In 1977 he wrote a biography of J. R. R. Tolkien, and in 1978 one of his most characteristic and important books, The Inklings. This showed his early mastery of the difficult form of group biography, tracing the literary, religious and personal relationships of Tolkien, C. S. Lewis and Charles Williams and their meetings in an Oxford pub. It trod a delicate, and typically Carpenter, line between amusement at the men’s eccentricities, respect for their work, and human sympathy. It won the Somerset Maugham Award. Further awards were earned by his next biographies: of W. H. Auden, Ezra Pound, and Benjamin Britten — in each case he combined passion for their work with gossipy relish for absurdity and great empathy. Like many of his subjects, he suffered bouts of serious depression.
I quite enjoyed both his biography of Tolkien and his Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. A few years ago I reviewed his Tolkein-Lewis-Williams bio, The Inklings, for GreenManReview.com, and recommend it as a very good book that sheds light on the odd bond of friendship between J.R.R.T. and C.S. Lewis. It's because of this review I was contacted by that documentary crew to track Carpenter down a few years back. I never met the man, but sometimes I feel like I knew him a little bit.
With all the other high-profile genre deaths in the news of late, I feel Mr. Carpenter might get overlooked some in the blogosphere, and he doesn't deserve that.
Now Playing: The Kinks The Road (Live)
No comments:
Post a Comment