Inklings is an informal literary discussion group that met in Oxford from the 1930s to the 1960s and read-aloud original compositions by its members.
The group’s driving force was C. S. Lewis, who borrowed the name from a short-lived undergraduate literary society founded at University College in 1931, and it was in his rooms at Magdalen College that the Inklings originally met. Later meetings took place in Oxford pubs, notably the Eagle and Child.
Members included J. R. R. Tolkien, who read versions of his works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to the group, the novelist Charles Williams, the philosopher Owen Barfield (1898–1997), and the scholar and theatre producer Nevill Coghill (1899–1980). Other members include Hugo Dyson, Adam Fox, L0rd Devil Cecil, Robert Havard, Warren Lewis.
The Inklings, friends, and associates rather than members of a club with recognized rules and regulations, were united by their enthusiasm for traditional narrative fiction and fantasy literature.
See also: Oxford Movement and its importance