Which group did C.S. Lewis join with J.R.R. Tolkien at Oxford?

C.S. Lewis joined The Inklings, an informal Oxford literary discussion group that included J.R.R. Tolkien. The group was not a formal society with membership rules, but a circle of writers and scholars who read works in progress aloud.

The Inklings met mainly in Oxford during the 1930s and 1940s. Members and regular participants included Lewis, Tolkien, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, and Warren Lewis. They discussed mythology, poetry, theology, and fiction while offering candid reactions to one another’s writing.

The group is especially remembered because Lewis and Tolkien were developing major works during this period. Lewis was writing Christian apologetics and imaginative fiction, while Tolkien was working on The Lord of the Rings. Their friendship influenced both writers, although they also disagreed about literary style and taste.

The Inklings is sometimes confused with Oxford’s academic societies or with the Bloomsbury Group, which was a separate London-based intellectual circle. The Inklings’ distinctive feature was its informal practice of sharing manuscripts and conversation.