C. S. Lewis facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
C. S. Lewis
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Lewis c. 1957
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| Born | Clive Staples Lewis 29 November 1898 Belfast, Ireland |
| Died | 22 November 1963 (aged 64) Oxford, England |
| Resting place | Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry |
| Pen name | Clive Hamilton, N. W. Clerk |
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| Alma mater | University of Oxford |
| Genre | Christian apologetics, fantasy, science fiction, children's literature |
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| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 step-sons, including Douglas Gresham |
| Relatives | Warren Lewis (brother) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
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Branch
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British Army |
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Rank
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Second Lieutenant |
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Conflicts
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First World War Second World War |
| Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters". | |
Clive Staples Lewis (born 29 November 1898 – died 22 November 1963) was a famous British author and scholar. He taught English literature at Magdalen College, Oxford and later at Magdalene College, Cambridge. Many people know him best for writing The Chronicles of Narnia. He also wrote other fantasy books like The Screwtape Letters and The Space Trilogy. Besides fiction, he wrote books explaining Christian ideas, such as Mere Christianity.
Lewis was a good friend of J. R. R. Tolkien, who wrote The Lord of the Rings. They both taught at the University of Oxford. They were part of a writing group called the Inklings. Lewis was raised in the Church of Ireland but stopped believing in God as a teenager. He later returned to his Christian faith at age 32, partly because of Tolkien's influence. His faith deeply shaped his writing. His radio talks about Christianity during wartime became very popular.
Lewis wrote over 30 books. These books have been translated into more than 30 languages. Millions of copies have been sold worldwide. The Chronicles of Narnia series, with its seven books, is his most famous work. These stories have been made into plays, TV shows, radio dramas, and movies.
In 1956, Lewis married an American writer named Joy Davidman. She sadly passed away from cancer four years later. Lewis himself died on 22 November 1963, at 64 years old. In 2013, a special memorial for him was placed in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. This honored his lasting impact on literature.
Contents
Life Story of C. S. Lewis
Childhood and Early Years
Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland, on 29 November 1898. His father, Albert James Lewis, was a lawyer. His mother, Flora Lewis, was one of the first women to graduate in mathematics from Queen's College Belfast. Lewis had an older brother named Warren, or "Warnie."
When Lewis was four, his dog Jacksie died. He then started calling himself Jacksie. Later, everyone knew him as Jack. When he was seven, his family moved to a house called "Little Lea" in East Belfast.
As a boy, Lewis loved stories about talking animals. He enjoyed Beatrix Potter's books and made up his own animal tales. With his brother Warnie, he created a fantasy world called Boxen, where animals ruled. Lewis loved reading, and his home was full of books. He once said finding a book was as easy as finding a new blade of grass in a field.
The New House is almost a major character in my story.
I am the product of long corridors, empty sunlit rooms,
upstair 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 was taught at home until he was nine. In 1908, his mother passed away from cancer. His father then sent him to a school in England. After a short time at Campbell College in Belfast, he went to another school in Malvern, England. During this time, he stopped believing in Christianity and became an atheist. He also became very interested in European mythology.
Later, Lewis studied privately with a tutor named William T. Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick helped him develop a love for Greek literature and improve his debating skills. As a teenager, Lewis was fascinated by Norse mythology and the beauty of nature. These interests inspired his early writings. In 1916, he earned a scholarship to University College, Oxford.
Life in England and Irish Roots
When Lewis first arrived in England, he felt a bit of a culture shock. He wrote in his book Surprised by Joy that the English accents sounded strange to him. He also felt a dislike for the English landscape at first, though this feeling changed over time.
Lewis loved Norse mythology, Greek mythology, and later, Irish mythology. He was very interested in the Irish language. He especially admired the poet W. B. Yeats for using Ireland's Celtic mythology in his poems. Lewis even met Yeats twice in Oxford. He was surprised that his English friends didn't seem to care much about Yeats's work.
Lewis often looked for other Irish people living in England. He also visited Northern Ireland regularly. In 1958, he spent his honeymoon there, calling it "my Irish life." Some people believe that Lewis's desire for peace in his home city of Belfast influenced his Christian beliefs. He often spoke about the importance of unity among different Christian groups.
University, War, and Early Career
Lewis started at University College, Oxford in 1917. Soon after, he joined the Officers' Training Corps to prepare for the army. He was sent to France to fight in the First World War. On his 19th birthday, Lewis arrived at the front lines. He experienced trench warfare in the Somme Valley.
In April 1918, Lewis was wounded by a shell. Two of his friends were killed. He felt sad and missed home while recovering. After he got better, he was sent to duty in England. He left the army in December 1918 and went back to his studies. Lewis later said that his war experiences, along with his mother's death, made him feel pessimistic.
