Clyde Samuel Kilby (26 September 1902, in

Johnson City, Tennessee Johnson City is a city in Washington, Carter, and Sullivan counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, mostly in Washington County. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 71,046, making it the eighth largest city in Tennessee. John ...

– 18 October 1986, in Columbus, Mississippi) was an American writer and English professor, best known for his scholarship on the

Inklings The Inklings were an informal literary discussion group associated with J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis at the University of Oxford for nearly two decades between the early 1930s and late 1949. The Inklings were literary enthusiasts who pra ...

, especially

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

and

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...

. A professor at

Wheaton College (Illinois) Wheaton College is a Private college, private Evangelical, Evangelical Christian Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois. It was founded by evangelical abolitionists in 1860. Wheaton College was a ...

for most of his life, Kilby founded the

Marion E. Wade Center The Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College (Illinois) is a special research collection of papers, books, and manuscripts, primarily relating to seven authors from the United Kingdom: C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, G. K. Chesterton, Dorothy L. Sa ...

there, making it a center for the study of the Inklings, their friends (such as

Dorothy Sayers Dorothy Leigh Sayers (; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime writer and poet. She was also a student of classical and modern languages. She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between th ...

), and their influences (such as

George MacDonald George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. I ...

Biography

Kilby's parents, James Lafayette and Sophronia Kilby, lived along the Nolichuckey River in the north portion of East Tennessee's hill country. The youngest of eight children, he was the first of his family to graduate from college. While studying at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

, he worked part-time in the registrar's office at nearby John Brown University. Clyde graduated in 1929, and the next year married Martha Harris, a mathematics teacher at JBU. They moved to Minnesota, where Kilby earned a master's degree in 1931 from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. In 1935, Kilby moved to

Wheaton, Illinois Wheaton is a suburban city in Milton and Winfield Townships and is the county seat of DuPage County, Illinois. It is located approximately west of Chicago. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 52,894, which was estimated ...

, where he became an assistant professor of English. In 1938, he earned his Ph.D. by correspondence from

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. He became chair of the English department at Wheaton in 1951, a post he retained until 1966. Dr. Kilby retired from teaching at Wheaton in 1981, and retired to Columbus, Mississippi, his wife's hometown, where he died on October 18, 1986. In his honour, the Clyde S. Kilby Award for Inkling Studies was issued (one notable winner is

Colin Duriez Colin Duriez (born 19 July 1947) is a writer on fantasy, especially that of J. R. R. Tolkien. Life and works Duriez was born in Derbyshire and spent his early life in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, in a couple of new council estates near Portsmouth and ...

), and also the Clyde S. Kilby Research Grant (

Diana Pavlac Glyer Diana Pavlac Glyer (born 21 January 1956 in Aberdeen, Maryland) is an American author, speaker and teacher whose work centers on C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and the Inklings. She teaches in the Honors College at Azusa Pacific University in Calif ...

is a recipient). There is a Clyde S. Kilby Chair at Wheaton College (currently Christina Bieber Lake).

Lewis and Inkling scholarship

Kilby became interested in the works of Lewis in 1943 after reading '' The Case for Christianity'', the first part of the later-published ''

Mere Christianity ''Mere Christianity'' is a Christian apologetical book by the British author C. S. Lewis. It was adapted from a series of BBC radio talks made between 1941 and 1944, originally published as three separate volumes: ''Broadcast Talks'' (1942), ...

''. He then read all of Lewis' works, designed a popular course around the mythopoetic works of Lewis and Tolkien, and began a long-term correspondence with Lewis that lasted until the author's death in 1963. The fourteen letters of his correspondence with Lewis became the core of a collection of papers on first Lewis, then the Inklings, and finally a set of seven connected British authors: *

Owen Barfield Arthur Owen Barfield (9 November 1898 – 14 December 1997) was a British philosopher, author, poet, critic, and member of the Inklings. Life Barfield was born in London, to Elizabeth (née Shoults; 1860–1940) and Arthur Edward Barfield (1864 ...

* G. K. Chesterton *

Dorothy L. Sayers Dorothy Leigh Sayers (; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime writer and poet. She was also a student of classical and modern languages. She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between th ...

* Charles Williams This collection developed into the

at Wheaton College, today a major resource for twentieth-century British literature scholarship. Kilby's portrait hangs in the Kilby Reading Room at the Wade Center, along with a plaque which reads in part: ''Dr. Clyde S. Kilby (1902–1986) was the founder and first curator of the Marion E. Wade Collection. Dr. Kilby's career in the world of literature was a distinguished one. . . . In all hat he accomplished Dr. Kilby was supported by his wife, Martha Harris Kilby. Mrs. Kilby's lively interest, wise counsel, and dedicated work were the foundation for everything that Dr. Kilby did. Together, Clyde and Martha Kilby challenged generations of Wheaton students and others to seek the world of the imagination with all their heart and mind.''

Students

Thomas Howard (author) Thomas or Tom Howard may refer to: Nobility and politicians *Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk (1443–1524), English soldier and statesman *Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk (1473–1554), prominent Tudor politician *Lord Thomas Howard (1511-1 ...

, traveled to Oxford with Kilby to secure books for the collection * Rolland Hein * John Piper * Leanne Payne * John H. Armstrong * Cyrus Campen *

Robert Siegel Robert Charles Siegel (born June 26, 1947) is an American retired radio journalist. He was one of the co-hosts of the National Public Radio evening news broadcast ''All Things Considered'' from 1987 until his retirement in January 2018. Early ...

Bibliography

* 1959: ''Minority of One: the Biography of Jonathan Blanchard''. * 1964: ''The Christian World of C.S. Lewis''. * 1968: ''

Niekas ''Niekas'' (from Lithuanian: ''nothing'' or ''nobody'') was a science fiction fanzine published from 1962–1998 by Ed Meskys – also spelled ''Meškys'' – of New Hampshire. It won the 1967 Hugo Award for Best Fanzine, and was nominat ...

'' 19:39-41 ** "Many Meetings with Tolkien: An Edited Transcript of Remarks at the December 1966 TSA Meeting" * 1976: ''Tolkien & The Silmarillion'' * 1982: ''Brothers and Friends: The Diaries of Major Warren Hamilton Lewis'' (with Marjorie Lamp Mead) * 1984: ''Mythlore'' #10 ** "The Outer Dimension of Myth" * 1995: ''Myth, Allegory and Gospel'' ** "Mythic and Christian Elements in Tolkien"

Awards

* 1971 -

Mythopoeic Award The Mythopoeic Awards for literature and literary studies are given annually for outstanding works in the fields of myth, fantasy, and the scholarly study of these areas. Established by the Mythopoeic Society in 1971, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Awa ...

, Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Inklings Studies

Reference list

External links

Clyde S. Kilby
a

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kilby, Clyde S. 1902 births 1986 deaths University of Minnesota alumni American academics of English literature Writers from Wheaton, Illinois Wheaton College (Illinois) faculty People from Johnson City, Tennessee University of Arkansas alumni