C.S. LEWIS

(1898-1963)

C.S. Lewis, or, as he preferred to be called, Jack Lewis is, probably, most well know for his series of children’s books called The Chronicles of Narnia. Born in Belfast, Ireland, Clive Staples Lewis was the second son of Albert J. Lewis and Flora H. Lewis. His older brother was Warren H. Lewis, who was his best friend for most of his life. The Lewis family was well off and lived in a great town with a very luscious countryside.  Although his early years were happy and comfortable, Jack did experience some tragedies, later on, that shaped his life. One of the biggest results of these tragedies, was that he turned to God. C.S. Lewis wrote on subjects he knew in his life. His connection with God pushed him to write some of the best known books on his religion, which was Christianity. He also wrote many academic books while he was a teacher at a University. Religion and academic studies are two things that were very important to Jack.

  Jack Lewis, born on November 29, 1898, lived there with his Mother Flora, his father Albert and his older brother Warren. As a kid he was happy and content with his life but, after the illness and death of his mother on August 23, 1908, his life turned upside down. A month after the death of his mother Jack had to go to a new school, which was hard but, it would have been harder if he did not have his big brother. In 1911, when Lewis was thirteen, my age, he was sent to Malvern, England, a famous health resort, especially for people with lung problems. During this time he abandoned his childhood faith in God. Later, when Jack was in England, he read George MacDonald’s, Phantastes, which brought him back to the Christian religion. In 1917, from April to September, Lewis was a student at University College, Oxford. Fairly quickly, though, he enrolled in the army and was sent to northern France. In April of 1918, he was wounded and sent home. Then, in 1921 Jack won his first prize for his writing. It was just an essay, but it was the start to his writing career. Afterwards, he got his first chance to be a teacher when E.F. Carrit was gone for a time, and Lewis got to work at Oxford were he had gone to school for a time before the war. Jack was allowed to stay on at Oxford as a English teacher. During that time, He was asked to write the History of 16th century English Literature for Oxford. He did, and his work became a classic. A few years later, he was given the Gollancz Memorial prize for great literature. After this award, there was to be many more, and they were all for different kinds of writing. In 1955, after Oxford, Jack was given a place at Cambridge College  and he meet Joy Gresham. In 1956 they were married at her death bed.  She had cancer, but after the marriage she got better. Then, in 1960, the cancer came back and she died on July 13, 1960. Lewis died shortly after his wife’s death, on November 22, 1963, the week before his 65th birthday and the same day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

  Although C.S. Lewis is, probably, most well known for The Chronicles of Narnia, he wrote many other pieces of literature that continue to touch the hearts of many. The Narnia books were actually some of the last writing he did, but for many people, they are the only ones they know about.. Jack seemed to be inspired to write about things that were important to him in his life. We know that he had a strong connection with the Christian religion. Before he created the world of Narnia, Jack wrote many books on religious subjects, and was well known for them. His first major work, was The Pilgrims Regress, written in 1933, is an example of this. It was about his own path to Christianity .Being academic also seemed to be important to Lewis and, while he was working at Cambridge College, he wrote many academic books. An example is a book called The Allegory of Love, which is “a history of love literature from the early Middle Ages to Shakespeare's time.” Lewis was a close friend of J.R.R. Tolkien and, in his book called, Out of the Silent Planet, Jack based his hero on Tolkien.

            In looking at the works of C.S. Lewis, we can see how his writing shows the man, Jack, and what, or who, is important to him. After going back to his religion, after a period of no religion that followed his mother’s death, he wrote a lot about religious subjects. The same thing happened while Lewis was a scholar and teacher at the University. He ended up writing many good, academic books. Even in his novels, he brings in his own life when he bases a character on one of his closest friends. Then, when Jack’s wife became ill, caring for her became the most important thing and he did not write. I really like that C.S. Lewis writes about things he cares about, and I can really get to know him through his books.  

                                                                                                                   By : obn

The Books of C. S. Lewis

     The Complete Chronicles of Narnia

    The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

        Mera Christianity

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In this web site I learned a lot about C.S Lewis life ,what he like to do for fun and how his life influenced his writing. He wrote many good book and did very good thing with his life. He was a teacher and in my opinion most teacher are great people because they are there to do a great thing, teach the young.  

In this web site I found out about C.S Lewis's life in order from every year. He was a great guy and this web site taught me a lot about him and his family.