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British literary critic, scholar and author, known for his
classic fantasy stories for children, THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA
(1950-1956), which show the influence of J.R.R. Tolkien. After
a spiritual search Lewis became one of the most popular
spokesmen for Christianity, known as the "Apostle to the
Skeptics."
"'When Aslan said you could never go back to Narnia, he meant
the Narnia you were thinking of. But that was not the real
Narnia. That had a beginning and an end. It was only a shadow
or a copy of the real Narnia which has always been there and
always will be there: just as our own world, England and all,
is only a shadow or copy of something in Aslan's real world.
You need not mourn over Narnia, Lucy. All of the old Narnia
that mattered, all the dear creatures, have been drawn into
the real Narnia through the Door. And of course it is
different; as different as a real thing is from a shadow or as
waking life is from a dream.'" (in The Last Battle, 1956)
Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland, the son of
Albert James Lewis, a solicitor, and Florence Augusta (née
Hamilton), the daughter of a Church of Ireland priest. Lewis
was very close to his mother, who taught him to love books and
encouraged him to study French and Latin. When he was six, the
family moved into a house in the Strandtown area of East
Belfast. During his childhood, Lewis created the imaginary
country of Bloxen. In the attic of the house he had a "study"
where learned and first practiced the craft of writing. Many
of these tales were later published in BOXEN: THE IMAGINARY
WORLD OF THE YOUNG C.S. LEWIS (1985).
Lewis mother, a promising mathematician, died of cancer when
he was nine years old. In 1908 he was sent to the Wynyard
School in Watford, Hertfordshire, which he later on called "Belsea".
Its headmaster was committed to an insane asylum. After
attending Campbell College in the east of Blfast, and
abandoning his Christian faith the Malvern College, he was
educated privatedly in Great Bookham, Surrey. Like many other
students, he witnessed a number of homosexual relationships,
but which he himself rejected. Most of his life, Lewis was
unmarried.
"I am the product of long corridors, empty sunlit rooms,
upstairs indoor silences, attics explored in solitude, distant
noises of gurgling cisterns and pipes, and the noise of wind
under the tiles. Also of endless books," Lewis wrote in his
autobiographical book SURPRISED BY JOY (1955). "There were
books in the study, books in the drawing-room, books in the
cloakroom, books (two deep) in the great bookcase on the
landing, books in a bedroom, books piled as high as my
shoulder in the cistern attic, books of all kinds reflecting
every transient stage of my parents' interests, books readable
and unreadable, books suitable for a child and books most
empathically not. Nothing was forbidden me. In the seemingly
endless rainy afternoons I took volume after volume from the
shelves..." Lewis's early favorites were Edith Nesbit's books,
among them The Story of the Amulet (1906), which mixed fantasy
with reality, and the uncut edition of Gulliver's Travels.
Later he read the Norse myths and sagas, and such historical
books as Henryk Sienkiewicz's Quo Vadis and Lew Wallace's Ben
Hur. He also found The Odyssey, Voltaire, Milton and Spenser.
Lewis's private tutor, W.T. Kirkpatrick, taught him to read
Greek for pleasure.
In 1916, Lewis won a scholarship to University College, Oxfird.
From 1917 to 1919 he served in the Somerset Light Infantry.
While in Keble Kollege, where Lewis had joined a cadet
battalion, Lewis met Mrs Janie King Moore, a much older woman
– she was 45 at that time and had separated from her husband.
Mrs Moore was the mother of Edward Francis Courtenay ("Paddy")
Moore, with whom Lewis shared rooms and who was killed in
combat. During the Battle of Arras, Lewis was accidentally
wounded in the back. While convalescing, he met again Mrs
Moore, who followed him to Oxford with her daughter Maureen.
However, Lewis concealed this from his father. In 1930 he
moved into "The Kilns," a house on the outskirts of Oxford. A
number of children found shelter and safety at the Kilns
during WWII. Mrs Moore died in January 1951, at the age of
seventynine. In her later years she suffered from dementia and
was moved into a nursing home.
Lewis graduated in 1923 from University College, Oxford, where
became a fellow and tutor in English literature at Magdalen
College, Oxford, serving in that post nearly thirty years. For
short periods he served as a lecturer at the University of
Wales, the University of Durham, and other places. Lewis
disliked traveling but he spent hours each week responding to
letters he received from all over the world. His lectures were
crowded – he had a phenomenal memory, and he could speak
spontaneously about Greek and Latin texts without notes.
Between 1954 and 1963 he was professor of Medieval and
Renaissance English at Cambridge, remaining there until his
death.
