Inevitably, the emphasis on the ‘takeaway’ strains against the work of demonstrating the original collaboration. The tension lies in the book's attempt to draw broad application from a detailed examination of creative collaboration amongst a remarkable cluster of scholarly friends in mid-century England. And with this move the book creates difficulties for itself, as may be seen in the publisher's advertising copy, which suggests that by walking in the footsteps of the Inklings, readers might make ‘genius breakthroughs’ in whatever work they do. The book also seeks to extend these discoveries to readers as they collaborate and, to this end, each chapter includes a ‘doing what they did’ meditation at the end. The central purpose of this book is to weigh that claim against an impressive collection of evidence to the contrary and to explore and recreate the nature and texture of the influence that the Inklings had on each other. Lewis once asserted ‘No-one ever influenced Tolkien-you might as well try to influence a bandersnatch’ (38). Owen has beautifully illustrated one as a dragon-lion-bird creature, and it is the cover image and one of nine illustrations scattered throughout the book. Bandersnatch is an abridged and adapted version of Company, the ‘more thorough and scholarly treatment of this subject’, as the copyright page of the 2016 work puts it.Ī bandersnatch is a mythical creature invented by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking Glass James A. Most memorably she said she had read everything the Inklings ever published in order to write it. I had the privilege of attending a conference where Glyer spoke after publishing that book. Tolkien, and the Creative Collaboration of the Inklings, one is immediately greeted by three pages of endorsements of author Diana Pavlac Glyer's book The Company They Keep.

Bandersnatch by Diana Pavlac Glyer