Biography - childhood

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C.S. Lewis - Narnia and the North

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was released in UK cinemas in December 2005. It is a film adaptation of C.S. Lewis's beloved children's book about a magical land and a majestic lion.

Although The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is Lewis's most famous book, he was a prolific writer, poet, scholar of English literature and defender of Christianity.

Lewis the man

C.S. Lewis's own account of his early years reads like a list of books, along with a few people, that shaped his life. Lewis was born in Belfast in 1898, the younger of two sons. His parents Albert and Flora were both keen readers. In his autobiography, Surprised by Joy, Lewis describes himself as "a 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."

Born Clive Staples Lewis, he announced when he was three years old that his name was Jack, and Jack he was to family and friends for the rest of his life. His older brother was Warren, nicknamed Warnie.

Jack Lewis's childhood was "humdrum, prosaic happiness". He and Warren were close friends, and would spend long hours drawing and writing together. Warren's interest was in trains and steamships, while Jack liked "dressed animals" and tales of knights and chivalry. Jack diplomatically combined the modern and mediaeval themes into a continuing history of the imaginary country Animal-Land, later combined with Warren's kingdom of India and christened Boxen. Chronicling the adventures of the Boxonians would keep both brothers occupied for years to come.

Jack's parents were Ulster Protestants and he grew up being taken to church every Sunday. He found the services uninspiring. They were Christianity with the life leached out of it: more a political statement than a statement of faith; a weekly demonstration that they were not Catholics. They formed in Jack a distaste for Christianity that lasted into adulthood.

"No more of the old security"

The children's lives changed after the death of their mother in August 1908. Jack said that "all settled happiness, all that was tranquil and reliable, disappeared from my life". He and Warren became more reliant on each other, but their relationship with their father became increasingly distant.

Soon afterwards Jack was sent to a boarding school called Wynyard. The school, which in Surprised by Joy he tellingly nicknamed Belsen, was by all accounts a dreadful place. Lessons consisted of learning by rote or being left with a slate and made to do sums. The headmaster, Robert "Oldie" Capron, seems to have been a cruel man who would flog the boys with little provocation. His neighbours believed him to be insane.

It was at Wynyard that Jack first tried to be Christian. He made a list of resolutions and tried to pray each night, but allowed himself to be distracted by worries about whether he was praying correctly.

It is clear that Albert Lewis did not know what life was like for his sons at Wynyard. Jack stayed there until the school closed down from lack of pupils. After half a term at another school, after which he was withdrawn with an illness, Jack attended a prep school called Cherbourg. Here he was happy - thanks in part to discovering the music of Richard Wagner, but also by comparison to Wynyard - and his academic standards quickly improved. He also began to associate with what he later considered to be bad influences. Warren was becoming rebellious at the same time: he eventually was expelled from college and joined an army academy. Jack went on to secondary school at Malvern College

Biography - education

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Northmen and Joy

Wagner meant more to Jack than good music. The epic operas of the Ring cycle introduced him to Norse mythology, the beginning of his lifelong love of 'Northernness'. The music and mythology caused momentary but intense feelings in Jack that he could not describe, and later called 'Joy'. His description of Joy sounds like a desire for another world: "the stab, the pang, the inconsolable longing".

Jack realised he had felt Joy a few times before; he experienced it again in the years before his conversion to Christianity. Jack threw himself into studying Norse mythology, hoping to experience Joy again. Reading and writing about his Northern myths kept Jack sustained through his time at Malvern College, which he otherwise found very difficult.

Northernness even helped Jack to find his first close friend, apart from his brother. Arthur Greeves lived near the Lewises but the boys had never spent time together. Then one day towards the end of his time at Malvern Jack was invited to visit Arthur, who was sick in bed. He spotted a copy of Myths of the Norsemen in Arthur's bedroom and soon they were firm friends, writing to each other and exchanging confidences.

Malvern was a shock to Jack. An elite group of older pupils, usually members of sports teams, ruled the roost. They were called Bloods and were hero-worshipped by the younger boys. A Blood could corner a younger boy and make him do odd jobs - tea-making, boot-blacking, cleaning his sports kit or his study. This was called 'fagging' and Jack said it made his life miserable, coming as it did on top of a heavy load of schoolwork.

Jack was upset, too, by rumours of homosexuality between pupils at Malvern, and wrote an exaggerated and disapproving chapter about the college in Surprised by Joy. Warren later said that the school had not been as bad as Jack claimed. The brothers grew distant for a while as a result of that disagreement. Jack had certainly lost his Christian faith at this point too.

The bright spot at Malvern apart from his Norse mythology was an inspirational teacher nicknamed Smugy. Jack portrays Smugy as the essence of courtesy in the midst of a loutish school. He was also much taken with Smugy's melodious method of poetry-reading: he tried to imitate it himself from then on.

Kirkpatrick and college

An examiner had remarked that Jack was the sort of boy who could gain a Classics degree at Oxford. But if Jack was to attend university, he needed a scholarship. Albert decided to send him to a tutor to prepare him for the scholarship examination, and Jack went to stay with his father's friend William Kirkpatrick in Great Bookham in Surrey.