After the war, Lewis excelled at Oxford. He earned top honors in Greek, Latin, Philosophy, Ancient History, and English. In 1925, he became a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Magdalen College, Oxford. He worked there for 29 years.
Caring for Janie Moore
During his army training, Lewis became friends with a cadet named Edward Courtnay Francis "Paddy" Moore. They made a promise that if one of them died in the war, the other would look after both their families. Paddy was killed in 1918, and Lewis kept his word.
Paddy had introduced Lewis to his mother, Janie King Moore. Lewis, who was 18, and Janie, 45, became close friends. Lewis's own mother had died when he was young, and his father was often distant. Janie became like a second mother to him.
Lewis lived with and cared for Janie Moore for many years. He often introduced her as his mother. In 1930, Lewis, his brother Warnie, Janie Moore, and her daughter Maureen moved into a house called The Kilns. They all helped buy the house. Lewis visited Janie every day when she later moved into a nursing home, until her death in 1951.
Return to Christian Faith
Lewis grew up in a religious family. However, he became an atheist at age 15. He later described himself as being "very angry with God for not existing." He also felt angry with God for creating a world with problems.
Lewis's interest in the writer George MacDonald helped him move away from atheism. He also had many discussions with his Oxford friends, especially J. R. R. Tolkien. Another book, The Everlasting Man by G. K. Chesterton, also influenced him.
Lewis initially resisted returning to faith. He felt like he was "kicking, struggling, resentful" against it. He described his final decision in his book Surprised by Joy:
You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen [College, Oxford], 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.
After believing in God in 1929, Lewis became a Christian in 1931. This happened after a long talk with Tolkien and Hugo Dyson. He joined the Church of England. Tolkien had hoped he would join the Catholic Church, but Lewis remained an Anglican.
Lewis was a dedicated Anglican. He tried to explain Christian beliefs in a way that all denominations could understand. He believed in core Christian ideas shared by many groups.
Second World War Contributions
When the Second World War began in 1939, Lewis and his family took in children who were evacuated from London. Lewis, then 40, tried to rejoin the military. His offer to train cadets was not accepted. He also refused to write propaganda for the government. He later served in the local Home Guard in Oxford.
From 1941 to 1943, Lewis gave religious talks on BBC radio. These broadcasts were very popular with civilians and soldiers. They helped many people find meaning during the war. These talks were later published in his book Mere Christianity. Lewis also visited Royal Air Force stations to speak about his faith.
Declining an Honour
In 1951, King George VI offered Lewis the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). Lewis politely declined this honour. He did not want to be associated with any political issues. He preferred to be seen as a non-political Christian writer.
Teaching at Cambridge University
In 1954, Lewis accepted a new position at Magdalene College, Cambridge. He became the Professor of Mediaeval and Renaissance Literature. He continued to live in Oxford and returned there on weekends. He taught at Cambridge until his death in 1963.
Marriage to Joy Davidman
She was my daughter and my mother, my pupil and my teacher, my subject and my sovereign; and always, holding all these in solution, my trusty comrade, friend, shipmate, fellow-soldier. My mistress; but at the same time all that any man friend (and I have good ones) has ever been to me. Perhaps more.
In his later life, Lewis corresponded with Joy Davidman Gresham, an American writer. She had become a Christian after being an atheist. She came to England with her two sons, David and Douglas. Lewis first saw her as a smart and friendly companion.
To help her stay in Britain, Lewis agreed to a civil marriage with Joy in 1956. Lewis's brother, Warren, noted that Joy's intelligence matched Lewis's own. Soon after, Joy was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer. Their relationship deepened, and they sought a Christian marriage. A friend, Reverend Peter Bide, performed the ceremony in her hospital room in 1957.
Joy's cancer went into remission for a time. The couple lived happily with Lewis's brother Warren until 1960. Sadly, her cancer returned, and she passed away on 13 July 1960. Lewis's book A Grief Observed describes his deep sadness after her death. He first published it under a fake name because it was so personal.
Lewis adopted Joy's two sons and continued to raise them. Douglas Gresham became a Christian, like Lewis and his mother. David Gresham chose to follow his mother's ancestral faith, becoming Orthodox Jewish.
Illness and Death
In June 1961, Lewis became ill with a kidney problem. He missed a term at Cambridge, but his health slowly improved in 1962. By early 1963, he seemed to be back to his old self.
However, on 15 July 1963, Lewis fell ill again and was hospitalized. He had a heart attack and fell into a coma, but woke up the next day. He returned home but was too sick to work. He resigned from his Cambridge position in August 1963.
Lewis's health continued to worsen. He died on 22 November 1963, at age 64, from kidney failure. He is buried in the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry in Oxford. His brother Warren was buried in the same grave in 1973.
