Abstract
As noted in Tolkien's letters, around 1936 he and C.S. Lewis agreed to each try their hand at writing "an excursionary 'Thriller'" – essentially science fiction – "each discovering myth." They supposedly “tossed up,” with Lewis drawing a "Space-journey" and Tolkien a "Time-journey" (Letters 39). The standard answer is that this bet resulted in a trio of published space-travel novels for Lewis (Out of the Silent Planet [1938], Perelandra [1943], and That Hideous Strength [1945]) and two incomplete and abandoned time-travel projects for Tolkien, The Lost Road (incomplete typescript dating to 1937 [LR 8]) and The Notion Club Papers (c. 1945-6 [Sauron 147]). But as with most things Tolkienian (and Lewisian), it’s more complicated than the standard answer suggests. While it is often suggested that the assignment of space to Lewis and time to Tolkien was a matter of chance, there is circumstantial evidence to suggest otherwise. In addition, Both Lewis and Tolkien's novels feature travel in space AND time, not either/or. This paper summarizes previous work on the topic before adding to the discussion, and seeks to remind the community of Lewis and Tolkien scholars that in the case of both of these Inklings, the most interesting connections are often the most complex. When faced with an apparent dichotomy, it is seldomly either/or, but rather both.
Recommended Citation
Larsen, Kristine
(2025)
"Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey Inklings: Tolkien and Lewis’s Relative Dimensions in Space-Time,"
Journal of Tolkien Research: Vol. 23:
Iss.
2, Article 11.
Available at:
https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol23/iss2/11
Comments
Excerpts from this paper were presented as part of the roundtable “One Hundred Years of Tolkien and Lewis: Fruits of a Medieval Collaboration” at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, on May 16, 2026.