In which Oxford literary group did C.S. Lewis participate with J.R.R. Tolkien?

C.S. Lewis participated in the Oxford literary group known as the Inklings with J.R.R. Tolkien.

The Inklings were an informal discussion group rather than a society with a formal constitution or membership list. Writers and academics met mainly in Oxford during the 1930s and 1940s to read aloud and discuss works in progress. Lewis and Tolkien were among its best-known participants.

Meetings were associated with Lewis’s rooms at Magdalen College and with the Eagle and Child pub, commonly called the Bird and Baby. Members discussed fantasy, theology, poetry, and literary technique. Tolkien read portions of The Lord of the Rings, while Lewis shared developing ideas connected with his fiction and apologetic writing.

The group is sometimes described as a club founded by Lewis or Tolkien, but that is too formal a description. Its importance came from regular conversation, criticism, friendship, and mutual encouragement. Other participants included Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, Warren Lewis, and Dorothy L. Sayers at different points in the wider circle. The Inklings helped create the intellectual environment surrounding some of the twentieth century’s most influential Christian and fantasy literature.