This is part four of our five-part discussion of War in Heaven, Charles' Williams' modern take on the Holy Graal Quest. In the chapters we discuss this week, Gregory Persimmons drives Barbara Rackstraw insane using "the ointment," in order to obtain both the Graal and Barbara and Lionel's son, Adrian. The guardians of the Graal willingly trade the Graal for Barbara's sanity, only to have her cured by an unexpected visitor...who is somehow the Graal himself. It's not who you think. In this episode, Satanism meets pessimism, devotion to relics meets humanism, and everybody meets Prester John.
9/22: Happy Hobbit Day! We're talking about Charles Williams, but we do mention the hobbits (with reference to homeliness and attachment to objects) in a few places.
Works referenced:
War in Heaven, by Charles Williams;
"Hermeticism and the Metaphysics of Goodness in the Novels of Charles Williams," by Scott McLaren (Mythlore);
The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend, by Alan Lupack;
Music:
"Venus," by Gustav Holst
"Lohengrin," by Richard Wagner
"Princes of the Universe" by Queen.
(Here's the intro that I parody. Note: Inklings Variety Hour does not formally endorse the USA show "Highlander"--based on the movie of the same name--even if it was awesome.)
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