Kirkpatrick was an imposing man who dressed like, and was, a gardener. From him, among other subjects, Jack learned Greek, Latin, a broader appreciation for literature and an exacting method of debate.

His days at Kirkpatrick's were the young Lewis's happiest. They provided the routine he followed for the rest of his life: rise at half past seven for an early walk; breakfast at eight; work from a quarter past nine until lunch at one; freedom during the early afternoon until tea at a quarter past four; work from five until nine, interrupted by dinner at seven. After nine Jack could write independently, often stories or lyric poetry inspired by whatever mythology he was enthralled by at the time.

Biography - war and Mrs Moore

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War and Moore

Lewis came to university in 1916 during the First World War. Although as an Irishman he would not have had to serve in the army, he wanted to do his part. He signed up and was sent to the front. Lewis's time as an army officer affected him profoundly, as it did most soldiers, but one friendship changed his life. Edward Moore was a fellow Irishman with whom Lewis served. The two young men seem to have made an agreement that if either of them did not come home, the other would support his family. Lewis was sent home with shrapnel wounds. Moore was killed and left behind his mother Janie and sister Maureen.

True to his word, Jack lived with Mrs Moore until her death. He was always reticent about his private life and many people suspected that he and Mrs Moore were lovers. It has not been proved. What is known is that Lewis saw her as a maternal figure. His own mother had died while he was young and Mrs Moore, above everything else, seemed willing to be a surrogate mother. Albert disapproved of Jack's relationship with her, and may also have been a little hurt by the implication that his parenting had not been enough for Jack. Jack, in turn, resorted to lying in his letters home to conceal the closeness of their relationship.

Jack and the Moores stayed in a series of rented houses in Oxford while he attended university. He seems to have been worried about money for most of the time: he was receiving a little money from Albert, but was concerned that their strained relationship might cause his father to cut him off. Jack was lying to his father, who thought he was still Christian. Although poor, Mrs Moore was determinedly hospitable. She had a positive influence on Jack, teaching him generosity and giving the reclusive scholar a taste of normal family life.

After four years of study Lewis ended up with three first-class degrees from Oxford: Greek and Latin literature, classical philosophy and English language and literature. His father sponsored him to continue his studies because it was difficult for classics students to find a job. He took a lecturing position while applying for a fellowship, a financial grant for university teaching. He was turned down for several positions before being awarded a fellowship teaching English at Oxford's Magdalen College. He began work there in October 1925.

In 1926 he submitted Dymer, a long mythological poem, for publication. It is a tale with a moral about fantasy and self-deception: like Lewis's other books, it was written from experience. It was favourably reviewed and may have met with more success if the fashion at the time had not been for free, non-rhyming poetry.

It was at Oxford that Lewis met Owen Barfield, who formed a literary discussion group called The Inklings. The members, who included Lewis himself, J.R.R. Tolkien, Adam Fox, Hugo Dyson, Charles Williams and Lewis's brother Warren, met during the 1930s at a pub called the Eagle and Child (known to them as the Bird and Baby). Many of them were Christian; some were atheists; some were followers of Anthroposophy, a philosophy that was quite popular at the time. The purpose of the group was to hear and criticise members' writings-in-progress. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings stories were first aired at Inklings meetings, as were some of Lewis's stories.

Biography - conversion

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Checkmate at last

Lewis's conversion to Christianity was not a sudden experience. He always claimed it was logical and rational, not emotional. His influences were, as always, books and a few close friends.

Inspired by his reading, Lewis's personal philosophy had been slowly approaching theism (belief in a god) under another name: he came to believe in a universal spirit without yet calling it God. He knew that his position was confused. In Surprised by Joy he likens the following process to being hunted down by God, or even being defeated by him in a game of chess.

Lewis had several Christian friends at Oxford, including Hugo Dyson and the Catholic J.R.R. Tolkien, with whom he often argued philosophy and religion. A chance remark by another acquaintance, T.D. Weldon, caused Lewis to rethink what he still was calling "the Christian myth": Weldon, known for his cynicism, thought that the evidence for Jesus's life and resurrection was remarkably good. Lewis read the Gospels and was struck by the thought that they did not sound like fiction: the writers seemed too unimaginative to have made the whole thing up; the Gospels read more like reports than stories.

Albert Lewis died in 1929. His death caused Jack to feel guilty about deceiving him. Jack also believed he could feel Albert's presence after his death. At this time Warren and Jack were both thinking of becoming Christian, although the idea of churchgoing was still unappealing to Jack and he did not accept many aspects of the Christian theology.

On September 19, 1931, Lewis, Dyson and Tolkien took a night-time stroll and began a conversation about myth. They walked and talked until morning. Tolkien convinced Jack that myths were God's way of preparing the ground for the Christian story. The stories of resurrection throughout history were precursors to Jesus's true resurrection: Christianity was the completion of all the mythology before it. Dyson's contribution was to impress upon Jack how Christianity worked for the believer, liberating them from their sins and helping them become better people. His remaining arguments were being demolished. Jack Lewis was about to be checkmated.

