Irish-born scholar, novelist, and author of about 40 books, many of which on Christian apologetics, including The Screwtape Letters (1942), he is best known to the public for The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-1956), a series of seven books that have become classics of fantasy literature.
• 1898: Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast into a family who valued reading and education highly. Both his father, Albert, and his mother, Florence Augusta Hamilton, possessed first-rate minds and they passed on to both him and his brother Warren their love for books.
• 1901: he was reading by age three and, by five, he had begun writing stories about a fantasy land populated by dressed animals, influenced by the stories of Beatrix Potter.
• 1908: his mother died of cancer. Lewis had always been somewhat reclusive, and this tragic event made him even more withdrawn. He received his pre-college education at boarding schools where he was intensely unhappy.
• 1914: in September he was sent to Surrey to be privately tutored by W.T. Kirkpatrick, a brilliant teacher and friend of Lewis’s father.
A most demanding tutor, “the Great Knock”, as he was affectionately known, helped Lewis learn how to criticise and analyse, and he taught him how to think, speak, and write logically.
During WWI, he served in France with the Somerset Light Infantry and was sent home after being wounded by shrapnel.
1916: he won a scholarship in classics and began his studies at Oxford, achieving an outstanding record.
1925: he became a fellow and tutor of Magdalen (/ˈmɔːdlɪn/) College, Oxford.
There, he also joined the group known as The Inklings, an informal collective of writers and intellectuals who counted among their members Lewis’s brother Warren and J.R.R. Tolkien.
In his youth, Lewis aspired to become a notable poet, but, since his first publications attracted little attention, he turned to scholarly writing and prose fiction.
1938: he published his first successful work of science-fiction, Out of the Silent Planet, which was followed by the equally successful Perelandra (1943) and That Hideous Strength (1945).
At the same time, Lewis was becoming known in literary circles, initially by publishing articles and book reviews, later with Christian apologist writings.
1942: his work of epistolary fiction, The Screwtape Letters, became a best seller in Britain and the United States.
1950: Lewis published what would become his most widely known book, the children’s fantasy The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first of his Narnia Chronicles.
In the same year he began a correspondence with Joy Davidman Gresham, a Jewish American writer who had become a Christian in part through reading Lewis’s books. She would eventually bring insights, ideas, and a new angle of vision.
1954: he was appointed Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Magdalene (/ˈmɔːdlɪn/) College, Cambridge, a position he held for the rest of his life.
1955: he penned an autobiography, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life.
1956: after Joy’s divorce from her unfaithful husband, she and Lewis married in a secret civil ceremony, and, with her help, he wrote what he considered his best novel, Till We Have Faces, on the myth of Cupid and Psyche. Six months later Joy was diagnosed with advanced cancer.
1957: the two were married by an Anglican priest (despite his friends’ disapproval) and Joy’s cancer went into a period of remission, allowing them a few years of great happiness.
1960: Joy’s cancer returned and she died in July.
Under the name N.W. Clerk, Lewis published A Grief Observed (1961), in which he poured out his sorrow and spiritual doubt, and outlined the stages he went through in his grief process.
1963: he wrote his last book, Letters to Malcolm, and in the summer of that year he retired from his post at Cambridge due to heart trouble. He died on November 22 in Headington, Oxford, on the same day in which J. F. Kennedy was assassinated.
As a toddler, Lewis declared that his name was Jack, which is what he was called by family and friends.
Together with his brother, “Warnie”, he created the imaginary land of Boxen, complete with details about its history, economics, politics and government, as well as illustrations of buildings and characters, putting together his own stories about AnimalLand and Warnie’s stories about India.
He believed that there are no “ordinary” people because we are all immortal: this led him to write personally (and usually by hand) to anyone who wrote to him!
Lewis’s spiritual journey was a very difficult one…
the death of his mother in 1908 convinced young Jack that the God he encountered in church and in the Bible his mother had given him was, if not cruel, at least a vague abstraction;
by 1911 or 1912 he forsook Christianity and became an avowed atheist.
The shocking experience of WWI did nothing to change his vision.
