C.S. Lewis and T.S. Eliot: How Rivals Became Friends
Humanizing Contact over a Common Project Brought the Two Literary Giants Together
Did Charles Williams know what would happen when he invited his mutuals, C.S. Lewis and T.S. Eliot, to tea? One suspects. Lewis had long registered disapproval of Eliot’s work. But surely they’d get on in person, no?
No. It was 1945 and the trio convened at the Mitre Hotel in Oxford. The first words out of Eliot’s mouth? “Mr. Lewis,” he exclaimed, “you a…


