C. S. Lewis
Born	29 November 1898(1898-11-29) Belfast, Ireland
Died	22 November 1963 (aged 64) Oxford, England
Occupation	Novelist, Scholar, Broadcaster
Genres	Fantasy, Science fiction, Christian apologetics, Children's literature
Influences	H. Rider Haggard, Christianity, Arthur Balfour, J. R. R. Tolkien, George MacDonald, H. G. Wells, G. K. Chesterton, William Blake, Irish, Norse, and Greek Mythology
Influenced	Christopher Derrick, Stephen R. Donaldson, Peter Kreeft, J. I. Packer, J. K. Rowling, J. R. R. Tolkien, widespread

Anglicanism Portal

Clive Staples "Jack" Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963), commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis, was an Irish author and scholar. Lewis is known for his work on medieval literature, Christian apologetics, literary criticism, and fiction. He is best known today for his series The Chronicles of Narnia. Image File history File links C.s. ... is the 333rd day of the year (334th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... This article is about the city in Northern Ireland. ... is the 326th day of the year (327th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1963 (disambiguation). ... This article is about the city of Oxford in England. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... This article is about work. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... A scholar is either a student or someone who has achieved a mastery of some academic discipline, perhaps receiving financial support through a scholarship. ... Note: broadcasting is also the old term for hand sowing. ... A literary genre is one of the divisions of literature into genres according to particular criteria such as literary technique, tone, or content. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Christian apologetics is the... Childrens books redirects here. ... H. Rider Haggard, author Sir Henry Rider Haggard (June 22, 1856 – May 14, 1925), born in Norfolk, England, was a Victorian writer of adventure novels set in locations considered exotic by readers in his native England. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is... For the steel manufacturer, see Arthur Balfour, 1st Baron Riverdale. ... Tolkien redirects here. ... George MacDonald (December 10, 1824 – September 18, 1905) was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. ... Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946), better known as H. G. Wells, was an English writer best known for such science fiction novels as The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The First Men in the Moon and The Island of Doctor Moreau. ... Gilbert Keith Chesterton (May 29, 1874–June 14, 1936) was an influential English writer of the early 20th century. ... William Blake (November 28, 1757 – August 12, 1827) was an English poet, visionary, painter, and printmaker. ... Norse, Viking or Scandinavian mythology comprises the indigenous pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian peoples, including those who settled on Iceland, where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. ... For other uses, see Mythology (disambiguation). ... Christopher Hugh Derrick (12 June 1921 – 2 October 2007) was the son of the artist, illustrator and cartoonist Thomas Derrick. ... Stephen Reeder Donaldson (born May 13, 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American fantasy, science fiction and mystery novelist. ... Peter Kreeft Peter Kreeft is a Catholic apologist for Christianity, professor of philosophy at Boston College and The Kings College, and author of over 45 books including Fundamentals of the Faith, Everything you Ever Wanted to Know about Heaven, and Back to Virtue. ... J. I. Packer James Innell Packer (born July 22, 1926 in Gloucester, England) is a British-born Canadian Christian theologian in the Reformational Anglican tradition. ... Joanne Jo Murray, née Rowling OBE[1] (born 31 July 1965),[2] who writes under the pen name J. K. Rowling,[3] is an British writer and author of the Harry Potter fantasy series. ... Tolkien redirects here. ... Photograph by Keith Edkins File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... is the 333rd day of the year (334th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 326th day of the year (327th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1963 (disambiguation). ... Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages (encompassing the one thousand years from the fall of the Western Roman Empire ca. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Christian apologetics is the... Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. ... Narnia redirects here. ...

Lewis was a close friend of J. R. R. Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings. Both authors were leading figures in the English faculty at Oxford University and in the informal Oxford literary group known as the "Inklings". According to his memoir Surprised by Joy, Lewis had been baptised in the Church of Ireland at birth, but fell away from his faith during his adolescence. Owing to the influence of Tolkien and other friends, at about the age of 30, Lewis re-converted to Christianity, becoming "a very ordinary layman of the Church of England" (Lewis 1952, p. 6). His conversion had a profound effect on his work, and his wartime radio broadcasts on the subject of Christianity brought him wide acclaim. Later in life he married the American writer Joy Gresham, who died of bone cancer four years later at the age of 45. Tolkien redirects here. ... This article is about the novel. ... The University of Oxford (informally Oxford University), located in the city of Oxford, England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... The Eagle and Child pub (commonly known as the Bird and Baby) in Oxford where the Inklings met on Thursday nights in 1939. ... Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life is a partial autobiography published by C.S. Lewis in 1955. ... The Church of Ireland (Irish: ) is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion, operating seamlessly across the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is... The Church of England logo since 1998 The Church of England is the officially established Christian church[1] in England, and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ... Joy Gresham Joy Davidman (born Helen Joy Davidman on April 18, 1915, died July 13, 1960) was a Jewish writer, a radical communist and an atheist until her conversion to Christianity in the late 1940s. ... An arm bone tumor Bone tumor is an inexact term, which can be used for both benign and malignant abnormal growths found in bone, but is most commonly used for primary tumors of bone, such as osteosarcoma (or osteoma). ...

