C.S. Lewis
Biography
C.S. Lewis is a famous author throughout the world. He has not only written the Chronicles of Narnia, but he has also written books for young children and adults.
C.S. Lewis was born on November 29, 1898 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. His full name was Clive Staples "Jack" Lewis. His only sibling was his older brother, Warren. In 1908, Clive’s mother died from cancer on August 23, and Clive and Warren were sent to Wynyard School in England. Then two years later, Clive went to Campbell College in Belfast for one term. He then went to Cherbourg School in Malvern, England with Warren. In 1916, C.S. Lewis won a scholarship to University College in Oxford. Clive was at Oxford from April 26, 1917 to September that same year because of WWI and went to go fight for the British Army. One year later, on April 15, Clive was hurt on the battlefield.
C.S. Lewis wrote an article for the Reveille in 1919, which was called "Death in Battle". In 1926, Lewis published "Dymer", a narrative poem. In 1929, Clive’s father died on September 24.
Lewis had a long talk about Christianity with J.R.R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson one night in 1931. Another book of Lewis’ was published in 1933, called A Pilgrim’s Recess. In 1935, a Professor at Oxford suggested that Lewis should write a volume on the 16th century for the Oxford History of English Literature series. Lewis agreed and the new book was published in 1954 and became a classic. Lewis won the Gollancz Memorial Prize for Literature in 1937 for his book called The Allegory of Love. He also wrote his first novel in the space trilogy, which was Out of the Silent Planet, in 1938.
In 1950, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was published, which is the first book of the Chronicles of Narnia series. One year later, in 1951, the second book of the Narnia series was published. This book has the title of Prince Caspian. In the next five years, Lewis had written all seven of the Narnia books. Their titles are The Voyage of the ‘Dawn Treader’, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician’s Nephew, and the last book written was The Last Battle. He had also written the book Till We Have Faces A Myth Retold in 1956. In 1958, Lewis had another book published called Reflections on Psalms. Lewis soon got married to a woman named Joy who was an office registry employee at Oxford. On July 13th, 1960 Lewis’ wife died from cancer. She was 45 years of age when she died. That same year, two books were published. The titles were Studies in Words and The Four Loves.
In 1963, Lewis died at 5:30 p.m., one week just before his 65th birthday. He had died from many sicknesses, such as a heart attack and kidney problems. Lewis died the same day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. His grave now stands in the yard of Holy Trinity Church in Quarry.
To learn more about C.S. Lewis, visit the C.S. Lewis Foundation web site.
Review of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