With J.R.R. Tolkien and Charles Williams, Lewis formed a
literary group called 'The Inklings', which took shape in the
1930s. Their Tuesday lunchtime sessions at the Bird and Baby
pub became a well known part of Oxford social life. Tolkien
himself was a Roman Catholic and he was never quite happy with
Lewis's embracing of the Anglican Church. Williams died in
1945 and the meetings faded away in 1949. Among other members
of the club were Christopher Tolkien and Owen Barfield. Lewis
preferred the company of men. He considered that women's minds
were intrinsically inferior to men's. A visitor at the
Socratic Society of Oxford portrayed Lewis as "ruddy of
complexion, radiating health, of substantial girth all over,
and his eyes sparkled with mirth."
As Surprised by Joy demonstrates, the watershed in Lewis's
life was his conversion from atheism to Christianity. He had
began to lose his faith at the age of 13, partly due to his
deep-rooted pessimism, and partly due to pantheistic
experiences and interest in Wagner's music. After reading such
writers as Chesterfield, Bergson, George MacDonald, and George
Herbert, and abandoning his youthful snobbery, he became a
deist in 1929, and later he was associated with such
neo-Christians as T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, Dorothy L. Sayers,
and J.R.R. Tolkien; some other teachers at Oxford also
influenced him.
In the 1930s Lewis started to publish popular religious books,
including A PILGRIM'S REGRESS (1933), a thinly disguised
allegory of his own conversion, which he wrote in Ireland in
two weeks. Lewis's conversion and his reputation as a
prominent Christian writer and radio personality strained his
relationship with Mrs Moore, who declared herself an atheist
later in life. THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS (1942) was a
correspondence from a senior devil to his nephew concerning
the latter's task of winning a young man to damnation. THE
PROBLEM OF PAIN (1940) asked, "If God is good and
all-powerful, why does he allow his creatures to suffer pain?"
Lewis suggested that much of the suffering in God's world can
be traced to the evil choices people make. In his own life,
Lewis followed Christian principles. He gave away two-thirds
of his income, sat at the bedside of the sick, and personally
served the poor.
Lewis's literary criticism opposed classical, traditional, and
purely literary values in favour of the biographical,
psychological, and impressionistic. However, it took a long
period before he began to appreciate modern poetry. Lewis was
the chief spokesman for the view that a good reader receives
the text, it affects one's senses, but the bad reader "uses"
it – the text relieves one's life but does not add to it.
Among Lewis's most substantial books is ENGLISH LITERATURE IN
THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY (1954). As an essayist Lewis did not
avoid controversial issues. In 'The Humanitarian Theory of
Punishment' he questioned the idea that to seek to "cure" a
criminal is nobler than to rely on punishment. Islam he
described as "a Christian heresy."
In OUT OF SILENT PLANET (1938) Lewis put his Christian beliefs
in the setting of a science fiction story. The book started
Lewis's Ransom trilogy, where the achievements of science are
in alliance with those of demonic evil. In the first part
Ransom is kidnapped by an amoral Wellsian scientist, Weston,
and taken to Mars. The series continued in PERELANDRA (1943),
in which an angel carries Ransom to Venus. In THAT HIDEOUS
STRENGTH (1945) Ransom is back on Earth, and calls Merlin to
fight against an unpleasant scientific organization, the
N.I.C.E., the National Institute of Co-ordinated Experiments.
The Chronicles of Narnia has turned out to be the most lasting
of Lewis's novels. "I wrote the books I should have liked to
read," Lewis said. "That's always been my reason for writing."
The Chronicles tell the story of a group of children, who come
into contact with the mysterious other world of Narnia, where
the lion Aslan is the prototype of Christ. "I don't know where
the Lion came from or why He came," Lewis explained later.
"But once He was there He pulled the whole story together."
The portal to Narnia, a kind of medieval vision of Paradise,
is a wardrobe through which the four sibling children, Peter,
Susan, Edmund, and Lucy enter a secondary world. In the first
story the bad Witch is destroyed in a battle. In the sequels
the children travel in Narnia and meet sea monsters, dragons,
mermaids, wizards and other creatures. Turbaned, dark-skinned
people called Calormenes, who worship a demon named Tash, also
cause trouble – Lewis's view of Muslims couldn't be more
explicit. The final books deal with Narnia's beginning and
end. In the last Armageddon story, with its
death-and-resurrection theme, the struggle is between young
King Tirian and the forces of evil, as represented by Shift
the Ape and Puzzle the donkey. The harmony of Narnia is
destroyed and Father Time puts out the sun. Jill and Eustache
appear from a railway train to help young Tirian, "last of the
Kings of Narnia." Aslan reveals the truth: the children were
killed in a railway accident. "Your father and mother and all
of you are – as you used to call it in the Shadowlands – dead.