Lewis's works have been translated into more than 30 languages and sell more than a million copies a year. The books that comprise The Chronicles of Narnia have sold more than 100 million copies. Many stage and screen adaptations of Lewis's works have also been produced, the most notable of which is the 2005 Disney film adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Disney may refer to: The Walt Disney Company and its divisions, including Walt Disney Pictures. ... Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. ...

[edit] Biography

[edit] Childhood

Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland on November 29, 1898. His father was Albert James Lewis (1863–1929), a solicitor whose father, Richard, had come to Ireland from Wales. His mother was Flora Augusta Lewis née Hamilton (1862–1908), the daughter of a Church of Ireland minister. He had one older brother, Warren Hamilton Lewis (Warnie). At the age of four, shortly after his dog Jacksie was hit by a car, Lewis announced that his name was now Jacksie. At first he would answer to no other name, but later accepted Jacks which became Jack, the name by which he was known to friends and family for the rest of his life. At six his family moved into "Little Lea", the house the elder Mr. Lewis built for Mrs. Lewis, in Strandtown, Ireland. This article is about the city in Northern Ireland. ... is the 333rd day of the year (334th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... A solicitor is a type of lawyer in many common law jurisdictions, such as the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Republic of Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, and in a few regions of the United States. ... This article is about the country. ... The French word née (feminine) or né (masculine) (or the English word nee) is still commonly used in some newspapers when mentioning the maiden name of a woman in engagement or wedding announcements. ... The Church of Ireland (Irish: ) is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion, operating seamlessly across the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      For other types of... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Little Lea

Lewis was initially schooled by private tutors before being sent to the Wynyard School in Watford, Hertfordshire, in 1908, the same year (and very shortly after) his mother died of cancer. Lewis's brother had already enrolled there three years previously. The school was closed not long afterwards due to a lack of pupils — the headmaster Robert "Oldie" Capron was soon after committed to an insane asylum. Tellingly, in Surprised By Joy, Lewis would later nickname the school "Belsen". There is some speculation by biographer Alan Jacobs that the atmosphere at Wynyard greatly traumatized Lewis and was responsible for the development of "mildly sadomasochistic fantasies". (Gopnik 2005) Four of the letters that the adolescent Lewis wrote to his life-long friend Arthur Greeves (out of an overall correspondence of nearly 300 letters) were signed "Philomastix" ("whip-lover"), and two of those also detailed women he would like to spank. (Hooper 1979, pp. 160–170) Image File history File linksMetadata Little_Lea. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Little_Lea. ... Wynyard School was a school in Watford, U.K., which was attended by C.S. Lewis. ... Watford is a town and district in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, situated 34 km (21 miles) northwest of London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. ... For the similarly named county in the West Midlands region, see Herefordshire. ... A psychiatric hospital (also called, at various places and times, mental hospital or mental ward, historically often asylum, lunatic asylum, or madhouse), is a hospital specialising in the treatment of persons with mental illness. ... dont you know this is bad info This article is about the Nazi concentration camp. ... Adolescent redirects here. ... Erotic spanking can sometimes go hand in hand with other paraphilia, such as for erotic clothes or erotic humiliation. ...

After Wynyard closed, Lewis attended Campbell College in the east of Belfast about a mile from his home, but he left after a few months due to respiratory problems. As a result of his illness, Lewis was sent to the health-resort town of Malvern, Worcestershire, where he attended the preparatory school Cherbourg House (called "Chartres" in Lewis's autobiography). Campbell College is a voluntary grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. ... Malvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England . ... In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school (usually abbreviated to prep school) is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are called public schools. ...

In September 1913 Lewis enrolled at Malvern College, where he would remain until the following June. It was during this time at the age of 15 that he abandoned his childhood Christian faith and became an atheist, becoming interested in mythology and the occult.^[1]Later he would describe "Wyvern" (as he styled the school in his autobiography) as so singularly focused on increasing one's social status that he came to see the homosexual relationships between older and younger pupils as "the one oasis (though green only with weeds and moist only with fetid water) in the burning desert of competitive ambition. […] A perversion was the only thing left through which something spontaneous and uncalculated could creep" (Lewis 1966, p. 107). After leaving Malvern he moved to study privately with William T. Kirkpatrick, his father's old tutor and former headmaster of Lurgan College. Malvern College is a coeducational English public school, founded in 1865. ... “Atheist” redirects here. ... Social status is the honor or prestige attached to ones position in society (ones social position). ... Homosexuality refers to sexual interaction and / or romantic attraction between individuals of the same sex. ... Lurgan College is a selective age 14-18 Grammar School situated in the large town of Lurgan, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. ...

As a young boy, Lewis had a fascination with anthropomorphic animals, falling in love with Beatrix Potter's stories and often writing and illustrating his own animal stories. He and his brother Warnie together created the world of Boxen, inhabited and run by animals. Lewis loved to read, and as his father’s house was filled with books, he felt that finding a book he had not read was as easy as "finding a blade of grass." Anthropomorphism, also referred to as personification or prosopopeia, is the attribution of human characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, forces of nature, and others. ... Falling in love is a mainly Western term used to describe the process of moving from a feeling of neutrality towards someone, to one of love. ... Helen Beatrix Potter (28 July 1866 – 22 December 1943) was an English author and illustrator, botanist, and conservationist, best known for her childrens books, which featured animal characters such as Peter Rabbit. ... Boxen is a fictional world that was created by C. S. Lewis as a child and was inhabited by talking animals. ...

