Early Schooling
ewis’ schooling began with private tutoring, but when his mother died of cancer in 1908, sent to a Wynyard School in Watford, Hertfordshire, where the headmaster disciplined his pupils so intently that Lewis was greatly traumatized by the experience. He then went to Campbell College in Belfast, but left after a few months due to respiratory problems. To recouperate, young Lewis was sent to attended Cherbourg House, a prep-school in the health-resort town of Malvern, Worcestershire.
Atheism, Northernness and Sehnsucht
e was in his early teens when he went to Cherbourg, and he began to view his religion as a chore and as a duty. Still angry for the death of his mother, and focusing on the idea that a perfect God would not create an imperfect world, he became an atheist. He then went on to Malvern College, and was then tutored privately by William T. Kirkpatrick, from whom he learned the strict, logical reasoning for which he would later be well known.
By this time, the young Lewis had also picked up a deep interest in Norse mythology and in the portrayals of such by Richard Wagner. Through this experience of “northernness,” he experienced the mix of exhilaration and deep longing that he would later label “Sehnsucht” or “Joy.”
He also came to love nature, finding in it echoes of the same joy he experienced from Norse myth. He also became interested in Celtic myths and developed an appreciation for Yeats’ poetry.
In these early years, Lewis discovered two authors who would deeply influence him as a writer: the great Roman Catholic apologist GK Chesterton, and the faerie story writer George MacDonald. As an atheist, it irritated Lewis that his favorite thinkers – referring specifically to MacDonald and Chersterton – were Christians.
WWI and “Minto”
n 1916 Lewis won a scholarship to University College, Oxford, but his stay there was disrupted when he became an officer in the British Army in 1917. Here he met “a good fellow” named Paddy Moore, with whom he made a deal: should either Lewis or Moore be killed in the war, the other would take up the task of caring for the other’s family.
It was, of course, Moore who ended up getting killed. Lewis kept his word and took Moore’s mother Janie and sister Maureen as companions, as soon as he himself was wounded and was reassigned to serve in England. This arrangement continued until long after he was discharged from the army in 1918, and his relationship with Janie Moore, whom he called “Minto,” became very close. So close, in fact, that Lewis’ biographers all agree that they became lovers, though Lewis makes no direct mention of this in his autobiographical writings.
As a writer, Lewis had always thought himself a writer first, and in this Atheistic stage of his life, he took up the pen name Clive Hamilton and published two books of poetery: Spirits in Bondage, and Dymer. Dymer, while considered by almost all Lewis readers to be an awkward early work, has the distinction of being the only Lewis work currently in the public domain.
- Spirits in Bondage: A Cycle of Lyrics
London: William Heinemann, 1919. Under the pseudonym of Clive Hamilton. - Dymer
London: J.M. Dent, 1926. Under the pseudonym of Clive Hamilton.
Academic Career
n 1920 he received from Oxford a degree in Greek and Latin Literature. In 1922, a degree in Philosophy and Ancient History, and in 1923, a degree in English. Soon, Lewis was invited as a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, where he taught from 1925 to 195, when he resigned the post to become a fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge, and that institution’s first Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature
Conversion to Christianity
t was at Oxford that Lewis befriended J. R. R. Tolkien, fondly referred to as “Tollers,” a devout Roman Catholic. Under Tollers’ influence and reading Chesterton's The Everlasting Man, he slowly relented of his Atheism. In 1929, very reluctantly, he once more came to believe that God existed. In September 1931, Lewis took a long evening walk with Tolkien and Hugo Dyson, another close friend. The conversation that ensued led to Lewis’ final conversion to Christianity.
The Pilgrim's Regress
any have noted that this conversion seemed to free Lewis as a writer, because starting with his first novel, The Pilgrim's Regress, Lewis became much more prolific. Regress was Lewis’ version of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress and allegorized his own journey towards believing in Christ. It is Lewis’ earliest “Christian” writing. Even Lewis later agreed, however, that The Pilgrim's Regress was difficult to read and required a lot of background knowledge before it could be approached by the typical reader.
- The Pilgrim's Regress: An Allegorical Apology for Christianity, Reason, and Romanticism
London: J.M. Dent, 1933
Lewis the Apologist
t this point, Lewis the former atheist became a staunch defender of Christianity, so much so that has popularly been referred to as “The Apostle to the Skeptics.” He wrote essays and accepted invitations to give radio talks about the various questions skeptics often had about Christianity. Perhaps the best early example of this was his “The Problem of Pain,” which asked why a supposedly good God could allow his creations to experience so much pain in life. Also, at this time, he was asked by the BBC to give a series of radio broadcasts which would later be transcribed, amplified, and published as mere Christianity.