The final stage in Jack's conversion to Christianity took place three days later and was typically unconventional. He and Warren were travelling by motorcycle to Whipsnade zoo: "When we set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and when we reached the zoo I did." Jack wrote a book called The Pilgrim's Regress that told the story of his conversion in allegorical form.

Lewis also realised that his old experiences of 'Joy' had been pointers, reminding him that he was made for another world: he now reinterpreted them as longings for heaven, for God. He felt 'Joy' again many times in his life, but no longer attached the same importance to the experiences.

It was after his conversion that Lewis began writing his Christian apologetic books.

Biography - home life and writing

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Kilns and ink spilled

Jack and Warren inherited a little money after their father's death. Together with Mrs Moore, they bought a house in Oxford called The Kilns. Jack was teaching at the university and writing his books on the history of English literature. In 1937 he wrote the first of his science fiction books, Out of the Silent Planet.

During the Second World War Jack, wanting to do his part, joined the Home Guard. Warren was still in the army. The Kilns received several evacuees, who were an early inspiration for the Chronicles of Narnia.

The Problem of Pain was published in 1940 and The Screwtape Letters in 1942. Jack began to get a large volume of post from admirers. He had recruited Warren to type his handwritten manuscripts: now he relied on him to act as a secretary too.

Jack also gave a series of talks about Christianity on BBC radio between 1941 and 1944. After the first set of talks was well received he also presented some lectures to soldiers, which he considered war work. His broadcasts resulted in many people converting to Christianity - and a lot more letters for Jack to answer. The text of his talks was published in a book called Mere Christianity.

Lewis's literary output in these years was considerable. He divided his time between academic writing, popular apologetics and fiction. By 1948, when a debate with Elizabeth Anscombe convinced him he had been arguing the case for God in the wrong way, Mrs Moore was becoming ill. Jack spent much of his time looking after her.

The seven Chronicles of Narnia were written and published between 1948 and 1956. Jack had been writing his autobiography Surprised by Joy at around the same time. Meanwhile, Mrs Moore's health continued to deteriorate; she went to a nursing home and died there in 1951. Warren was not overly distraught. Her death gave the brothers more freedom; Jack was relieved from some of his household duties, but he was also free to marry.

Biography - marriage and later years

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Surprised by grief

In 1952 Joy Gresham came to England. Joy was a New York teacher of English literature, a former communist and a recent convert to Christianity: her parents had been Jewish, though her father was secular and her mother was not very religious. Joy had a husband, though at the time their marriage was in trouble. They had two sons, Douglas and David.

Joy had been corresponding with Lewis for two years before her visit. She was a sharp, outspoken and witty woman, just the sort to appeal to Lewis. When, on her return to America, she found her husband committing adultery and their marriage beyond repair, she moved to England with her sons.

Lewis had taken a teaching job at Cambridge university, spending weekends and holidays at home. Joy and her sons moved into a house not far from the Kilns. They were frequent visitors. In 1954 Joy's husband divorced her. In 1956 her work permit expired and she faced having to move back to America. Lewis decided to marry her.

Lewis claimed the civil marriage ceremony, quietly performed in a registry office, was a purely legal measure to allow Joy to stay in the country. Nobody is quite sure of their feelings for each other at that stage, but shortly afterwards some news arrived that changed everything. Joy was diagnosed with advanced cancer and did not have long to live. Lewis realised he loved Joy and decided to make their marriage public. The ceremony was performed around Joy's hospital bed. When she was able to leave hospital, Joy, Douglas and David moved into the Kilns.

Her health improved. Lewis prayed to be allowed to take some of her pain on himself: it seems to have worked. His health deteriorated for a few months while Joy recovered: an occurrence he happily described as a miracle. Married life seemed to suit Jack even at his late age (he was in his 60s). He enjoyed more than three years with Joy before her cancer returned and claimed her life in July 1960.

The story of Jack and Joy's marriage is told, with some liberties taken with chronology, in a play and film called Shadowlands.

Joy's death was hard for Lewis to cope with and tested his Christian faith. He kept a record of his thoughts and feelings throughout the grieving process, and published it, using a pseudonym, as A Grief Observed. (So many people recommended the book to Lewis to help in his own grief that at last he was forced to admit he wrote it.)

"No one ever told me grief felt so like fear," reads the opening sentence of A Grief Observed. "I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid. The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning. I keep on swallowing." It is an honest account from a mourning widower: Lewis did not flinch from recording the times when his faith was tested. By the end of the book he had made his peace with God.

C.S. Lewis died on the 22nd November 1963. He never wanted his death to be widely acknowledged, and he got his way. John F Kennedy, president of the USA, was assassinated on the same day. The author of Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, also died on the 22nd.

The last book Lewis published, and one he considered his best, was Till We Have Faces, an unusual retelling of the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche.

© BBC home page http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/people/cslewis_1.shtml

Academic year 2008/2009
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
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Universitat de València Press