As a teenager, he was wonderstruck by the songs and legends of what he called Northernness, the ancient literature of Scandinavia preserved in the Icelandic sagas. These legends intensified a longing he had within, a deep desire he would later call "joy". He also grew to love nature—the beauty of nature reminded him of the stories of the North, and the stories of the North reminded him of the beauties of nature. His writing in his teenage years moved away from the tales of Boxen, and he began to use different art forms (epic poetry and opera) to try to capture his newfound interest in Norse mythology and the natural world. Studying with Kirkpatrick (“The Great Knock”, as Lewis afterwards called him) instilled in him a love of Greek literature and mythology, and sharpened his skills in debate and clear reasoning. For other uses, see Scandinavia (disambiguation). ... The Norse sagas or Viking sagas (Icelandic: Íslendingasögur), are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, about migration to Iceland, and of feuds between Icelandic families. ... The epic is a broadly defined genre of narrative poetry, characterized by great length, multiple settings, large numbers of characters, or long span of time involved. ... Norse, Viking or Scandinavian mythology comprises the indigenous pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian peoples, including those who settled on Iceland, where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. ... // Main article: Ancient Greek literature Ancient Greek literature refers to literature written in Ancient Greek from the oldest surviving written works in the Greek language until the 4th century and the rise of the Byzantine Empire. ...

[edit] World War I

Lewis in 1919, at the age of 21

Having won a scholarship to University College, Oxford in 1916, Lewis enlisted the following year in the British Army as World War I raged on, and was commissioned an officer in the third Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry. Lewis arrived at the front line in the Somme Valley in France on his nineteenth birthday, and experienced trench warfare. Image File history File links CSLewis. ... Image File history File links CSLewis. ... This article is about scholarship (noun) and scholarship as a form of financial aid. ... College name University College Collegium Magnae Aulae Universitatis Named after Established 1249 Sister College Trinity Hall Master Lord Butler of Brockwell JCR President Peter Surr Undergraduates 420 MCR President Monte MacDiarmid Graduates 144 Homepage Boatclub Crest of University College, Oxford University College (in full, the The Master and Fellows of... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... The Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Alberts) was an infantry regiment of the British Army. ... Somme is a French département, named after the Somme River, located in the north of France. ...

On April 15, 1917, Lewis was wounded during the Battle of Arras, and suffered some depression during his convalescence, due in part to missing his Irish home. On his recovery in October, he was assigned to duty in Andover, England. He was discharged in December 1918, and soon returned to his studies. Lewis received a First in Honour Moderations (Greek and Latin Literature) in 1920, a First in Greats (Philosophy and Ancient History) in 1922, and a First in English in 1923. is the 105th day of the year (106th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar (see: 1917 Julian calendar). ... The Battle of Arras took place from 9 April to 16 May 1917. ... Statistics Population: 52,000 Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: SU3645 Administration District: Test Valley Region: South East England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Hampshire Historic county: Hampshire Services Police force: Hampshire Constabulary Fire and rescue: {{{Fire}}} Ambulance: South Central Post office and telephone Post town... Honour Moderations (or Mods) are a first set of examinations at Oxford University, normally during the first half of the degree course for some courses (e. ... Latin literature, the body of written works in the Latin language, remains an enduring legacy of the culture of ancient Rome. ... Literae Humaniores is the name given to the study of Classics at Oxford and some other universities. ... “Ancient” redirects here. ... English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S., Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, India, South Africa, and the Middle East, among other areas), English linguistics (including English phonetics, phonology...

While being trained for the army Lewis shared a room and became close friends with another cadet, "Paddy" Moore. The two had made a mutual pact that if either died during the war, the survivor would take care of both their families. Paddy was killed in action in 1918 and Lewis kept his promise. Paddy had earlier introduced Lewis to his mother, Jane King Moore, and a friendship very quickly sprang up between Lewis, who was eighteen when they met, and Jane, who was forty-five. The friendship with Mrs. Moore was particularly important to Lewis while he was recovering from his wounds in hospital, as his father, who had an almost pathological reluctance to break free from the routine of his Belfast practice, could not bring himself to visit him. Temporary grave of an American machine-gunner during the Battle of Normandy. ...

[edit] Jane Moore

Lewis was known to have had a close personal relationship with Jane Moore (1871/2–1951). She was the mother of his friend, Paddy Moore (1898–1918). In keeping a promise to Paddy after his death in France during WWI, Lewis lived with and cared for Mrs. Moore until she was hospitalized in the late 1940s. He routinely introduced Moore as his "mother". Lewis, whose mother had died when he was a child and whose father was distant and demanding, came to draw affection from his friendship with Moore. "All I can or need to say is that my earlier hostility to the emotions was very fully and variously avenged", he wrote of her in his autobiography. He also said to his friend George Sayer: "She was generous and taught me to be generous, too." The nature of their relationship is unknown, although it is most probable that he looked to her as his "mother." His stepson, Douglas Gresham, writes in his biography of Lewis that it will remain a mystery. The speculation that they became lovers has tempted biographers, but remains unproven. Douglas Gresham (born November, 1945) is a British biographer and film producer. ...

