Christopher Tolkien
and
Warren Lewis
Christina Weigand
Before I leave our stopover with the Inklings, I thought I
would visit with two Inklings that were an integral part of what made C. S.
Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien who they were.
These two men were Christopher Tolkien, Tolkien’s son and
Warren Lewis, Lewis’s brother.
Christopher Tolkien was born November 21, 1924, the third
son of J. R. R. Tolkien. He spent his childhood listening to and being a
critical audience for his father’s fiction, first as a child listening to Bilbo Baggins and then as a teen and
young adult offering feedback on Lord of
the Rings. He also interpreted his father’s maps of Middle-earth to produce
the maps used in the books.
His father invited him to join the Inklings when he was
twenty one years old, making him the youngest member of the group. He
translated and published the Icelandic story The Saga of King Heidrek. Following in his father’s footsteps he
became a lecturer and tutor in English language and New College, Oxford.
During his lifetime J. R. R. Tolkien wrote a great deal of
material that was never published. Christopher was named the literary executor
in Tolkien’s will. By going through many of his father’s unfinished manuscripts
and scattered notes Christopher was able to collate and publish some of the
unfinished works including;
The
Silmarillon,
Unfinished Tales, The
History of Middle Earth, Beren and Luthien
and The Children of Hurin.
Following these he also published The Fall of Gondolin.
Several works not associated with the Lord of the Rings mythos were also
published including The Fall of Arthur and
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun.
He
and his second wife, Baillie edited and published The Father Christmas Letters, which his father had written and
read to the children when they were young.
Christopher now lives with Baillie in the French countryside,
where he continues to further his father’s legacy.
Warren Lewis, C. S. Lewis’s older brother was born June 16,
1895. He was an Irish historian and officer in the British Army. After WWII he
went to live with his brother in Oxford and was one of the founding members of
the Inklings.
A lifelong friendship developed between the brothers when they
were children and spent many hours writing and illustrating Boxen, a book about their created world
called Animal-Land.
During his first retirement he edited the Lewis family
papers. During his final retirement he researched and wrote a series of books
on the history of 17th century France. The books included The Splendid Century: Some Aspects of French
Life in the Reign of Louis XIV
and Levantine
Adventurer: The Travels and Missions of the Chevalier d’Arvieux.
After his brother’s death Warren edited the
first published edition of his C. S. Lewis’ letters and added a memoir as a
preface to the letters.
While writing his French history and living with his
brother, Warren also served as C. S. Lewis’ secretary during Jack’s (C. S. Lewis)
later years.
Before his own death he deposited many of the Lewis family
papers in Wheaton College, which included surviving papers of Warren and his
brother. In 1982 selections of Warren Lewis’s diary was published; Brothers and Friends.
Warren passed away in 1973 and was buried with C. S. Lewis.
Without these two men, some of the information we have about
J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis would not have been published and we would not
have come to know these two beloved writers. These two are also writers in
their own right and helped to continue the legacy.
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Photos From: https://www.amazon.com/W.-H.-Lewis/e/B000APG720? and
https://www.amazon.com/Christopher-Tolkien/e/B000AQ11BQ?Information from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Lewis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Tolkien
Posts
Growing up I read mostly European authors, so I have a lot of catching up to do :)
ReplyDeleteYes that keeps happening to me. I think I have read a lot of authors until I go and research one of them and find a whole slew of others to add to my reading list.
DeleteThank you for your coverage of these authors.
ReplyDeleteThank you and you are welcome.
DeleteVery interesting piece! I have read some of the extra LOR books, I knew it was his son finishing them but never realized it was actually his third son. C. S. Lewis was also a fave of mine.
ReplyDeleteSame here, of course I never realized he had three sons. Christopher's one son Simon is also a writer.
DeleteI never thought Christopher Tolkien was still with us, but delighted he is. Many years ago I visited a small Tolkien society. They kindly gave me a clay pipe. Their enthusiasm of his work was boundless. I really enjoyed this post. Nice one, Christina.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
ReplyDeleteHow very interesting thanks for the info Chris. We all need that kind of support as authors.
ReplyDeleteYes we do and in this day and age it can sometimes be a very hard thing to find.
ReplyDelete