When his college roommate, Paddy Moore, was killed in World War I, Lewis befriended Paddy’s mother, Mrs. Janie King Moore, and her adolescent daughter Maureen.
In 1920, after completing his first degree, he decided to share lodgings with them, so that he could look after their needs.
It was there that he met Mrs. Moore’s brother, a combat veteran who suffered from a severe war-inflicted nervous disorder: this personal encounter apparently shook Lewis’s confidence in materialism, because a letter he wrote in 1923 suggests a slight spiritual awakening.
When he joined The Inklings, conversations with group members led Lewis to reembrace Christianity after having been disillusioned for so long.
He would go on to become renowned for his rich apologist texts, in which he explained his spiritual beliefs via platforms of logic and philosophy.
In particular, during WWII, he gave highly popular radio broadcasts on Christianity which won many converts; his speeches were collected in the work Mere Christianity (1952).
As book royalties mounted during the late 1940s, and continued to spiral upward thereafter, Lewis refused to upgrade his standard of living.
Partly out of disdain for conspicuous living, but mostly out of commitment to Jesus Christ, he established a charitable fund for his royalty earnings
Despite valiant efforts to conceal the extent of his charity, it is known that he supported numerous impoverished families, underwrote education fees for poor seminarians and for orphans, and also put money into scores of charities and church ministries.
Lewis was frequently under attack for his decidedly Christian lifestyle. Close friends, including J.R.R. Tolkien, openly disapproved of Lewis’s evangelistic speaking and writing.
Additionally, he was often the target of attacks from colleagues and strangers who did not share the author’s faith.
His “Christian” books caused so much disapproval that he was more than once passed over for a professorship at Oxford, with the honors going to men of lesser reputation.
It was Magdalene College at Cambridge University that finally honored Lewis with a chair in 1954, as we have seen, thereby recognizing his original and important contributions to English literary history and criticism.
The Screwtape Letters (1942) is a work of epistolary fiction which Lewis dedicated to his dear friend and colleague J.R.R. Tolkien.
In a brief preface, Lewis says he discovered the bundle of Screwtape’s letters somewhere and decided to publish them… but who is Screwtape?
He is a devil, Lewis warns the reader, so his version of events, should not be taken as the truth.
Then the letters begin
Screwtape, an elderly, experienced devil, high in the Infernal Civil Service, instructs his “nephew”, Wormwood, during his first mission on earth, to secure the damnation of a young man (identified as “the Patient”), who has just become a Christian at the outset of WWII.
Although the youth initially seems to be a willing victim, he eventually dies in a bombing raid with his soul at peace, thanks to church attendance and a faithful Christian woman…
The Screwtape Letters is considered a milestone in the history of popular theology, a timeless, iconic classic on spiritual conflict and the invisible realities which are part of our religious experience.
With his witty use of ironic inversion (e.g. God is “the Enemy”, Satan is “Our Father Below”, hierarchy becomes “Lowerarchy”) and, more importantly, with deep spiritual understanding and keen psychological insight, Lewis explores the nature of temptation and evil, and resistance to them, using satire as a means of education.
Screwtape is a fundamentally inconsistent and amoral character, a representation of the viciousness and the banality of evil. He is subtle and clever in his tempting because he understands how humans think, and he is motivated by his own self-interest.
Wormwood is a younger, less-experienced devil who Screwtape presents as incompetent, excitable and easily distracted. He is also a backstabber who reports Screwtape to Hell’s authorities because of some of the things he writes (in particular, the “heresy” that God really loves mankind!) and ends up in hell for his failure to win the Patient’s soul.
The Patient serves as the human stand-in for readers of the text. Thus, many of the details of his life (his name, his job, his past, his own words, and his physical description) are not given. His very anonymity allows him to become a symbol for all of humanity.
The Woman is a virtuous Christian woman who plays a critical role in attracting the patient towards God and away from temptation. She is an example of Christian virtue, and, at the same time, an idealized version of a good wife who does not have to struggle to be brought closer to God.
Three key themes of this complex work are:
➢ Defining Good by Exploring Evil
Written from the perspective of devils trying to tempt and corrupt human souls, we are shown what behaviour brings humans closer to the devil and what behaviour brings them closer to God.