The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended;
this is the morning." Lewis ends the book telling that they
lived happily ever after – it was for them only the beginning
of the real story.
Lewis was briefly married to Helen Joy Davidman, a Jewish
American poet, a former Communist, who had two children. They
met in 1952, but their correspondence had started before it.
Lewis's years at Cambridge were happy – Joy Davidman was
always good-humoured and shared his delight in argument for
argument's sake. She died of cancer in 1960. Lewis keep the
marriage secret from Tolkien, which caused tension in their
friendship. Lewis's notes from this period was published under
the title A GRIEF OBSERVED (1961) The relationship was the
subject of the film Shadowlands (1994), directed by William
Nicholson and starring Debra Winger and Anthony Hopkins.
Shadowlands was based on Nicholson's television script from
1985 and a successful stage play. Lewis died of osteoporosis
on November 22, 1963, the day when President Kennedy was
assassinated in Dallas, Texas. In 1988 Kathryn Lindskoog
published a study (The C.S. Lewis Hoax) in which she
questioned the authenticity of a number of Lewis's works
published from 1966 to 1991, among them The Dark Tower (1977).
Lindskoog continued the debate in Light in the Shadowlands
(2001), claiming that the author's posthumous books are at
least partly spurious.
For further reading: C.S. Lewis: A Biography by Roger Lancelyn
Green and Walter Hooper (1974); The Inklings by Humphrey
Carpenter (1978); Shadowlands: The Story of C.S. Lewis and Joy
Davidman, by Brian Sibley (1985); C.S. Lewis and the Search
for Rational Religion by J. Beverluis (1985); Clive Staples
Lewis by W. Griffin (1986); The C.S. Lewis Hoax by Kathryn
Lindskoog (1988); C.S. Lewis: A Biography by A.N. Wilson
(1990); The Fiction of C.S. Lewis by K. Filmer (1993); The
Chronicle of Narnia by C.N. Manlove (1993); The Man Who
Created Narnia by M. Coren (1996); C.S. Lewis: Christian and
Storyteller by B. Gromley (1998); Sleuthing C.S. Lewis: More
Light in the Shadowlands by Kathryn Lindskoog (2001) - See
other creators of imaginary lands: Lewis Carroll (Wonderland),
J.M. Barrie (Never Never Land), L. Frank Baum (Oz), J.R.R.
Tolkien (Middle-earth), Tove Jansson (The Moomin Valley)
Selected bibliography:
* SPIRITS IN BONDAGE, 1919 (verse as by Clive Hamilton)
* DYMER, 1926 (verse as by Clive Hamilton)
* THE PILGRIM'S REGRESS, 1933
* ALLEGORY OF LOVE, 1936
* OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET, 1938 (Ransom Trilogy)
- Äänetön planeetta (suom. Matti Kannosto, 1983)
* REHABILITATIONS, 1939
* THE PERSONAL HERESY, 1939 (with E.M.W.Tillyard)
* THE PROBLEM OF PAIN, 1940
- Kärsimyksen ongelma (suom. Maritta Pesonen, 1963)
* A PREFACE TO 'PARADISE LOST', 1942
* THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS, 1942
- Paholaisen kirjeopisto (suom. Tyyni Tuulio, 1980; Taneli
Junttila, 2007)
* THE WEIGHT OF GLORY, 1942
* BROADCAST TALKS, 1942
* MERE CHRISTIANITY, 1943
* PERELANDRA, 1943 (Ransom Trilogy)
- Matka Venukseen (suom. Matti Kannosto, 1984)
* THE ABOLITION OF MAN, 1943
* BEYOND PERSONALITY, 1944
* THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH, 1945 (Ransom Trilogy)
- Piinattu planeetta (suom. Matti Kannosto, 1985)
* THE GREAT DIVORCE, 1945
- Suuri avioero (suom. Kari Krohn, 1970)
* THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE
WARDROBE, 1950 (film 2005, dir. by Andrew Adamson, starring
Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Anna
Popplewell, Tilda Swanson); PRINCE CASPIAN, 1951 (film 2008,
dir. by Andrew Adamson, starring Ben Barnes, William Moseley,
Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, Georgie Henley); THE VOYAGE
OF THE 'DAWN TREADER', 1952; THE SILVER CHAIR, 1953; THE HORSE
AND HIS BOY, 1954; THE MAGICIAN'S NEPHEW, 1955; THE LAST
BATTLE, 1956
- Velho ja leijona (suom. Kyllikki Hämäläinen, 1960); Prinssi
Kaspian: paluu Narniaan (suom. Kyllikki Hämäläinen, 1975);
Kaspianin matka maailman ääriin (suom. Kyllikki Hämäläinen,
1976); Hopeinen tuoli (suom. Kaarina Helakisa, 1976); Hevonen
ja poika (suom. Kaarina Helakisa, 1977); Taikurin sisarenpoika
(suom. Kyllikki Hämäläinen, 1959); Narnian viimeinen taistelu
(suom. Kaarina Helakisa, 1979)
* GEORGE MACDONALD: AN ANTHOLOGY, 1946 (ed.)