Lewis's death was largely overshadowed by the news of the assassination of John F. Kennedy on the same day. The English writer Aldous Huxley also died that day. This coincidence inspired a book called Between Heaven and Hell. Lewis is remembered on 22 November in the church calendar of the Episcopal Church.
C. S. Lewis's Career
A Distinguished Scholar
Lewis began his academic journey as a student at Oxford. He achieved the highest honors in three different subjects. He then became a Fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he taught for almost 30 years. In 1954, he became a professor at Cambridge University.
Much of his scholarly work focused on the Late Middle Ages. He was especially interested in how writers used allegory, which is a story with a hidden meaning. His book The Allegory of Love helped people understand medieval stories better.
Lewis was a very productive writer. He was part of an informal discussion group called the "Inklings" with his literary friends. This group included J. R. R. Tolkien, who wrote The Lord of the Rings. They met to discuss their writings and ideas. Lewis was also a tutor to many students, including the poet John Betjeman.
Lewis wrote about his friendship with Tolkien in Surprised by Joy. He mentioned that Tolkien helped him overcome his old biases against certain groups of people.
A Beloved Novelist
Besides his academic work, Lewis wrote many popular novels. These include the science fiction Space Trilogy for adults and the famous Narnia fantasies for children. Many of his stories explore Christian themes like good versus evil and redemption.
His first novel after becoming a Christian was The Pilgrim's Regress (1933). This book used an allegorical style, like John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, to describe his journey to faith.
The Space Trilogy (also called the Cosmic Trilogy) explored Lewis's concerns about science fiction that seemed to make humans less important. The first book, Out of the Silent Planet, was inspired by a conversation with Tolkien. Lewis's main character, Elwin Ransom, was partly based on Tolkien.
The second novel, Perelandra, tells of a new Garden of Eden on the planet Venus. It features a new Adam and Eve and a tempter. The third novel, That Hideous Strength, shows how science without good values can be dangerous. Many ideas from this trilogy are also found in his book The Abolition of Man.
The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels. They are considered classics of children's literature. Written between 1949 and 1954, these books are Lewis's most popular work. They have sold over 100 million copies in 41 languages. The series has been adapted for radio, television, stage, and cinema. In 1956, The Last Battle, the final book in the series, won the Carnegie Medal.
The Narnia books contain Christian ideas presented in a way that young readers can easily understand. Lewis also included characters from Greek mythology, Roman mythology, and traditional British and Irish fairy tales.
Lewis's last novel, Till We Have Faces, was published in 1956. It retells the myth of Cupid and Psyche. Lewis believed it was his best book, though it was not as widely popular as his other works.
Other Literary Works
Lewis wrote several books about Heaven and Hell. One of these, The Great Divorce, is a short story. It describes people from Hell taking a bus trip to Heaven. They can choose to stay, but many find it not to their liking. The title refers to William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, an idea Lewis disagreed with.
Another short work, The Screwtape Letters, is a collection of letters. They are from an older demon, Screwtape, to his nephew, Wormwood. Screwtape gives advice on how to tempt a human and lead them astray.
Before becoming a Christian, Lewis published two books of poetry under the name Clive Hamilton: Spirits in Bondage and Dymer. He also wrote The Four Loves, which explains four different types of love: friendship, romantic love, affection, and selfless love.
In 2009, a partial draft of Language and Human Nature was found. Lewis had started writing it with J. R. R. Tolkien, but it was never finished. In 2024, an original poem by Lewis was discovered. It was written under the pen name Nat Whilk.
A Christian Apologist
Lewis is known as one of the most important Christian apologists of his time. An apologist explains and defends religious beliefs. Mere Christianity was voted the best book of the 20th century by Christianity Today in 2000. Lewis was called "The Apostle to the Skeptics" because he approached faith as a skeptic himself before converting.
Lewis was interested in showing that there are good reasons to believe in God. His books Mere Christianity, The Problem of Pain, and Miracles addressed common questions about Christianity. For example, he explored why a good God would allow pain in the world. He also became a popular speaker and radio broadcaster. Many of his writings started as scripts for his talks.
After a discussion with philosopher G. E. M. Anscombe in 1948, Lewis refined his approach to explaining his faith. He continued to write many books and essays defending Christianity.
Lewis wrote an autobiography called Surprised by Joy. It focuses on his journey to becoming a Christian. Many of his essays and speeches on Christian belief were collected in books like God in the Dock.
His most famous works, The Chronicles of Narnia, contain many Christian messages. Lewis, an expert on allegory, said these books were not allegories. Instead, he called the Christian parts "suppositional." He explained that Aslan, the lion, was an imaginary answer to the question: "What might Christ be like if there were a world like Narnia?"
