Over at my The Notion Club Papers blog:
Due to remarks made in Tolkien's later life, and to the striking contrasts of style and theme between Charles Williams's novels and The Lord of the Rings; it has become generally accepted that Williams did not exert much of a specific influence on Tolkien's writing.
More exactly; (as Diana Pavlac Glyer made clear in The Company They Keep, 2007) - Williams's influence on Tolkien is considered to be in terms of encouragement, critique, and some specific editorial suggestions; rather than CW influencing the form and content of LotR.
However... by focusing very specifically on
1. One particular work of Williams's: The Place of the Lion,
2. An unpublished and incomplete work of Tolkien's: The Notion Club Papers,
3. Paying attention to the chronology of composition in relation to Charles William's death;
I conclude that there is convincing evidence that Charles Williams did influence at least one writing of JRR Tolkien in terms of its form and purpose - and via the attempt at The Notion Club Papers Williams "invisibly" affected the substantive content of The Lord of the Rings.
For my argument; read the whole thing...
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