Why Did the Inklings Stop Meeting?

“David Bratman puts it strongly: ‘If Hugo Dyson is remembered for one thing by Inklings readers, it’s as the guy who didn’t like The Lord of the Rings‘ (“Dyson” 28)…It is not just that Dyson was loud in his manner and derogatory in his comments. By the spring of 1947, Dyson had become so irritated with The Lord of the Rings that he began to exercise a kind of ‘veto’ against any more readings (Brothers and Friends 200)…Perhaps the best authority is Christopher Tolkien, who describes the conflict this way:

‘Well, I should mention the very important figure of Hugo Dyson, who was an English don, English Literature at Oxford. Brilliant, vastly entertaining man who didn’t like The Lord of the Rings. I remember this very vividly, my father’s pain, his shyness, which couldn’t take Hugo’s extremely rambunctious approach. Hugo wanted fun, jokes, witticisms, lots of drink. And Lewis, who I deeply admired and loved – he had a strong, a strong manner. And he would say “Shut up Hugo. [claps hands] Come on Tollers.” And The Lord of the Rings would begin with Hugo lying on the couch, and lolling and shouting and saying, “Oh God, no more Elves.” The Inklings was a bit like that. (A Film Portrait).”

Despite Lewis’s encouragement, things got so bad that if Dyson was present at an Inklings meeting, Tolkien would not read. And if Dyson arrived late, and a reading was already in progress, Tolkien would stop and put the manuscript away. Evidently, Dyson’s impact was not popular – Warren Lewis, for example, calls it ‘unfair’ – but the Inklings were not able to do anything about it.

Tolkien persisted, of course, so while Dyson managed to slow things down, his carping made little difference to The Lord of the Rings. However, it did change the Inklings. Duriez writes, ‘Less than three years after Dyson began to veto Tolkien’s reading, the literary meetings of the group foundered’ (Gift 129). It is widely held that in attacking these readings, Dyson was attacking the raison d’ être of the group; that in impeding the participation of one of its members, Dyson was eroding its spirit. Dyson delivered an axe blow to the root of the tree. The Inklings were shaken, and they never quite recovered.”

– Diana Pavlac Glyer, The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community (2006)