* MIRACLES, 1947
* ARTHURIAN TORSO, 1948 (ed.)
* VIVISECTION, 1948
* TRANSPOSITIONS AND OTHER ADDRESSES, 1949
* THE LITERARY IMPACT OF THE AUTHORIZED VERSION, 1950
* MERE CHRISTIANITY, 1952
- Ehyt elämä (suom. Ruth Wathén, 1962) / Tätä on kristinusko (suom.
Marja Liljeqvist, 1978)
* HERO AND LEANDER, 1952
* ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY, EXCLUDING
DRAMA, 1954
* SURPRISED BY JOY, 1955
- Ilon yllättämä (suom. Ritva Miettinen, 1986)
* TILL WE HAVE FACES, 1957
* REFLECTIONS ON THE PSALMS, 1958
- Mietteitä psalmeista (suom. Marja Liljeqvist, 1982)
* SHALL WE LOSE GOD IN OUTER SPACE? 1959
* THE FOUR LOVES, 1960
- Neljä rakkautta (suom. Taisto Nieminen, 1982)
* THE WORLDS LAST NIGHT, 1960
* STUDIES IN WORDS, 1960 (rev. 1967)
* A GRIEF OBSERVED, 1961 (as N.W. Clerk)
- Muistiinpanoja surun ajalta (suom. Anna-Mari Kaskinen, 1984)
* AN EXPERIMENT IN CRITICISM, 1961
* THEY ASKED FOR A PAPER, 1962
* THE DISCARDED IMAGE, 1964
* POEMS, 1964
* LETTERS TO MALCOLM, 1964
* SCREWTAPE PROPOSES A TOAST, 1965
* LETTERS, 1966
* OF THE OTHER WORLDS, 1966 (ed. Walter Hooper)
* STUDIES IN MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE LITERATURE, 1966
* LETTERS TO AN AMERICAN LADY, 1967
* CHRISTIAN REFLECTIONS, 1967
- Entisen ateistin kristillisiä esseitä (suom. Olavi Aula,
1968)
* MARK VS. TRISTAN, 1967
* SPENSER'S IMAGES OF LIFE, 1967
* A MIND AWAKE, 1968
* SELECTED LITERARY ESSAYS, 1969
* NARRATIVE POEMS, 1969
* GOD IN THE DOCK, 1970
* THE HUMANITARIAN THEORY OF PUNISHMENT, 1972
* FERN-SEED AND ELEPHANTS AND OTHER ESSAYS ON CHRISTIANITY,
1975
* THE DARK TOWER AND OTHER STORIES, 1977 (ed. Walter Hooper)
* THEY STAND TOGETHER, 1979
* C.S. LEWIS AT THE BREAKFAST TABLE, 1979
* A MIND AWAKE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF C.S. LEWIS, 2003 (ed. Clyde
Kilby)
* THE VISIONARY CHRISTIAN: 131 READINGS FROM C.S. LEWIS, 1981
* OF THIS AND OTHER WORLDS, 1982 (ed. Walter Hooper)
* ON STORIES, 1982
* THE CRETACEOUS PERAMBULATOR, 1983 (ed. Walter Hooper)
* THE BUSINESS OF HEAVEN, 1984 (ed. Walter Hooper)
* LETTERS TO CHILDREN, 1985 (eds. L.W. Dorsett, M. Lamp Mead
* BOXEN: THE IMAGINARY WORLD OF THE YOUNG C.S. LEWIS, 1985
* PRESENT CONCERNS, 1986 (ed. Walter Hooper)
* TIMELESS AT HEART, 1987 (ed. Walter Hooper)
* THE ESSENTIAL C.S. LEWIS, 1988
* LETTERS: C.S. LEWIS AND D.G. CALABRIA, 1989 (ed. M.
Moynihan)
* ALL MY ROAD BEFORE ME: THE DIARY OF C.S. LEWIS, 1922-1927,
1991
* ESSAY COLLECTION, 2002
* THE C.S. LEWIS BIBLE, 2010 (ed. Michael Maudlin)
* C.S. LEWIS'S LOST AENEID: ARMS AND THE EXILE, 2011 (ed. A.
T. Reyes)
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