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War in Heaven Tekijä: Charles Williams
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War in Heaven (alkuperäinen julkaisuvuosi 1930; vuoden 1930 painos)

Tekijä: Charles Williams (Tekijä)

Sarjat: Aspects of Power (1)

JäseniäKirja-arvostelujaSuosituimmuussijaKeskimääräinen arvioMaininnat
7731028,597 (3.79)45
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.… (lisätietoja)
Jäsen:jayemtii
Teoksen nimi:War in Heaven
Kirjailijat:Charles Williams (Tekijä)
Info:Faber and Faber
Kokoelmat:Oma kirjasto
Arvio (tähdet):
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Teostiedot

War in Heaven (tekijä: Charles Williams) (1930)

  1. 10
    The Great Return (tekijä: Arthur Machen) (bertilak)
  2. 00
    The Image of the City and Other Essays (tekijä: Charles Williams) (vpfluke)
    vpfluke: An earlier collection of essys by Charles Williams
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» Katso myös 45 mainintaa

Näyttää 1-5 (yhteensä 10) (seuraava | näytä kaikki)
Not really my cup of tea - rather esoteric and convolutedly written. ( )
  kitsune_reader | Nov 23, 2023 |
A classic but the doctrinal debate is badly dated and tedious for a modern read
  svfreeman | Jun 21, 2021 |
Maybe I was too young for it? But it never really grabbed me (and I was reading Dickens and Eliot in grade school!) ( )
  ashleytylerjohn | Oct 13, 2020 |
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: War in Heaven
Series: ----------
Author: Charles Williams
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 211
Words: 81K

Synopsis:


From Enotes.com

War in Heaven is a novel concerned with the struggle over possession of a chalice that the characters believe is the Holy Grail, the cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper. A cup that could be this holy relic turns up in England in the twentieth century. Julian Davenant, the archdeacon of the Fardles village church, tries to protect it and prevent it from falling in to the wrong hands. In contrast, Gregory Persimmons, a retired businessman, strives to possess it and uses its power for black magic. Ultimately, the forces of good prevail, and Gregory is punished.

Two possibly unrelated events begin the novel. First, an unidentified corpse is found at the publishing firm that Gregory owns. Second, the contents of a manuscript at the firm are revealed, suggesting that the Grail is in the Fardles church. Gregory begins to obsess over the Grail. Renting a house in the Fardles area, he tries to buy the chalice and then pays to have it stolen; during the theft, Julian is attacked. Gregory also lures the Rackstraw family to his new residence, with the plan to kidnap their four-year-old son, Adam, and use him in black magic.

Aided by the Duke of North Ridings and Kenneth Mornington, Julian locates the chalice in Gregory’s home and steals it. Taking it to London, Julian hides in the Duke’s home. His prayers protect it from the evil spells that Gregory’s accomplices, Manasseh and Lavrodopoulos, are putting on it to destroy it. Gregory injures Barbara, Adam’s mother; poisons her; and brings in a “doctor” Manasseh, who will worsen her ill health while pretending to cure her. Julian agrees to exchange the chalice for Barbara’s health, for which they pray all night. A mysterious stranger, John, arrives in Fardles just as she is cured; he is Prester John of Arthurian myth.

In London, occult forces kill Mornington and threaten Julian, who is captured and tied up to be ritually killed. The combined positive forces emanating from the Grail and the actions of Prester John, who arrives in the nick of time, save Julian. Moreover, Gregory is arrested after confessing to an unsolved murder that had set the novel in motion. Back in Fardles, Prester John celebrates mass at the church; both he and the Grail disappear, and Julian dies in peace on the altar.

My Thoughts:

Christian Mysticism. What C.S. Lewis is with his Narnia and Space Trilogy to Fantasy and Science Fiction, that is what Williams is to Mysticism. Not being an advocate for, a believer in, or even a fan of, mysticism, this was a hard book to get through.

I was discussing this with Pilgrim over at Librarything and ended up saying this about the book part way through:

I guess part of it is that the idea that God's Power can imbue an object and then be used willy nilly, by anybody. While there are a few instances that spring to mind of that happening in the Bible (Elisha's bones raising the dead man and Peter's hankerchief healing people) most of the miracles were directly tied to a prophet on a mission. Gahazi couldn't use Elisha's staff to raise the dead woman's son, the river didn't heal all the lepers only Naaman, etc.

