The Place of the Lion [Audio Cassette]

 

 

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As others have noted before, this book is hard to classify. It is part thriller, part romance, part science fiction (or more appropriately, theological/philosophical science fiction), part social commentary, part mystery, a little horror, and that doesn't really cover it. The premise of the book is that a brilliant and perhaps somewhat mad man finds a medieval manuscript through which he discovers a way to use his body as a portal to the realm of archetypes, the great ideas behind the experienced realities of our world (or the realities behind the shadows and forms of our world) and in so doing, the archetypes enter our world through the conduit of his conscience and the vortex of his house and begin swallowing up its forms and thereby destroying reality as we experience it. Some welcome and aid this hoping to further their own personal (and petty evil) agendas for power or revenge but are essentially dupes used by the archetypes and then discarded. Others welcome it seeing it as some sort of salvation from the physical world. Most people are oblivious to what is really going on, explaining away supernatural phenomena in terms of oddities of what they perceive as the purely physical world. A very few come to see it for the evil that it is and work against it.

One of the charms of this story is that such a cosmically catastrophic event unfolds itself in a quaint little English village and the process does not advance much beyond the bounds of that little corner of the world before the very ordinary protagonist begins to fight back (or be used by the archetypes of goodness and wisdom to combat this assault of the natural world by hostile archetypes like power and subtlety). Salvation for the village, and by extension the world, is found when the protagonist and his previously self-absorbed scholastic girlfriend step into their roles as a type of Adam and Eve and he exercises dominion over the creation with her help (not unlike C.S. Lewis's space trilogy). The idea that the power to resist the undoing of this world comes through such mundane and ordinary means as human love and friendship (for example, modern mass-market housing projects crumble for having had no one living and relating in them but an old flat is protected for having had two close friends living, conversing, relating together there over the years) is written beautifully. The people, things and spaces of the world are saved only as they have associations with and "memories" of genuine human relationship which is itself a reflection of the nature of God.

This is an intriguing book and I quite enjoyed it, though at times I found myself thinking I would likely get more out of it if I had more background in medieval Roman Catholic theology and the philosophical schools which influenced it. I found some of the dialogue a bit more airy and theoretical than seemed plausible at such active and cataclysmic moments of the story in which it was placed. However, the author's ability to describe epiphany or repentance/conversion moments with a mix of human thought and emotion, dawning spiritual awareness and underlying spiritual realities is nearly unparalleled in anything I've read.

As with other Inklings, the author's love for simple, ordinary, physical life and the profound spiritual goodness, joy and grace to be found in the midst of it comes through clearly. This has made me want to read more of Charles Williams. However, if you still want to be able to read contemporary Christian fiction, avoid books like this as it will only serve to emphasize just how trite and trashy most of what passes as Christian fiction today really is.

For some more excellent fiction with similar themes, try The C. S. Lewis Space Trilogy-3-Copy Boxed Set.

This is a book I have reread countless times, and it is always fresh. It renews my appreciation for reality, for the simple material world, and reminds me of the mystical potential lying beneath the surface we see. I especially enjoy the heroine's journey from self-absorption to concern and compassion, and the hero who rises to the occasion to rescue his friends and incidentally the world. One of my favorite books.

I was so glad to find this book in print and available on Amazon; it's been 20 years since I read it as part of a C.S. Lewis Literature class at Cal State Fullerton, and the themes have stayed with me ever since. Reading this book put me into an almost dreamlike state, living the characters' experiences. The idea that archetypal Ideas could enter our world, consuming their physical shadows (our reality) and threatening humanity's existence, is depicted in the setting of a simple English village. Restoration of balance and order are the salvation of the world -- and keeping balance in my own life became a goal after I read this book.

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