The "Trilemma" Argument
In Mere Christianity, Lewis presented a famous argument called the "trilemma." He challenged the idea that Jesus was just a great moral teacher but not God. Lewis argued that Jesus made claims about being divine. If these claims were not true, then Jesus could not be just a good teacher.
Lewis explained:
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
This argument is often called "Lewis's trilemma." Lewis did not invent it, but he helped make it well-known. He used a similar idea in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The old Professor tells the children that their sister's claims about Narnia must be either lies, madness, or the truth.
Universal Morality
One of Lewis's main ideas was that all humans share a common sense of right and wrong. He called this "natural law" or the "Law of Human Nature." In Mere Christianity, he discusses how people everywhere seem to know how they ought to behave. They also know when they break this law.
Lewis argued that this universal sense of morality suggests there must be something or someone behind these shared principles.
These then are the two points that I wanted to make. First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of Nature; they break it. These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we live in.
Lewis also showed this idea of Universal Morality in his fiction. In The Chronicles of Narnia, he called it the "deep magic" that everyone knew. He explained that differences in moral codes often come from different beliefs about facts, not different moral principles. For example, people stopped executing witches when they stopped believing witches existed, not because their moral principles changed.
Lewis also had thoughtful views on animal welfare. He wrote essays like On Vivisection and "On the Pains of Animals."
Political Views and Beliefs
Lewis generally avoided getting involved in politics. He was not very interested in everyday political issues. He declined the CBE honour because he did not want to be seen as supporting any political party. He believed his role was to be a Christian writer who explained faith, not a politician.
Lewis's book The Abolition of Man (1943) defends the idea of objective values and natural law. This means he believed there are universal truths about right and wrong that don't change. He felt this book was important, even if it was often overlooked. In it, he aimed to remind people of these timeless ideas.
Lasting Legacy
C. S. Lewis continues to be widely read today. In 2008, The Times newspaper ranked him eleventh among the "50 greatest British writers since 1945." Many readers enjoy his fiction without realizing the Christian themes Lewis intended. His books explaining Christian ideas are read by people from many different Christian groups.
In 2013, 50 years after his death, Lewis was honored with a memorial in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey. This is a special place where many great British writers are remembered. The dedication service included a reading from The Last Battle by Douglas Gresham, Lewis's younger stepson. The inscription on his floor stone is a quote from Lewis:
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else.
Lewis's life has been the subject of several biographies. Some were written by his close friends. The story of Lewis's life and his relationship with Joy Davidman Gresham was made into a TV movie called Shadowlands in 1985. It was also a play and a 1993 film starring Anthony Hopkins.
Many books have been inspired by Lewis, including A Severe Mercy. The Chronicles of Narnia has been especially influential. Modern children's fantasy books, such as Daniel Handler's A Series of Unfortunate Events and J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter, have been influenced by Lewis's series. Some critics, like Philip Pullman, have different views on Lewis's work.
A bronze statue of Lewis's character Digory from The Magician's Nephew stands in Belfast. It is in front of the Holywood Road Library.
Several C. S. Lewis Societies exist around the world. One was founded at the University of Oxford in 1982. These societies meet to discuss Lewis's life and works.
Live-action films have been made of three Narnia books: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005), Prince Caspian (2008), and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010).
Lewis is also a character in the The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series by James A. Owen. He is one of two characters in Mark St. Germain's 2009 play Freud's Last Session. This play imagines a meeting between Lewis and Sigmund Freud in 1939. In 2023, a film version of Freud's Last Session was released.
In 2021, The Most Reluctant Convert, a film about Lewis's life and conversion, was released.
The CS Lewis Nature Reserve is located behind his former home, The Kilns. It is open to the public.
C.S.Lewis Quotes
- "I can't imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once."
- "Only the skilled can judge the skilfulness, but that is not the same as judging the value of the result."
- "I am almost inclined to set it up as a canon that a children's story which is enjoyed only by children is a bad children's story."
- "Where we find a difficulty we may always expect that a discovery awaits us."
- "I wrote the books I should have liked to read. That's always been my reason for writing. People won't write the books I want, so I have to do it for myself."
- "All mortals tend to turn into the thing they are pretending to be."
- "Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again."
- "Try to exclude the possibility of suffering which the order of nature and the existence of free-wills involve, and you find that you have excluded life itself."
Images for kids
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The undergraduates of University College, Trinity term 1917. C. S. Lewis is standing on the right side of the back row.
See also
In Spanish: C. S. Lewis para niños
- Courtly love
- Johan Huizinga
- Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College, has the world's largest collection of works by and about Lewis
- D. W. Robertson Jr.