The Inklings in Fiction: An Annotated Bibliography

compiled by David Bratman

This bibliography was originally the reading list for a paper on "The Inklings in Fiction" that I gave at Mythcon 40 (Los Angeles, 2009). An earlier version was published in the January 2010 issue of Mythprint, the monthly bulletin of the Mythopoeic Society.

By "The Inklings in Fiction" I mean depictions of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and their friends and colleagues as characters in stories or novels. These come in three forms:

  1. Characters who are, or purport to be, the Inklings themselves, usually as heroes of fantasy adventures or making tiny cameo appearances in stories with historical settings;
  2. Romans à clef, that is, stories whose characters are the Inklings with the names and some identifying details changed;
  3. Characters who are not supposed to be the Inklings, but whose personalities or character are, or are claimed to be, directly based on them.
This list omits stories based on or inspired by the Inklings' fiction, or stories in which the characters are reading or have read the Inklings' books but have not met them in person, except for one case where the characters are visiting an Inklings landmark. These omissions are other extensive realms worth exploring.

Relevant fiction by the Inklings themselves (Tolkien, Lewis, and Barfield) is covered in two articles by Diana Pavlac Glyer: Chapter 7 of The Company They Keep (Kent: Kent State University Press, 2007), and "Lewis in Disguise: Portraits of Jack in the Fiction of His Friends" (in C.S. Lewis and the Inklings: Discovering Hidden Truth, ed. Salwa Khoddam and Mark R. Hall [Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 2012], 34-54), to which reference is made below. However, self-portraits in works by the Inklings themselves are not covered here, as an author's personality may be found embedded in all his works.

Thanks to those who have contributed items or otherwise helped with this list: Joe R. Christopher, Diana Pavlac Glyer, Janet Brennan Croft, Jason Fisher, John D. Rateliff, Wendell Wagner, Sherwood Smith, Brenda Clough, Donald T. Williams, Ginger McElwee, William H. Stoddard, Valerie Estelle Frankel, Morgan Thomsen, Raymond Edwards, Kel Richards, Janet Lafler, Richard West, Kevin J. Boris, Gareth Hanrahan, Douglas A. Anderson.

New accounts of the Inklings in fiction are published frequently. Let me know of any you have found.

Prose Fiction

Graphic Novels (and other visual fiction)

Stage Drama (published or unpublished)

Audio Drama


Return to David Bratman's home page for contact information. Last Updated: July 2, 2023
Copyright 2009-2023, David Bratman