In December 1917 Lewis wrote in a letter to his childhood friend Arthur Greeves that Jane and Greeves were "the two people who matter most to me in the world."

In 1930, Lewis, Moore, her daughter Maureen and Warnie moved into "The Kilns", a house in Risinghurst, Headington. They all contributed financially to the purchase of the house, which passed to Maureen, then Lady Dunbar of Hempriggs, when Warren died in 1973. Risinghurst is a quiet outlying residential area of Oxford, England, situated just outside the Eastern Bypass road which forms part of the Oxford ring road. ... Lady Dunbar of Hempriggs, born Maureen Daisy Helen Moore (born 19 August 1906, died 14 February 1997), was the only daughter of Janie King Askins Minto Moore (1873-1951) with whom C.S. Lewis had a 33-year platonic cohabitation and, possibly, at times, sexual relationship, and Courtenay Edward Moore...

Moore suffered from dementia in her later years and was eventually moved into a nursing home, where she died in 1951. Lewis visited her every day in this home until her death. For other uses, see Dementia (disambiguation). ... Rest home for seniors in Český Těšín, Czech Republic SNF redirects here. ...

[edit] "My life"

Plaque on a park-bench in Bangor, County Down

Lewis experienced a certain cultural shock upon first arriving in England: "No Englishman will be able to understand my first impressions of England," Lewis wrote in Surprised by Joy. "The strange English accents with which I was surrounded seemed like the voices of demons. But what was worst was the English landscape … I have made up the quarrel since; but at that moment I conceived a hatred for England which took many years to heal." Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1000x663, 47 KB) Summary Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1000x663, 47 KB) Summary Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... This article is about the town in Northern Ireland. ... Statistics Province: Ulster County Town: Downpatrick Area: 2,448 km² Population (est. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life is a partial autobiography published by C.S. Lewis in 1955. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

From boyhood Lewis immersed himself firstly in Norse and Greek and then in Irish mythology and literature and expressed an interest in the Irish language, though he seems to have made little attempt to learn it. He developed a particular fondness for W. B. Yeats, in part because of Yeats’s use of Ireland’s Celtic heritage in poetry. In a letter to a friend Lewis wrote, "I have here discovered an author exactly after my own heart, whom I am sure you would delight in, W. B. Yeats. He writes plays and poems of rare spirit and beauty about our old Irish mythology." In 1921, Lewis had the opportunity to meet Yeats on two occasions, since Yeats had moved to Oxford. Norse, Viking or Scandinavian mythology comprises the indigenous pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian peoples, including those who settled on Iceland, where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. ... The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branches of Celtic mythology. ... Irish writing of 8th century For a comparatively small country, Ireland has made a disproportionate contribution to world literature in all its branches. ... This article is about the modern Goidelic language. ... William Butler Yeats, 1933 photograph, author unknown. ... This article is about the European people. ...

Surprised to find his English peers indifferent to Yeats and the Celtic Revival movement, Lewis wrote: "I am often surprised to find how utterly ignored Yeats is among the men I have met: perhaps his appeal is purely Irish—if so, then thank the gods that I am Irish." Early in his career, Lewis considered sending his work to the major Dublin publishers, writing: "If I do ever send my stuff to a publisher, I think I shall try Maunsel, those Dublin people, and so tack myself definitely onto the Irish school." After his conversion to Christianity, his interests gravitated towards Christian spirituality and away from pagan Celtic mysticism. The Celtic Revival, also known as the Irish Literary Revival, was begun by Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn and William Butler Yeats in Ireland in 1896. ... For other uses, see Dublin (disambiguation). ... Conversion to Christianity is the religious conversion of a previously non-Christian person to some form of Christianity. ...

Lewis occasionally expressed a somewhat tongue-in-cheek chauvinism toward the English. Describing an encounter with a fellow Irishman he wrote: "Like all Irish people who meet in England we ended by criticisms of the inevitable flippancy and dullness of the Anglo-Saxon race. After all, ami, there is no doubt that the Irish are the only people … I would not gladly live or die among another folk." Sarcasm is the making of remarks intended to mock the person referred to (who is normally the person addressed), a situation or thing. ... Chauvinism (IPA:) is extreme and unreasoning partisanship on behalf of a group to which one belongs, especially when the partisanship includes malice and hatred towards a rival group. ... This article is about the English as an ethnic group and nation. ... For other uses, see Anglo-Saxon. ...

Due to his Oxford career Lewis did indeed live and die among another folk, and he often expressed regret at having to leave Ireland. Throughout his life, he sought out the company of his fellow Irish living in England and visited Northern Ireland regularly, even spending his honeymoon there (The Old Inn 2007). He called this "my Irish life".