The Inklings
n Oxford, Lewis and his peers such as Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Owen Barfield spent more and more time together and eventually put up the informal literary discussion society The Inklings. The group was put together for the purpose of listening to the members read their works and critiquing those works. Tolkien wrote a sequel to his popular book “The Hobbit” and Lewis in particular goaded him on to finish it. That “sequel” is now known as the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Lewis’ Space Trilogy (or PerelandraTrilogy, sometimes called Cosmic Trilogy) and later The Chronicles of Narnia were read and critiqued at the Inklings’ meetings.
Space Trilogy
he story is often told of how Lewis and Tolkien had a long conversation about the “dehumanizing trends in modern science fiction,” at the end of which they decided they would do something about it. Lewis was to write a story about "space travel" and Tolkien was to write on "time travel." While Tolkien never finished "The Lost Road," Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet became the first of what are now known as Lewis’ Space Trilogy. The next two volumes, which came out later, were “Perelandra” and “That Hideous Strength.”
In it, Lewis created a character named Ransom, a philologist patterned after Tolkien. Some have associated the ideas presented in these three books with Lewis’ views on education, which Lewis wrote about directly in his book “The Abolition of Man.”
- The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1936 - Out of the Silent Planet.
London: Bodley Head, 1938. New York: Macmillan 1943 - Rehabilitations and Other Essays.
London: Oxford University Press, 1939 - The Personal Heresy: A Controversy.
London: Oxford University Press, 1939 with E.M.W. Tillyard - The Problem of Pain.
London: Centenary Press, 1940. New York: Macmillan 1943 - Broadcast Talks
("Right and Wrong: A Clue to Meaning in the Universe" and "What Christians Believe") Given in 1941 and 1942.
(Reprinted1942, and again 1952 in mere Christianity)
The Screwtape Letters
mong Lewis’ most popular works, The Screwtape Letters, was published at this time. Written in the form of letters from a “senior demon” named Screwtape advising his nephew Wormwood, on how to best tempt his human “client.” This work gave Lewis considerable popular acclaim, and landed him on the cover of Time Magazine in 1942.
- The Screwtape Letters.
London: Geoffrey Bles, 1942. New York: Macmillan 1943 - A Preface to "Paradise Lost": Being the Ballad Matthews Lectures
Delivered at University College, North Wales, 1941.
Revised and enlarged. London: Oxford University Press, 1942. - Broadcast Talks: Reprinted with Some Alterations from
Two Series of Broadcast Talks ("Right and Wrong: A Clue to Meaning in the Universe" and "What Christians Believe") Given in 1941 and 1942.
London: Geoffrey Bles, 1942. Published as The Case for Christianity. New York: Macmillan, 1943 - Christian Behaviour: A Further Series of Broadcast Talks.
London: Geoffrey Bles, 1943. New York: Macmillan, 1943. - Perelandra.
London: Bodley Head, 1943. New York: Macmillan, 1944 - The Abolition of Man: Or Reflections on Education with Special Reference
to the Teaching of English in the Upper Forms of Schools.
Riddell Memorial Lectures, Fifteenth Series. London: Oxford University Press, 1943.
New York: Macmillan 1947. - Beyond Personality: The Christian Idea of God.
London: Geoffrey Bles, 1944. New York: Macmillan, 1945. - That Hideous Strength: A Modern Fairy-tale for Grown-ups
London: Bodley Head, 1945. New York: Macmillan, 1946.
The Great Divorce
aving already written a novel in the style of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Lewis at this point took up the themes of Dante Aligheri’s the Divine Comedy. The result was “The Great Divorce,” in which souls from Hell are given a chance to “take a bus ride to Heaven,” and talk to friends they had known on earth. Many of the characters find the experience distasteful.
- The Great Divorce: A Dream..
London: Geoffrey Bles, 1945. New York: Macmillan, 1946 - George MacDonald: An Anthology..
London: Geoffrey Bles, 1946. New York: Macmillan, 1947. - Miracles: A Preliminary Study..
London: Geoffrey Bles, 1947. New York: Macmillan 1947. With revised - Chapter III..
London: Collins-Fontana Books, 1960. - The Arthurian Torso: Containing the Posthumous Fragment of "The Figure of Arthur".
by Charles - Williams and "A Commentary on the Arthurian Poems of
Charles Williams" by C.S. Lewis..
London:Oxford University Press, 1948. - Transposition and Other Addresses..
London: Geoffrey Bles, 1949. Published as The Weight of Glory and - Other Addresses..
New York: Macmillan, 1949.
The Chronicles of Narnia
ewis’ magnum opus, the seven children’s fantasy novels known as The Chronicles of Narnia began being published in 1950.
Beloved as classics, the Narnia books contain many strong Christian messages, and are often thought of as “allegories.” But Lewis disagrees with this description and calls these works “suppositional,” saying that they portrayed what the gospel story might have been like supposing it happened in another world, where animals spoke and mythical creatures were the norm.
