Arthurian Poets: Charles Williams - Arthurian Studies

Publisher Marketing: I believe this volume will give to scholars of Williams expanded vistas from which to view his work, and to the general reader glimpses of Camelot'. MYTHPRINT Includes Taliessin through Logres and The Region of the Summer Stars - complex and haunting works which constitute the major imaginative writings about the Grail this century in addition to much previously unpublished material. Charles Williams's two cycles of poems, Taliessin through Logres and The Region of the Summer Stars, constitute the major imaginative work about the Grail of the 20th century. Williams's vision of spiritual reality is expressed through symbols of great originality, and the complex patterns of sound and haunting rhythms make his poems deeply rewarding. In this new edition David Dodds collects together for the first time twenty-four of Williams's earlier poems on Arthurian themes, many never published before. They are from Williams's collection The Advent of Galahad, which both grew into and gave way to the Taliessin cycle. There are also later poems showing this transmutation in process, and fragments, designed to form a sequel to The Region of the Summer Stars, which appear for the first time. Besides the publication of this important new material, the present edition will serve to introduce new readers to the magic of these rich and lyrical pieces, which evoke a spiritual world in keeping with the highest ideals of Arthurian literature. DAVID LLEWELLYN DODDS, of Merton College, was a Rhodes Scholar and Richard Weaver Fellow. He has lectured in English at Harlaxton College, worked at the Houghton and Regenstein Libraries, and is now Curator of C. S. Lewis's house, The Kilns. He is currently working on a complete critical edition of Charles Williams's unpublished Arthurian poetry and prose. Other poets in this series: Edwin Arlington Robinson; A. C. Swinburne; William Morris & Matthew Arnold.

Contributor Bio:  Williams, Charles Charles Williams (1909-1975) was one of the preeminent authors of American crime fiction. Born in Texas, he dropped out of high school to enlist in the US Merchant Marine, serving for ten years before leaving to work in the electronics industry. At the end of World War II, Williams began writing fiction while living in San Francisco. The success of his backwoods noir "Hill Girl" (1951) allowed him to quit his job and write fulltime. Williams's clean and somewhat casual narrative style distinguishes his novels--which range from hard-boiled, small-town noir to suspense thrillers set at sea and in the Deep South. Although originally published by pulp fiction houses, his work won great critical acclaim, with "Hell Hath No Fury" (1953) becoming the first paperback original to be reviewed by legendary "New York Times" critic Anthony Boucher. Many of his novels were adapted for the screen, such as "Dead Calm "(published in 1963) and "Don't Just Stand There!" (published in 1966), for which Williams wrote the screenplay. Williams died in California in 1975.