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    The Silver Stair
    The Silver Stair
    The Silver Stair
    Ebook99 pages50 minutes

    The Silver Stair

    By Charles Williams

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    About this ebook

    Long out of print, "The Silver Stair" is Charles Williams's first published work, as well as his first collection of poems, now once again available from the Apocryphile Press. Charles Williams was one of the finest -- not to mention one of the most unusual -- theologians of the twentieth century. His mysticism is palpable -- the unseen world interpenetrates ours at every point, and spiritual exchange occurs all the time, unseen and largely unlooked for. His novels are legend, his poetry profound, and as a member of the Inklings, he contributed to the mythopoetic revival in contemporary culture.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJohn R. Mabry
    Release dateMar 30, 2016
    ISBN9781940671253
    The Silver Stair
    Author

    Charles Williams

    Charles Williams (1909–1975) was one of the preeminent authors of American crime fiction. Born in Texas, he dropped out of high school to enlist in the US Merchant Marine, serving for ten years before leaving to work in the electronics industry. At the end of World War II, Williams began writing fiction while living in San Francisco. The success of his backwoods noir Hill Girl (1951) allowed him to quit his job and write fulltime. Williams’s clean and somewhat casual narrative style distinguishes his novels—which range from hard-boiled, small-town noir to suspense thrillers set at sea and in the Deep South. Although originally published by pulp fiction houses, his work won great critical acclaim, with Hell Hath No Fury (1953) becoming the first paperback original to be reviewed by legendary New York Times critic Anthony Boucher. Many of his novels were adapted for the screen, such as Dead Calm (published in 1963) and Don’t Just Stand There! (published in 1966), for which Williams wrote the screenplay. Williams died in California in 1975. 

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      Book preview

      The Silver Stair - Charles Williams

      Contents

      BOOK I

      I. The predestined Lover, ignorant of Love, declares his Creed

      II. He questions his Fellows concerning Love

      III. He praises but fears Death

      IV. He salutes those who have found happiness in Love

      V. Again he questions others concerning Love

      VI. Of the mystery of God and of the Divine Government

      VII. His appeal against the Poets

      VIII. He wakes upon a certain Morning

      IX. Of the power of Love: of a Memory

      X. Of the purpose of Cities

      XI. He praises the diverse beauty of Women

      XII. Of the purpose of Days

      XIII. He appoints Time and Place for Meeting with his Lady

      XIV. His Reconcilement with Life

      XV. His Profession of Love

      BOOK II

      XVI. God has set the World in his Lady s Heart; the Lover questions of his Part therein

      XVII. That the Love of a Woman is the Vice-Gerent of God

      XVIII. All Women bring him into Subjection to the One

      XIX. The Daily Ministers of Love

      XX. He praises his Lady with the Honour of Kings’ Daughters

      XXI. The Friends of the Bridegroom

      XXII. That for Every Man a Woman holds the Secret of Salvation

      XXIII. He invokes Love to Exalt Love

      XXIV. He desires to Suffer at the Hands of His Lady

      XXV. The Desolation of her Absence

      XXVI. Love the Precursor

      XXVII. Of those who have refused the Delights of Love

      XXVIII. That Love has in the World an Enemy more to be feared than Death

      XXIX. Of Love's Enemies — Mammon

      XXX. He rebukes Fear of the World in Lovers

      XXXI. Of Love's Enemies — Time

      XXXII. He teaches the Love of Love

      XXXIII. Of Love's Enemies — The Cross

      XXXIV. He confesses the Singleness of Love's Deity

      XXXV. Thou, Child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest

      XXXVI. Of Diffidence in Love

      XXXVII. He is full of an Unknown Fear

      XXXVIII. That we know not yet what it is indeed to love

      XXIX. His desire to conceal Love

      XL. Of the Body

      XLI. The Body’s Answer to the Promptings of Sense

      XLII. The Desire and Dread of the Soul

      XLIII. To One, sitting at the Receipt of Custom, Love said, Leave all and follow me

      XLIV. Love said, He that loveth his Life shall lose it

      XLV. The two Offerings of Love

      XLVI. Of Reasonable Persuasion

      XLVII. He warns himself against all subtle Timidities

      XLVIII. Of Renunciation

      XLIX. Of the Alternative Choice

      L. The Lover will choose locusts & wild honey rather than Dead Sea fruit

      LI. He damneds of Love what is in truth its final satisfaction

      LII. Of the Attainments of Love

      LIII. Of the Approach to God

      LIV. The Lover prays to know God’s Will

      LV. He prays to know his Lady's Will

      LVI. Of the high Comradeship of Love

      LVII. Of Sacrifices lightly made for Love

      LVIII. Of Womanhood — the Citadel of Life

      LIX. That the end of Love is clear only in the Light of the Soul

      LX. Of the Answer of his Lady

      LXI. Of the Paths and Times of the World

      LXII. The Pain of the Slaying of Corporeal Love

      LXIII. The Lover asks why he should assume the Yoke of difficult Service

      LXIV. He disdains the Judgements of the World

      LXV. His fear of

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