Lewis was able to bring together themes from Greek, Roman, and Celtic mythology, English and Irish fairy tales, and was greatly influenced by George MacDonald's works.
The original order in which these books were published (and still the best order in which to read them, despite the current order in which they are numbered) can be found here.
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: A Story for Children...
Illustrated by Pauline Baynes. London: - Geoffrey Bles, 1950. New York: Macmillan, 1950.
- Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia...
Illustrated by Pauline Baynes. London: Geoffrey Bles, 1951. New York: Macmillan, 1951. - Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia...
Mere Christianity
t this point, Lewis’ series of radio talks for the BBC, having already been republished several times individually, were brought together into one volume, “mere Christianity.” It has since become among the most influential books of the 20th century.
- Mere Christianity: A Revised and Amplified Edition, with a New Introduction,
of the Three Books "Broadcast Talks," "Christian Behaviour," and "Beyond Personality."London: Geoffrey Bles, 1952. Published as
"Mere Christianity: A Revised and Enlarged Edition, with a New Introduction,
of the Three Books "The Case for Christianity," "Christian Behaviour," and "Beyond Personality." New York: Macmillan, 1952. - The Voyage of the "Dawn Treader".
Illustrated by Pauline Baynes. London: Geoffrey Bles, 1952. New York: Macmillan, 1952.
Joy Gresham
t was around the time of the publication of The Silver Chair that he met Joy Davidman Gresham, an American Divorcee of Jewish descent who would eventually become Lewis’ wife. Her sons, David and Douglas, soon came with her. Lewis dedicated his next Narnia book to the two boys. Douglas later recounts that when he saw a wardrobe in Lewis’ Oxford home, he asked if it might be the wardrobe. Lewis remarked that “It could be,” and it was years before the little boy dared to touch the Lewis’ wardrobe.
- The Silver Chair.
Illustrated by Pauline Baynes. London: Geoffrey Bles, 1953. New York: Macmillan, 1953. - The Horse and His Boy.
Illustrated by Pauline Baynes. London: Geoffrey Bles, 1954. New York: Macmillan, 1954. - English Literature in the Sixteenth Century Excluding Drama.
The Completion of the "Clark Lectures," Trinity College, Cambridge, 1944. The Oxford History of English Literature, vol.3. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954. - The Magician's Nephew
. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes. London: Bodley Head, 1955. New York: Macmillan, 1955.
Surprised by Joy
t this stage in his life, Lewis was wrapping up an autobiography entitled Surprised by Joy. The title, which had been decided upon before he and Joy met, came from a William Wordsworth poem. As is usual with autobiographies, Lewis’ account suffers from numerous “blind spots,” important areas of Lewis’ life that he either was not aware of or was unwilling to recount. It is interesting, however, to note how he thought the events of his life influenced him and his thinking.
- Surprised By Joy: The Shape of My Early Life.
London: Geoffrey Bles, 1955. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1956. - The Last Battle: A Story for Children.
Illustrated by Pauline Baynes. London: Bodley Head, 1956. Published as The Last Battle. New York: Macmillan, 1956.
Marriage
he details of the early stages of Jack and Joy’s relationship are vague, or at best, complicated. But suffice to say Lewis first married Joy Gresham in a civil ceremony so that she could remain in England rather than return to the life she had left behind in the United States. Since Joy was a divorcee, Lewis, could not marry her according to the then-stricter rules of the Church of England.
When some time later, Joy was found to be dying of cancer, Lewis persuaded his friend Rev. Peter Bide to perform the marriage ceremony at the Hospital.
To Lewis’ great joy, the cancer went into remission and the Lewises were able to live together as a family for a few years.
Till We Have Faces and The Four Loves
oy Lewis is credited for having assisted Lewis as he wrote Reflections on the Psalms, and Till We Have Faces (which he dedicated to her). And his experiences in his relationship with Joy certainly contributed to The Four Loves. Till We Have Faces was Lewis’ last finished novel, a reinterpretation of the myth of Cupid and Psyche. It is widely recognized as being Lewis’ best work of fiction. It is said that Joy helped him understand the motivations of the female characters in the story, and there is, in fact, a marked improvement in characterization. The Four Loves is Lewis’ reflection on the four greek words for love (Phileo, Storge, Eros, and Agape) and is perhaps the most beloved of Lewis’ nonfiction works.
- Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold.
London: Geoffrey Bles, 1956. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1957. - Reflections on the Psalms.
London: Geoffrey Bles, 1958. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1958. - The Four Loves.
London: Geoffrey Bles, 1960. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1960. - Studies in Words.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1960. - The World's Last Night: And Other Essays.
New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1960.
