Flos Carmeli

Charles Williams had a huge influence on W.H. Auden. Williams' book 'The Descent of the Dove: A History of the Holy Spirit in the Church' provided Auden with a different way of understanding history to the Marxist view and Auden's poem 'New Year Letter' quotes phrases from the book. They met in 1937 and Auden recalled their meeting thus: 'In a publisher's office, I met an Anglican layman, and for the first time in my life felt myself in the presence of personal sanctity. I had met many good people before who made me feel ashamed of my own personal shortcomings, but in the presence of this man - we never discussed anything but literary business - I did not feel ashamed. I felt transformed into a person who was incapable of doing or thinking anything base or unloving. (I later discovered that he had a similar effect onmany other people.)'

Dear Paul,

Thank you for the insight. I don't know much about Williams personally, but his fiction resonates. I do have three works of "nonfiction" as well--the one you mentioned, The Arthurian Torso and one other religious or theological work, the name of which escapes me at the moment.

All Hallows Eve is a magnificent novel about purgatory. Others concern Solomon's Ring and the Holy Grail. They are all quite readable.

shalom,

Steven