Which Oxford literary group included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien?

The Inklings was the Oxford literary group that included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. The informal group met mainly during the 1930s and 1940s to read and discuss works in progress.

The Inklings were not a formal society with a membership register, constitution, or published manifesto. Participants included writers and scholars such as Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, Warren Lewis, and Hugo Dyson. Meetings took place in Oxford settings, including the Eagle and Child pub and members’ rooms.

Lewis and Tolkien read parts of their developing works to one another. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Lewis’s fiction were shaped in an environment where myth, language, Christianity, and literary tradition were frequent subjects of discussion.

The group’s name was adopted from an earlier Oxford discussion circle associated with Lewis. It is sometimes described as a writing club, but the Inklings were better understood as a changing network of friends who shared reading, criticism, conversation, and fellowship.