C. S. Lewis: A Biography

C. S. Lewis: A Biography
Walter Hooper

Roger Lancelyn Green

This is the true story of C.S. Lewis – one of the greatest writers of the 20th-century – whose books for children and adults have become much loved classics.Part of the story of C.S. Lewis has been made famous through the film ‘Shadowlands’. Here this fascinating man’s entire life story is told by those who knew him personally.C.S. Lewis was born in Belfast in 1898 and was sent to England for a public school education with his elder brother, Warren. Lewis exhibited a genius for imagination and perception from his earliest years. Brought up in a Christian household, Lewis lost his faith in his teenage years but was to regain it, with reluctance, as a fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford. His faith subsequently influenced his writings. He became a vigorous champion of the Christian faith through classics such as ‘Mere Christianity’ and through his BBC broadcasts.His ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ became children’s classics and he was deluged with correspondence from his young readers.In his latter years he unexpectedly fell deeply in love with a divorced American, Joy Greshem, and married her, only to suffer the devastation of her death a few years later. C.S. Lewis died in 1963 at his home in Oxford.During his lifetime C.S. Lewis suggested to his friend, Roger Lancelyn Green, who was a fellow English scholar, that he would undertake his biography one day. After Lewis’s death in 1963 Lancelyn Green and Walter Hooper were approached by several of Lewis’s friends to write the biography. Warren Lewis, brother to Jack, contributed a great deal to the writing. The authors had at their disposal a vast collection of letters and diaries, as well as the recollections of many surviving family members and friends.Walter Hooper has enhanced the original text with additional material to provide a new, expanded edition which all C.S. Lewis fans will be keen to own.

C.S. LEWIS

A BIOGRAPHY

FULLY REVISED & EXPANDED EDITION

Roger Lancelyn Green &Walter Hooper

COPYRIGHT (#ulink_1b7e3721-dd3b-5568-8a01-31b3e7c3e5f9)

HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

Published in Great Britain by

HarperCollinsPublishers 2002

First published by Collins 1974

© Roger Lancelyn Green and Walter Hooper 1974

Fully revised and expanded edition © Richard Lancelyn Green

(Literary Estate of Roger Lancelyn Green)

and Walter Hooper 2002

Roger Lancelyn Green and Walter Hooper assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780006281641

Ebook Edition © DECEMBER 2012 ISBN 9780007404476

Version: 2016-07-19

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CONTENTS

Cover (#u80ac1439-c702-57d0-980e-13a306bdcfe1)

Title Page (#u48fa9e6f-4f62-5a40-bab8-a975765104fe)

Copyright (#u8a298a13-d3c8-540d-b8e8-6e6c7b361e36)

Preface to the Revised Edition (#uc4f04f03-dac9-5900-9f6d-330590572fc3)

Preface to the First Edition (#u76321337-7fdd-57ff-9768-cd8ce9c0cbed)

Abbreviations (#u843980c8-41db-56cc-9468-a73c9ab1caa9)

Prologue – Ancestry (#u19d7ad36-4ec1-5081-bc20-3d70d1422480)

1. Early Days (#u064d1bc6-bd3a-5df0-83cc-648b6c08d7d1)

2. Oxford: The War and After (#u11404f0c-c99c-5b2a-baf1-241b2129a5de)

3. The Young Don (#u5b0596a8-f089-5da5-a040-f7feb9e2f8ea)

4. Conversion (#u069fb879-3c46-58d5-953f-ee244d9076d7)

5. Christian Scholar and Allegorist (#litres_trial_promo)

6. Inklings and Others (#litres_trial_promo)

7. Into the of Arbol (#litres_trial_promo)

8. Talk of the Devil (#litres_trial_promo)

9. ‘Mere Christianity’ (#litres_trial_promo)

10. The Crusading Intellect (#litres_trial_promo)

11. Through the Wardrobe (#litres_trial_promo)

12. Surprised by Joy (#litres_trial_promo)

13. Marriage (#litres_trial_promo)

14. ‘The Term is Over’ (#litres_trial_promo)

Index (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION (#ulink_1b957069-1c70-59c8-a59f-eb9356a6da2f)