[edit] Conversion to Christianity

Although raised in a church-going family in the Church of Ireland, Lewis became an atheist at the age of 13, and remained as such until he was 31 years old. His separation from Christianity began when he started to view his religion as a chore and as a duty; around this time he also gained an interest in the occult as his studies expanded to include such topics. Lewis quoted Lucretius as having one of the strongest arguments for atheism: The Church of Ireland (Irish: ) is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion, operating seamlessly across the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. ... Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus (c. ...

Nequaquam nobis divinitus esse paratam

Naturam rerum; tanta stat praedita culpa (Lucretius)

"Had God designed the world, it would not be

A world so frail and faulty as we see."

Though an atheist at the time, Lewis later described his young self (in Surprised by Joy) as being paradoxically "very angry with God for not existing". Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life is a partial autobiography published by C.S. Lewis in 1955. ... Look up paradox in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Lewis's interest in fantasy and mythology, especially in relation to the works of George MacDonald, was part of what turned him from atheism. In fact, MacDonald's position as a Christian fantasy writer was very influential on Lewis. This can be seen particularly well through this passage in The Great Divorce, chapter nine, when the semi-autobiographical main character meets MacDonald in Heaven: George MacDonald (December 10, 1824 – September 18, 1905) was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. ... A protagonist is the main figure of a piece of literature or drama and has the main part or role. ... For other uses, see Heaven (disambiguation). ...

…I tried, trembling, to tell this man all that his writings had done for me. I tried to tell how a certain frosty afternoon at Leatherhead Station when I had first bought a copy of Phantastes (being then about sixteen years old) had been to me what the first sight of Beatrice had been to Dante: Here begins the new life. I started to confess how long that Life had delayed in the region of imagination merely: how slowly and reluctantly I had come to admit that his Christendom had more than an accidental connexion with it, how hard I had tried not to see the true name of the quality which first met me in his books is Holiness. (Lewis 1946, pp. 66–67) For other uses of this name, see Leatherhead (disambiguation). ... DANTE is also a digital audio network. ... It has been suggested that True name (legal) be merged into this article or section. ...

Influenced by arguments with his Oxford colleague and friend J. R. R. Tolkien, and by the book The Everlasting Man by Roman Catholic convert G. K. Chesterton, he slowly rediscovered Christianity. He fought greatly up to the moment of his conversion noting, "I came into Christianity kicking and screaming." He described his last struggle in Surprised by Joy: Tolkien redirects here. ... The Everlasting Man is a book by G. K. Chesterton, published in 1925. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Gilbert Keith Chesterton (May 29, 1874–June 14, 1936) was an influential English writer of the early 20th century. ... Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life is a partial autobiography published by C.S. Lewis in 1955. ...

You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. (Lewis 1966)

After his conversion to theism in 1929, Lewis converted to Christianity in 1931. Following a long discussion and late-night walk with his close friends Tolkien and Hugo Dyson, he records making a specific commitment to Christian belief while on his way to the zoo with his brother. He became a member of the Church of England — somewhat to the disappointment of the devout Catholic Tolkien, who had hoped he would convert to Roman Catholicism (Carpenter 2006).^[2] Theism is the belief in the existence of one or more divinities or deities. ... St Francis Xavier converting the Paravas: a 19th-century image of the docile heathen The historical phenomenon of Christianization, the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once, also includes the practice of converting pagan practices, pagan religious imagery, pagan sites and the pagan calendar... Hugo Dyson, whose full name was Henry Victor Dyson Dyson, was a member of the Inklings literary group. ... The Church of England logo since 1998 The Church of England is the officially established Christian church[1] in England, and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ... Catholic Church redirects here. ...

A committed Anglican, Lewis upheld a largely orthodox Anglican theology, though in his apologetic writings, he made an effort to avoid espousing any one denomination. In his later writings, some believe he proposed ideas such as purification of venial sins after death in purgatory (The Great Divorce) and mortal sin (The Screwtape Letters), which are generally considered to be Catholic teachings. Regardless, Lewis considered himself an entirely orthodox Anglican to the end of his life, reflecting that he had initially attended church only to receive communion and had been repelled by the hymns and the poor quality of the sermons. He later came to consider himself honoured by worshipping with men of faith who came in shabby clothes and work boots and who sang all the verses to all the hymns. The Church of England logo since 1998 The Church of England is the officially established Christian church[1] in England, and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ... According to Catholicism, a venial sin is a sin which meets at least one of the following critera: it does not concern a grave matter, it is not committed with full knowledge, or it is not committed with both deliberate and complete consent. ... Illustration for Dantes Purgatorio (18), by Gustave Doré, an imaginative picturing of Purgatory. ... According to the beliefs of Roman Catholicism, a mortal sin is a sin that, unless confessed and absolved (or at least sacramental confession is willed if not available), condemns a persons soul to Hell after death. ... The Eucharist is either the Christian sacrament of consecrated bread and wine or the ritual surrounding it. ...