➢ Religion and Reason
In the novel, logic and reason prove Christianity true by proving its opposite, evil, false. Anyone who thinks critically about reality and religion will come to understand the truth of Christianity.
➢ Free Will
According to Lewis, free will is humanity’s greatest weakness, as well as its greatest strength, as it allows for the choice between good and evil, thus making us vulnerable to the devils.
Lewis planned to write a sequel featuring an angel encouraging a junior angel on how to be a good guardian angel, but he gave up on the idea realizing that it is easy to get into the mind of the diabolical and impossible to get into the mind of the angelic (Preface to the 2nd edition, pp. 9-10). This is what he wrote:
“… Ideally, Screwtape’s advice to Wormwood should have been balanced by archangelical advice to the patient’s guardian angel. Without this, the picture of human life is lopsided. But who could supply the deficiency? Even if a man—and he would have to be a far better man than I—could scale the spiritual heights required, what … style could he use? … Mere advice would be no good; every sentence would have to smell of Heaven.”
The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels published by Lewis between 1950 and 1956:
➢ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
➢ Prince Caspian (1951)
➢ 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)
The series takes us on a remarkable journey through a magical land filled with talking animals, mythical creatures, and epic battles between good and evil.
The story starts with four siblings — Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy — who are sent to the countryside to escape the bombings in London during WWII.
While exploring the old mansion they are staying in, Lucy stumbles upon a wardrobe that serves as a portal to the land of Narnia.
The siblings gradually discover that Narnia is under the oppressive rule of the White Witch, Jadis, and that they are destined to fulfill an ancient prophecy by aiding the rightful ruler, the great lion Aslan.
The Chronicles of Narnia is more than just an adventurefilled fantasy world; it invites readers to reflect on moral and spiritual truths in a way that is easy to understand: ➢ children become appealing protagonists, ➢ animals are personified, ➢ concepts such as evil and temptation enter the story in a simplified manner.
For this reason, these novels are also popular with students and adults, including many Christian theologians.
Peter is the oldest of the siblings. Noble and courageous, he takes on the role of the leader, immediately proving himself after protecting Susan from a ferocious wolf. During his reign he is known as King Peter the Magnificent.
Susan is the practical one, always thinking ahead. She is the beauty among the Pevensies, sweet and kind, though perhaps a little bland.
When she becomes queen at Cair Paravel, she is known as Queen Susan the Gentle.
Edmund is the troublemaker, easily swayed by temptation. Spiteful and mean at the start of the series, he succumbs to the temptation of gluttony and even betrays his siblings, but eventually redeems himself, becoming fair-minded and brave. He receives the title of King Edmund the Just.
Lucy is the youngest and the most innocent, with an unshakable faith in the magical world of Narnia. She’s a curious, cheerful girl, kind and brave. Through her optimistic eyes we view much of the action. She is known as Queen Lucy the
Aslan, the great lion, is the true hero of the story. He is wise, powerful, and just, representing goodness and righteousness. He is the embodiment of all that is good in Narnia.
The White Witch is the main antagonist of the story: cold, calculating, and cruel, she rules over Narnia with an iron fist, using fear and intimidation to maintain her power.
At the heart of this series is the battle between good and evil which develops through a number of key themes, such as:
➢ temptation,
➢ betrayal,
➢ lust for power,
➢ forgiveness,
➢ sacrifice,
➢ redemption.
The Narnia Chronicles have established themselves as timeless works of literature. They appeal to both the atheists and the God-fearing, to both the uneducated and to scholars, to children and adults.
Part of the reason for the novel’s broader appeal, even in an increasingly secular age, is that the whole idea of a portal to another world provides escapism and wish-fulfilment aplenty.
Nevertheless, an understanding of the Biblical allegory in these books, though not essential to their appreciation, allows the reader to fully enjoy Lewis’s uniqueness, so let us focus on what is actually at the heart of these books.
Aslan is the unifying element of the books: as the story unfolds, describing the conflicts between good and evil that occur in that kingdom, we recognize Aslan as the form in which the Son of God appears in Narnia
This is what Lewis himself wrote about the noble lion:
I did not say to myself, “Let us represent Jesus as he really is in our world by a lion in Narnia.” I said, “Let us suppose that there were a land like Narnia and that the Son of God, as he became a man in our world, became a lion there, and then imagine what would happen.”