When Joy finally died, Lewis took up his pen in an attempt to cope with the grief. The result was “A Grief Observed.” It was published under the pen name N.W. Clerk, but when friends kept recommending the book to him, he was compelled to let his authorship of the work be known. The deeply personal nature of the account and the honesty it showed about pain and God’s presence has become a comfort for many of Lewis’ readers going through the pain of losing a loved one.
As for Joy’s sons, Lewis continued to raise them as his family. The younger, Douglas Gresham, now heads the CS Lewis foundation and is an outspoken Christian. The elder, David Gresham declared himself a practicing Jew a short while after his mother’s death.
A Grief Observed
- A Grief Observed.
London: Faber & Faber, 1961. Greenwich, Conn.: Seabury Press, 1963.
Under the pseudonym of N.W. Clerk. - An Experiment in Criticism.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961. - They Asked for a Paper: Papers and Addresses.
London: Geoffrey Bles, 1962. - Beyond the Bright Blur.
New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1963.
Death
he Gresham boys were in their late teens when Lewis died on November 22, 1963. It was the same day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and so the media coverage of Lewis’ death was low-key.
Lewis was buried the churchyard of Holy Trinity, Headington Quarry, Oxford.
Lewis's legacy
On Leaders and Thinkers.
Jack Lewis has strongly influenced many of today’s thinkers and leaders, among them a disgraced lawyer named Chuck Colson, who would later found Prison Fellowship Ministries, and the athletic Archbishop Karol Wojtyla of Krakow, Poland , who would later become Pope John Paul II.
Colson, in prison after being implicated in the Watergate scandal, experienced a spiritual rebirth after reading “Mere Christianity”, an experience which was at the heart of his book “Born Again.” Reading Lewis, he said he “found [him]self… face to face with an intellect so disciplined, so lucid, so relentlessly logical, that I could only be grateful I had never faced him in a court of law.”
Pope John Paul II, it has been said, “was always talking about Lewis when he was an archbishop in Krakow.”
Although an Anglican, Lewis’ influence among Christian thinkers defied the boundaries of denomination.
On Writers.
Lewis’ works have influenced many other authors to various degrees. Examples include Madeline L’engle (A Wrinkle in Time), Daniel Handler (A Series of Unfortunate Events), Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl), Neil Gaiman (Sandman, Neverwhere, American Gods, and Coraline), and J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter). Lewis’ disagreement with Arthur Clarke (2001: A Space Oddesey, and Childhood’s End) resulted in a deep, mutual respect, and the long correspondence was recently published.
Perhaps the most profound impact Lewis had on any author, though, was on his friend and fellow Inkling, JRR Tolkien (Lord of the Rings). In fact, Lewis patterned one of his characters, Dr. Elwin Ransom (of the Perelandra Trilogy) on Tolkien, and Tolkien patterned the Entish character Treebeard after Lewis. After Lewis’ death, Tolkien said “We owed each a great debt to the other, and that tie with the deep affection that it begot remains.”
On Other Artists.
Aside from performances on albums connected to the recent Wardrobe movie (which included Jars of Clay, Rebecca St. James, Steven Curtis Chapman, Alanis Morisette, and Imogen Heap), musicians have made numerous references to Lewis’ works. Among the more prominent: the band Sixpence None the Richer was named after a passage in Mere Christianity; and Lewis’ countrymen, Irish rock band U2, made a reference to The Screwtape Letters in their “Hold Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me, Thrill Me” music video. Caedmon's Call also wrote a song based on The Great Divorce entitled "The High Countries".
Bill Nicholson wrote a teleplay, the Shadowlands, about Lewis’ relationship with Joy Gresham, for which Brian Sibley later wrote a novelization. While the script made liberal use of literary license, acquaintances of Lewis said that it felt quite authentic. The Shadowlands was later turned into a Hollywood movie starring Sir Anthony Hopkins as C.S. Lewis.
Among Lewis’ works, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first book of the Chronicles of Narnia, is a perennial favorite for theatre performances. In the Late 70s, an animated version of Wardrobe was made by Director Bill Melendez. In the 80s, the BBC came up with a television series depicting the first four Narnia Novels: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Prince Caspian; the Voyage of the Dawn Treader; and The Silver Chair.
In the Philippines, Luna Griño-Inocian and Jaime del Mundo of Trumpets Theater group wrote an extremely popular musical version of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The play had three successful runs in Manila.
Recently, Walden Media and Walt Disney Pictures collaborated on the first wide screen adaptation of the book. Directed by Andrew Adamson (Shrek 1 and 2) and starring William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley as the Pevensie children, James McAvoy as Mr. Tumnus, Tilda Swinton as the White Witch, and Liam Neeson as the voice of Aslan, the movie is Disney’s largest selling live action movie to date.