[edit] Joy Gresham

Joy Gresham

In Lewis's later life, he corresponded with and later met Joy Davidman Gresham, an American writer of Jewish background and also a convert from atheism to Christianity.^[3] She was separated from her husband and came to England with her two sons, David and Douglas. Lewis at first regarded her as an agreeable intellectual companion and personal friend, and it was at least overtly on this level that he agreed to enter into a civil marriage contract with her so that she could continue to live in the UK. Lewis's brother Warnie wrote: "For Jack the attraction was at first undoubtedly intellectual. Joy was the only woman whom he had met… who had a brain which matched his own in suppleness, in width of interest, and in analytical grasp, and above all in humour and a sense of fun" (Haven 2006). However, after complaining of a painful hip, she was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer, and the relationship developed to the point that they sought a Christian marriage. Since she was divorced, this was not straightforward in the Church of England at the time, but a friend, the Rev. Peter Bide, performed the ceremony at Joy's hospital bed in 1956. Image File history File links Joy_Gresham. ... Image File history File links Joy_Gresham. ... Joy Gresham Joy Davidman (born Helen Joy Davidman on April 18, 1915, died July 13, 1960) was a Jewish writer, a radical communist and an atheist until her conversion to Christianity in the late 1940s. ... Douglas Gresham (born November, 1945) is a British biographer and film producer. ... Marriage is an interpersonal relationship with governmental, social, or religious recognition, usually intimate and sexual, and often created as a contract, or through civil process. ...

Joy's cancer soon went into a remarkable yet brief remission, and the couple lived as a family (together with Warren Lewis) until her eventual relapse and death in 1960. The year she died, the couple took a brief holiday in Greece and the Aegean in 1960; Lewis was fond of walking but not of travel, and this marked his only crossing of the English Channel after 1918. Lewis’s book A Grief Observed describes his experience of bereavement in such a raw and personal fashion that Lewis originally released it under the pseudonym N.W. Clerk to keep readers from associating the book with him. However, so many friends recommended the book to Lewis as a method for dealing with his own grief that he made his authorship public. Look up Aegean Sea in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For the Thoroughbred racehorse of the same name, see English Channel (horse). ... A Grief Observed, first published in 1961, is a collection of C.S. Lewiss reflections on the experience of bereavement, after his wife, Joy Gresham, died from cancer. ...

Lewis continued to raise Joy's two sons after her death. Douglas Gresham is an active Christian and remains involved in the affairs of the Lewis estate, though David Gresham returned to his mother's original Jewish faith. The two brothers are now estranged (Neven 2001).

[edit] Illness and death

In early June 1961, Lewis began experiencing medical problems and was diagnosed with inflammation of the kidneys which resulted in blood poisoning. His illness caused him to miss the autumn term at Cambridge, though his health gradually began improving in 1962 and he returned that April. Lewis's health continued to improve, and according to his friend George Sayer, Lewis was fully himself by the spring of 1963. However, on July 15, 1963 he fell ill and was admitted to hospital. The next day at 5:00 pm, Lewis suffered a heart attack and lapsed into a coma, unexpectedly awaking the following day at 2:00 pm. After he was discharged from hospital, Lewis returned to the Kilns though he was too ill to return to work. As a result, he resigned from his post at Cambridge in August. Lewis's condition continued to decline and in mid-November, he was diagnosed with end stage renal failure. On November 22, 1963, Lewis collapsed in his bedroom at 5:30 pm and died a few minutes later, exactly one week before what would have been his 65th birthday. He is buried in the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church, Headington, Oxford (Friends of Holy Trinity Church). Nephritis is inflammation of the kidney. ... Bacteremia (Bacteræmia in British English, also known as blood poisoning or toxemia) is the presence of bacteria in the blood. ... The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and has a reputation as one of the worlds most prestigious universities. ... is the 196th day of the year (197th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1963 (disambiguation). ... Heart attack redirects here. ... Chronic renal failure (CRF, or chronic kidney failure, CKF, or chronic kidney disease, CKD) is a slowly progressive loss of renal function over a period of months or years and defined as an abnormally low glomerular filtration rate, which is usually determined indirectly by the creatinine level in blood serum. ... is the 326th day of the year (327th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1963 (disambiguation). ... The Headington Shark Headington is a residential suburb of Oxford, England, lying on top of a hill of the same name overlooking the city of Oxford in the river valley below. ...

Media coverage of his death was overshadowed by news of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which occurred on the same day, as did the death of Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World. This coincidence was the inspiration for Peter Kreeft's book Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C. S. Lewis, & Aldous Huxley (Kreeft 1982). John F. Kennedy The assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, took place on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, USA at 12:30 PM Central Standard Time (18:30 UTC). ... Aldous Leonard Huxley (July 26, 1894 – November 22, 1963) was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. ... For other uses, see Brave New World (disambiguation). ... Peter Kreeft Peter Kreeft is a Catholic apologist for Christianity, professor of philosophy at Boston College and The Kings College, and author of over 45 books including Fundamentals of the Faith, Everything you Ever Wanted to Know about Heaven, and Back to Virtue. ... Between Heaven and Hell is a fictional story by Peter Kreeft about President John F. Kennedy, and authors C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia) and Aldous Huxley (Brave New World) meeting in Limbo or Purgatory and engaging in a philisophical discussion on faith. ...

C. S. Lewis is commemorated on 22 November in the church calendar of the Episcopal Church. is the 326th day of the year (327th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This is a calendar of saints and blessed found in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. ... This article is about the Episcopal Church in the United States. ...