This means that, although many consider the series to be an example of Christian allegory, Lewis rejected the idea. In fact, he added:
“In reality Aslan is an invention giving an imaginary answer to the question, “What might Christ become like if there really were a world like Narnia, and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours?” This is not allegory at all.”
Thus, Aslan does NOT represent Jesus: he IS Jesus’ equivalent in Narnia
.
The character of Aslan allowed Lewis to retell certain events in the life of Jesus in a way that is easy to understand:
➢ Aslan forgives Edmund’s betrayal and offers his own life in exchange for the boy’s. Edmund’s sin of treachery becomes symbolic for all human sins, and Aslan acts just like Christ: “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34);
➢ Lucy and Susan accompany Aslan to his execution crying bitterly. Jesus, too, had followers on His way to Golgotha: “A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him.” (Luke 23:27)
➢ in the hands of the White Witch, Aslan is subjected to ridicule and humiliation, shaved, muzzled, kicked, hit, spat on, jeered at. Jesus was the victim of a similar treatment. “The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and demanded, 'Prophesy! Who hit you?’ And they said many other insulting things to him.” (Luke 22:63-65);
➢ Aslan dies on the Stone Table, the victim of a sacrifice that he has willingly accepted, as Jesus died on the Cross to save all of humanity.
➢ after Aslan’s death, Lucy and Susan take off his muzzle and leave the Stone Table where he was executed. In the early morning they return to find the Stone Table broken in two and the resurrected Aslan standing before them. In the Gospel of Luke we read that the women who had followed Jesus went to his tomb: “Very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.” (Luke 24:1-3). He had resurrected.
Despite the denial of some critics, Lewis is recognized worldwide as an outstanding Christian lay apologist, a writer of children’s books already deemed classics in their field, an adept novelist and fantasist, and a formidable literary scholar and logician.
In the years since his death, his books have attracted an ever-growing number of readers and are the subjects of increasing critical study thanks to the undeniable soundness of his story-writing, recognized by authors of varied interests and outlooks.
What he has left us is an example of how writing can delight readers while instructing them in those essential truths and values which we ignore or challenge at our peril, such as the rightness of order, not anarchy and the importance of individual responsibility for one’s decisions and actions.
Moreover, for the benefit of us all, he has made vivid The Word, and a world for us to live in and delight in.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/C-S-Lewis
https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/cs-lewis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9ZPJ7uVoxE
https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/c-s-lewis-a-profile
https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/c-s-lewis-life-works/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Screwtape-Letters
https://www.cslewis.com/uk/books/paperback/the-screwtape-letters-letters-from-a-senior-to-ajunior-devil-c-s-lewis-signature-classic/9780007461240/
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/screwtape-letters/
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/the-screwtape-letters/
https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources-category/study-courses/cs-lewis-life-andworks/audio-and-videos-about-c-s-lewis/the-screwtape-letters/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cox7EJ_P6M
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/lion/https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/c-s-lewisseven-key-ideas/
https://medium.com/@shashankshekhar_38280/a-critical-analysis-of-the-chronicles-of-narniahow-narnia-and-c-s-bcfd9bce22d5
https://medium.com/@abey.botello/summary-of-the-chronicles-of-narnia-by-c-s-lewis3b07738c091a#:~:text=
https://cslewis.drzeus.net/papers/lion-witch-allegory/
https://interestingliterature.com/2021/04/lewis-lion-witch-wardrobe-summary-analysis/
https://threerobertshomeschool.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/symbolism-in-the-chronicles-ofnarnia/
https://news.byu.edu/news/byu-forum-deeper-theme-chronicles-narnia
https://www.thescottsmithblog.com/2018/08/the-complete-guide-to-christian.html
https://www.turramurrauniting.org.au/the-easter-story-narnia/
https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources-category/csli-resources/cs-lewis-life-and-works/thethoughts-of-c-s-lewis/
https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2018/04/legacy-c-s-lewis-timeless-james-e-person.html