitary towers and placed them back in the community where they belong.

David Esselstrom, chair, Department of English, Azusa Pacific University

Diana Glyer has crafted the most intimate, clear, authoritative study yet of the Inklings, the famous Oxford writers clique that included, among others, J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. By bringing the groups dynamics openly before us, she enables us to encounter the customs, personalities, and writings of its authors. It is really quite a stunning achievement.

REVIEW: The Lion and the Unicorn