[edit] Career

[edit] The scholar

Magdalen College

Lewis taught as a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, for nearly thirty years, from 1925 to 1954, and later was the first Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge. Using this position, he argued that there was no such thing as an English Renaissance. Much of his scholarly work concentrated on the later Middle Ages, especially its use of allegory. His The Allegory of Love (1936) helped reinvigorate the serious study of late medieval narratives like the Roman de la Rose. Lewis wrote several prefaces to old works of literature and poetry, like Layamon's Brut. His preface to John Milton’s poem Paradise Lost is still one of the most important criticisms of that work. His last academic work, The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature (1964), is a summary of the medieval world view, the "discarded image" of the cosmos in his title. Download high resolution version (880x584, 84 KB)Magdalen College, Oxford, 2004-06-13. ... Download high resolution version (880x584, 84 KB)Magdalen College, Oxford, 2004-06-13. ... College name Magdalen College Latin name Collegium Beatae Mariae Magdalenae Named after Mary Magdalene Established 1458 Sister college Magdalene College, Cambridge President Professor David Clary FRS JCR President Jessica Jones Undergraduates 395 MCR President Eloise Scotford Graduates 230 Location of Magdalen College within central Oxford , Homepage Boatclub Magdalen College (pronounced... The Chair in Medieval and Renaissance English is a professorship in English at Cambridge University. ... The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and has a reputation as one of the worlds most prestigious universities. ... Full name The College of Saint Mary Magdalene Motto Garde ta Foy Keep your Faith Named after Mary Magdalene Previous names Buckingham College Established 1428 Sister College(s) Magdalen College Master Duncan Robinson Location Magdalene Street Undergraduates 335 Postgraduates 169 Homepage Boatclub Magdalene College (pronounced ) was founded in 1428 as... The English Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England dating from the early 16th century to the early 17th century. ... Dante by Michelino The Late Middle Ages is a term used by historians to describe European history in the period of the 14th to 16th centuries (AD 1300–1500). ... Written in 1936 by C. S. Lewis, The Allegory of Love is an exploration of the Medieval conventions of courtly love. ... Mirth and Gladness lead a Dance in this miniature from a manuscript of the Roman de la Rose in the Bodleian Library (MS Douce 364, folio 8r). ... For other uses, see Paradise Lost (disambiguation). ... Academia is a collective term for the scientific and cultural community engaged in higher education and research, taken as a whole. ... The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature is the last book written by C. S. Lewis. ... A world view (or worldview) is a term calqued from the German word Weltanschauung (pronounced ) Welt is the German word for world, and Anschauung is the German word for view or outlook. It implies a concept fundamental to German philosophy and epistemology and refers to a wide world perception. ...

Lewis was a prolific writer, and his circle of literary friends became an informal discussion society known as the "Inklings", including J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, and his brother Warnie Lewis. At Oxford he was the tutor of, among many other undergraduates, poet John Betjeman, critic Kenneth Tynan, mystic Bede Griffiths, and Sufi scholar Martin Lings. Curiously, the religious and conservative Betjeman detested Lewis, whereas the anti-Establishment Tynan retained a life-long admiration for him (Tonkin 2005). The Eagle and Child pub (commonly known as the Bird and Baby) in Oxford where the Inklings met on Thursday nights in 1939. ... Tolkien redirects here. ... Charles Walter Stansby Williams (September 20, 1886 – May 15, 1945), was a British writer and poet, and a member of the loose literary circle called the Inklings. ... Owen Barfield (November 9, 1898–December 14, 1997) was a British philosopher, author, poet, and critic. ... A collection of Betjemans poetry, published by John Murray in January 2006 Sir John Betjeman CBE (28 August 1906 – 19 May 1984) was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Whos Who as a poet and hack. He was born to a middle-class family... Kenneth Peacock Tynan (April 2, 1927 - July 26, 1980), was an influential and often controversial British theatre critic and writer. ... Alan Richard Griffiths (17 December 1906 Walton-on-Thames, England - 13 May 1993, Shantivanam, South India) was a British-born mystic who lived in an ashram, called Shantivanam, in south India. ... Martin Lings Martin Lings (Abu Bakr Siraj Ad-Din) (January 24, 1909 – May 12, 2005) was a lifelong student and follower of Frithjof Schuon and a British scholar of Sufism. ... Not to be confused with antidisestablishmentarianism. ...

Of J. R. R. Tolkien, Lewis writes in Surprised by Joy: Tolkien redirects here. ... Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life is a partial autobiography published by C.S. Lewis in 1955. ...

When I began teaching for the English Faculty, I made two other friends, both Christians (these queer people seemed now to pop up on every side) who were later to give me much help in getting over the last stile. They were H.V.V. Dyson … and J.R.R. Tolkien. Friendship with the latter marked the breakdown of two old prejudices. At my first coming into the world I had been (implicitly) warned never to trust a Papist, and at my first coming into the English Faculty (explicitly) never to trust a philologist. Tolkien was both. (Lewis 1966, p. 173)

[edit] The author

In addition to his scholarly work, Lewis wrote a number of popular novels, including his science fiction Space Trilogy and his fantasy Narnia books, most dealing implicitly with Christian themes such as sin, the Fall, and redemption. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... The Space Trilogy, Cosmic Trilogy or Ransom Trilogy is a trilogy of three science fiction novels by C. S. Lewis. ... For other definitions of fantasy see fantasy (psychology). ... Narnia is a fantasy world created by C. S. Lewis as a location for his Chronicles of Narnia, a series of seven fantasy novels for children. ...