I guess I reject mysticism because I view it as a way to use God's power through our own power (incantations, etc) instead of it being something that God's does through us. I certainly do believe in miracles and I do believe in magic. I just don't see how a Christian can think of miracles in the same vein as magic.

I reject with every fiber of my being the idea of there being White and Black Magic. God's Power is not magic and the power of Satan and the fallen spirits is corrupted and its final goal is the damnation of the user and recipient.

While Williams makes it impossible for Persimmons to use the Grail himself, Persimmons manages to get around that by using the child Adrian. Of course, it backfires, but still, the idea that an evil person can use an object of Holiness for the “power” contained therein just rubs me completely the wrong way. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark is a perfect example of this idea in our popular culture. The idea that Nazi's could harness the power of the Ark, the very seat of God on Earth, for themselves is simply abhorrent to me. It also displays a shocking lack of understanding on the subject.

That led me into my other main issue. The boy Adrian. Persimmons makes it his mission to win the child so he can use him as a conduit for the Graal (everybody referred to it as the Graal instead of the Holy Grail. I have no idea why) and in the back of his mind is that Adrian would also either make a pefect Disciple of Satan or a fantastic sacrifice after being used by Persimmons. I had to stop reading and ask Pilgrim if Adrian was going to be ok before I could go on. Thankfully, everything WAS ok, but the leadup to that was very ominous and not something I enjoyed contemplating.

At the same time, I thoroughly enjoyed reading a book about Christians and the working out of everything through a Christian world view. While I gave it the Fantasy tag, it is way closer to real life than I'd ever be truly comfortable with. I've got several more of Williams books available to me and I think I'll add them to my tbr, just further down the line.

I realize my complaints got more time than the positives, but this books deserves those 3.5stars. The fact that I plan on reading more Williams cements in my mind that this WAS a good read.

★★★☆½ ( )
  BookstoogeLT | Jul 27, 2020 |
Well, I feel a bit cheated. This book had a brilliant opening line and scenes that were pregeniters of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. I thought I had stumbled onto something rich.

Unfortunately the book gets weighted down with theology and overwriting along the lines of unneeded explanations. It just got so boring, and how old it is is no excuse. I suspect Charles Williams merely had lapses of old fuddy-duddyness. Or he let good ol' J.R.R. act as his editor on some chapters. We don't quite get to endless treks across Hollin but some scenes got close.

Because, you see, Charles Williams was a member of the Inklings, that 'informal' literary club that also boasted J.R.R. Tolkein and C.S. Lewis as members. So when this little hot pink number crossed my desk I was intrigued.

The humor comes only in spurts, whole scenes can be narrated with a light touch of social satire and wit and absurdity that made me smile; other scenes verged on paint drying, or worse, preaching. OK, so that last bit is a trifle unfair. You have a story involving the holy grail, a struggle between an Archdeacan and a group of Satanists you should really expect some religion to play a part. But it did go on sometimes.

What Williams really did well were the transitions from everyday life or light humor into seriously creepy scenes involving a sinister older man trying to win over a young boy for the devil. Some of that though might be from a modern lens where I try to comprehend an intelligent young couple consigning their little boy over to an eccentric old man for hours on end full of 'secret games' without batting an eye. Its not like the old man's a relative, or even a friend of the family. He's the retired father of their boss. "Oh yes, do take Adrien into London for the weekend. That sounds lovely!"

What? No! That's a terrible idea. Different times I suppose, but it just adds an extra layer of creepiness onto a novel full of sinister and unnerving events. Just be prepared to gloss over some theological exposition and there's a fine early supernatural thriller here, with funny in. ( )
  ManWithAnAgenda | Feb 18, 2019 |
Näyttää 1-5 (yhteensä 10) (seuraava | näytä kaikki)
ei arvosteluja | lisää arvostelu

» Lisää muita tekijöitä (1 mahdollinen)

Tekijän nimiRooliTekijän tyyppiKoskeeko teosta?Tila
Charles Williamsensisijainen tekijäkaikki painoksetlaskettu
Lamb, JimKansikuvataiteilijamuu tekijäeräät painoksetvahvistettu
Wheatley, DennisJohdantomuu tekijäeräät painoksetvahvistettu
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Englanninkielinen Wikipedia

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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.

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