C. S. Lewis: The Creator of Narnia - Biography
by Ann-Marie Imbornoni
C. S. Lewis, or Jack Lewis, as he preferred to be called, was
born in Belfast, Ireland (now Northern Ireland) on November 29, 1898. He was
the second son of Albert Lewis, a lawyer, and Flora Hamilton Lewis. His
older brother, Warren Hamilton Lewis, who was known as Warnie, had been born
three years earlier in 1895.
Early Days
Lewis's early
childhood was relatively happy and carefree. In those days Northern Ireland
was not yet plagued by bitter civil strife, and the Lewises were comfortably
off. The family home, called Little Lea, was a large, gabled house with
dark, narrow passages and an overgrown garden, which Warnie and Jack played
in and explored together. There was also a library that was crammed with
books—two of Jack's favorites were Treasure Island by Robert
Louis Stevenson and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
A Painful Loss
This somewhat idyllic boyhood came to an end for
Lewis when his mother became ill and died of cancer in 1908. Barely a month
after her death the two boys were sent away from home to go to boarding
school in England.
Lewis hated the school, with its strict rules and
hard, unsympathetic headmaster, and he missed Belfast terribly. Fortunately
for him, the school closed in 1910, and he was able to return to
Ireland.
After a year, however, he was sent back to England to study.
This time, the experience proved to be mostly positive. As a teenager, Lewis
learned to love poetry, especially the works of Virgil and Homer. He also
developed an interest in modern languages, mastering French, German, and
Italian.
An Oxford Scholar
In 1916 Lewis was accepted at
University College, the oldest college (founded 1249) at Oxford University.
Oxford, along with Cambridge University, had been a leading center of
learning since the Middle Ages. Soon after he entered the University,
however, Lewis chose to volunteer for active duty in World War I, to serve in the British Army then
fighting in the muddy trenches of northern France.
Following the end
of the war in 1918, Lewis returned to Oxford, where he took up his studies
again with great enthusiasm. In 1925, after graduating with first-class
honors in Greek and Latin Literature, Philosophy and Ancient History, and
English Literature, Lewis was elected to an important teaching post in
English at Magdalen College, Oxford. He remained at Oxford for 29 years
before becoming a professor of medieval and renaissance literature at
Magdalene College, Cambridge, in 1955.
Lewis the Writer
In
addition to his teaching duties at the University, Lewis began to publish
books. His first major work, The Pilgrim's Regress (1933), was about
his own spiritual journey to Christian
faith. Other works followed that won him acclaim not only as a writer of
books on religious subjects, but
also as a writer of academic works and popular novels. The Allegory of
Love (1936), which is still considered a masterpiece today, was a
history of love literature from the early Middle Ages to Shakespeare's time;
Out of the Silent Planet (1938) was the first of a trilogy of science
fiction novels, the hero of which is loosely modeled on Lewis's friend
J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the children's classic The
Hobbit.
Narnia
Initially when Lewis turned to writing
children's books, his publisher and some of his friends tried to dissuade
him; they thought it would hurt his reputation as writer of serious works.
J.R.R. Tolkien in particular criticized Lewis's first Narnia book, The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe. He thought that there were too many elements that
clashed—a Father Christmas and an evil witch, talking animals
and children. Thankfully, Lewis didn't listen to any of
them.
Following the publication of The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe in 1950, Lewis quickly wrote 6 more Narnia books, publishing the final one,
The Last Battle, in 1956. Although they were not well received at
first by critics and reviewers, the books gained in popularity through word
of mouth. The Narnia books have since sold more than 100 million copies and
are among the most beloved books of classic children's
literature.
The Final Years
After finishing the Narnia series,
Lewis continued to write on autobiographical and religious subjects, but
less prolifically. Mainly he was preoccupied with the health crises of his wife, Joy Gresham, whom he
married in 1956 and who died of cancer in 1960.
After her death,
Lewis's own health deteriorated, and in the summer of 1963 he resigned his
post at Cambridge. His death, which occurred on November 22, 1963—the
same day President Kennedy was assassinated—was only quietly noted. He
is remembered, however, by readers the world over, whom he has delighted and
inspired for generations.
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