[edit] The Pilgrim's Regress

Main article: The Pilgrim's Regress

His first novel after becoming a Christian was The Pilgrim's Regress, his take on John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress which depicted his own experience with Christianity. The book was critically panned at the time, particularly for its esoteric nature—as to read it requires a close familiarity with classical sources. The Pilgrims Regress is a book of allegorical fiction by C.S. Lewis. ... John Bunyan. ... The Pilgrims Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come by John Bunyan (published, February, 1678) is a Christian allegory. ...

In a footnote of the biography D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The Fight of Faith 1939–1981 by Iain Murray, Murray notes the following: "Lewis is said to have valued ML-J's appreciation and encouragement when the early edition of his Pilgrim's Regress was not selling well. Vincent Lloyd-Jones and Lewis knew each other well, being contemporaries at Oxford. ML-J met the author again and they had a long conversation when they found both themselves on the same boat to Ireland in 1953. On the later occasion, to the question, 'When are you going to write another book?', Lewis replied, 'When I understand the meaning of prayer'" (Murray 1990). Iain H. Murray (b. ...

[edit] Space Trilogy

Main article: Space Trilogy

His Space Trilogy or Ransom Trilogy novels (also called the Cosmic Trilogy) dealt with what Lewis saw as the then-current dehumanizing trends in modern science fiction. The first book, Out of the Silent Planet, was apparently written following a conversation with his friend J. R. R. Tolkien about these trends; Lewis agreed to write a "space travel" story and Tolkien a "time travel" one. Tolkien’s story, "The Lost Road", a tale connecting his Middle-earth mythology and the modern world, was never completed. Lewis’s character of Ransom is based in part on Tolkien, a fact that Tolkien himself alludes to in his Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. The second novel, Perelandra, illustrates a new "Garden of Eden", a new "Adam and Eve", and a new "serpent figure" to tempt them. The story illustrates a hypothesis of what could have happened if "our Eve" would have resisted more firmly the temptation of the serpent. The last novel in the Trilogy also contains numerous references to Tolkien's fictional universe, and can be seen partially as a homage to Tolkien. The minor character Jules, from That Hideous Strength, is an obvious caricature of H. G. Wells. Many of the ideas presented in the books, particularly in That Hideous Strength, are dramatizations of arguments made more formally in Lewis’s The Abolition of Man. The Space Trilogy, Cosmic Trilogy or Ransom Trilogy is a trilogy of three science fiction novels by C. S. Lewis. ... A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... Out of the Silent Planet is the first novel of a science fiction trilogy written by C. S. Lewis, sometimes referred to as the Space Trilogy or Ransom Trilogy. ... Tolkien redirects here. ... ... The Lost Road and Other Writings is the fifth volume of The History of Middle-earth, a series of compilations of drafts and essays written by J. R. R. Tolkien. ... A map of the Northwestern part of Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age, courtesy of the Encyclopedia of Arda. ... Elwin Ransom is a character from C.S. Lewiss Space Trilogy. ... Perelandra (also titled Voyage to Venus in a later edition published by Pan Books) is the second book in the Space Trilogy of C. S. Lewis. ... That Hideous Strength is a 1945 novel by C. S. Lewis, the final book in Lewiss theological science fiction Space Trilogy. ... Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946), better known as H. G. Wells, was an English writer best known for such science fiction novels as The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The First Men in the Moon and The Island of Doctor Moreau. ... The Abolition of Man is a 1943 book by C. S. Lewis. ...

Another science fiction novel, The Dark Tower, was begun, but remained unfinished; it is not clear whether it was intended as part of the same series as the completed novels. The manuscript was eventually published in 1977, though controversy arose about its authenticity. The Dark Tower is a fragment of a novel attributed to C. S. Lewis and published posthumously by his personal secretary, Walter Hooper, in 1977. ... An unfinished portrait miniature of Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper. ...

[edit] The Chronicles of Narnia

The Mountains of Mourne

Main article: The Chronicles of Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children and is considered a classic of children's literature. Written between 1949 and 1954 and illustrated by Pauline Baynes, the series is Lewis's most popular work having sold over 100 million copies in 41 languages (Kelly 2006)(Guthmann 2005). It has been adapted several times, complete or in part, for radio, television, stage, and cinema. The series has been published in several different orders, and the preferred reading order for the series is often debated among fans; though Douglas Gresham has stated that Lewis preferred that they be read in "Narnian chronology", not the order in which they were published (Drennan 1999). View of the mountains and mourne wall. ... View of the mountains and mourne wall. ... Narnia redirects here. ... For other definitions of fantasy see fantasy (psychology). ... Childrens books redirects here. ... Pauline Baynes (born 1922, in Hove, Sussex) is an English book illustrator, whose work encompasses more than 100 books. ... Serge Sudeikins poster for the Bat Theatre (1922). ...

The books contain many allusions to Christian ideas which are easily