Works by
Charles Williams
(United Kingdom Poet, Theologian,Writer)
[September 20, 1886 – May 15, 1945]

Criticism

• The Figure of Beatrice: A Study in Dante (1943)

• The English Poetic Mind (1932)

• Poetry At Present (1930)*

Essays

• The Image of the City and Other Essays (1958) Anne Ridler, ed.

Fiction

• All Hallows' Eve (1945)

• Descent Into Hell (1937)
  The key to William's mystically oriented theological thought, Descent into Hell (arguably William's greatest novel) is a multidimensional story about human beings who shut themselves up in their own narcissistic projections, so that they are no longer able to love, to "co-inhere". The result is a veritable hell.

• Shadows Of Ecstasy (1933)
  Written in 1925

• The Greater Trumps (1932)

• Many Dimensions (1931)

• The Place of the Lion (1931)
  Charles Williams had a genius for choosing strange and exciting themes for his novels and making them believable and profoundly suggestive of spiritual truths. Beneath the brilliant and imaginative surface of his "supernatural thrillers" lies a concealed and meticulously thought-out Christian message.

• War in Heaven (1930)
  Here Williams gives a contemporary setting to the traditional story of the Search for the Holy Grail. Examining the distinction between magic and religion, War in Heaven is an eerily disturbing book, one that graphically portrays a metaphysical journey through the shadowy crevices of the human mind.

Plays

• Collected Plays (1963)

• Seed of Adam and Other Plays (1948)

• The House of the Octopus (1945)

• Judgement at Chelmsford (1939)

• Three Plays (1931)

• The Masque of Perusal (1929)

• A Myth of Shakespeare (1928)

• The Masque of the Manuscript (1927)

• Thomas Cranmer of Canterbury (1936)

Poetry

• Arthurian Poets: Charles Williams (1991), David Llewellyn Dodds, ed.

• The Region of the Summer Stars (1944)

• Taliessin through Logres (1938)

• Divorce (1920)

• Poems of Conformity (1917)

• The Silver Stair (1912)

Theology

• Outlines of Romantic Theology (1990, 2005)
  Romantic theology is the working out of ways in which an ordinary relationship between two people can become one that is extraordinary, one that grants us glimpses, visions of perfection. In experiencing romantic love, we experience God: He has been in the experience from the beginning, and the more we learn about it, the more we learn also about Him. -adapted from the Introduction and the Sequel Charles Williams was one of the finest-not to mention one of the most unusual-theologians of the twentieth century. His mysticism is palpable-the unseen world interpenetrates ours at every point, and spiritual exchange occurs all the time, unseen and largely unlooked for. His novels are legend, and as a member of the Inklings, he contributed to the mythopoetic revival in contemporary culture.

• Charles Williams: Essential Writings in Spirituality and Theology (1993) Charles Hefling, ed.
  Charles Williams was an editor at Oxford University Press until his death in 1945 and a member of the Inklings, the literary society started by J. R. R. Tolkien. To modern readers he is best known for his novels, but he is also the author of literary criticism (The Figure of Beatrice), church history (The Descent of the Dove), verse plays, and epic poetry, as well as the works of theology from which this collection is drawn.

• Outlines of Romantic Theology: Religion and Love in Dante (1990)
  Written in 1930.

• The Forgiveness of Sins (1942)

• Witchcraft (1941)

• The Descent of the Dove (1939)
  A short history of the Holy Spirit in the Church.

• He Came Down From Heaven (1938)

Other

• A Charles Williams Reader (2000)
  This reader brings together three of Charles Williams’s best-known novels—Descent into Hell, Many Dimensions, and War in Heaven. These powerful stories represent the high point of Charles Williams’s genius and illustrate the mystically and theologically oriented themes so characteristic of his work. Whether read independently or as a loose trilogy, each of these psychological thrillers explores our very real relation to the supernatural world lying just behind the appearances of daily life.
  
  The first selection, Descent into Hell (1937), is arguably Charles Williams’s greatest novel. It is a multidimensional story about people who close themselves in with self-centeredness until they are no longer able to love. The result is hell on earth. Many Dimensions (1931) offers a haunting look at the evil that penetrates the human heart. Replete with rich religious imagery, this tale explores the nature of predestination and free will and the ends to which they lead. In War in Heaven (1930), Charles Williams gives a contemporary setting to the traditional story of the search for the Holy Grail. This eerily disturbing work takes readers on a Bunyanesque journey through the shadowy places of the human mind.
  
  Now available for the first time in a single volume, these three classic novels by one of the masters of religious fiction are sure to delight a new generation of readers.

• Arthurian Torso Containing the Posthumous Fragment of The Figure of Arthur (1948) with C. S. Lewis poetry

• Flecker of Dean Close (1946)
  Biography of William Herman Flecker, 1859–1941

• The New Book of English Verse (1935), Charles Williams, ed. with E. M. W. Tillyard, Ernest de Selincourt, and Lord David Cecil

• James I (1934)
  Biography

• A Short Life of Shakespeare: with the Sources (1933) Abridgment of Chamber's 'William Shakespeare: A study of Facts & Problems'

• Windows of Night (1924)
  Charles Williams was one of the finest-not to mention one of the most unusual-theologians of the twentieth century. His mysticism is palpable-the unseen world interpenetrates ours at every point, and spiritual exchange occurs all the time, unseen and largely unlooked for. His novels are legend, his poetry profound, and as a member of the Inklings, he contributed to the mythopoetic revival in contemporary culture.

• A Book of Victorian Narrative Verse (1927) edited collection

See also:

• Charles Williams and His Contemporaries (2009) by Suzanne Bray and Richard Sturch

• The Novels of Charles Williams (1991) by Thomas T. Howard

• The Pattern in the Web: The Mythical Poetry of Charles Williams (1990) by Roma Alvah, Jr. King