In , Warren retired from the military and moved in with them. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the Lewises took in child evacuees from major cities, which Lewis suggested later gave him a greater appreciation for children and inspired the first novel of the Narnia universe, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Lewis was active in his fiction writing at this time. He finished his Space Trilogy, whose main character was partly based off Tolkien.
The series deals with the question of sin and human redemption, as well as offering an alternative to the dehumanizing science fiction trends that Lewis and other Inklings saw developing at the time. Each letter was from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his nephew Wormwood, a junior tempter. Later published as The Screwtape Letters in , the satirical and humorous epistolary novel was dedicated to Tolkien.
Since he could not enlist at age 40, Lewis spoke on several BBC radio programs on Christian teachings, and provided what many called a public service that lent meaning to a hopeless time. These radio talks were published as The Case for Christianity , Christian Behavior , and Beyond Personality , and were later anthologized in Mere Christianity Back in , Lewis had been struck with the image of a faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood, perhaps from his days imagining the anthropomorphic animals of Boxen.
Lewis dedicated the first book to his goddaughter Lucy Barfield daughter of Owen Barfield, fellow Inkling. The story was published in Even before the vast success of his novel series, in , Lewis was offered the honor of becoming a Commander of the Order of the British Empire CBE , one of the highest awards for contributions to the arts and sciences in Great Britain.
However, not wanting to be associated with politics, Lewis refused. In , Lewis agreed to a civil marriage with Joy Davidman, an American writer. Davidman was born into a Jewish but atheist family and was quickly seen to be a child prodigy, and developed from an early age a love of fantasy novels. She met her first husband in the American Communist party, but divorced him after an unhappy and abusive marriage.
She and Lewis had been corresponding for a time, and Lewis originally saw her as an intellectual equal and a friend. He agreed to marry her so that she could stay in the United Kingdom. When she saw the doctor for a painful hip, she was diagnosed with bone cancer, and the two grew closer. Eventually the relationship developed to the point that they sought a Christian marriage in , which was performed at Joy's bedside. When the cancer went into remission, the couple enjoyed several years together, continuing to live as a family with Warren Lewis.
When her cancer returned, however, she died in Lewis anonymously published his journals at the time in a book called A Grief Observed, where he admitted to a grief so great that it saw him doubting God, but felt blessed to have experienced true love.
In June , Lewis fell ill with nephritis and took the autumn term off at Cambridge. By , he felt well enough to continue teaching. When he fell ill again in and suffered a heart attack, he resigned his post at Cambridge. He was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure and died in November of Publishes Spirits in Bondage under the pseudonym Clive Hamilton.
Publishes The Allegory of Love. Buy this book. Publishes The Problem of Pain. Begins war-time broadcast talks on Christianity, later collected as Mere Christianity. Publishes The Screwtape Letters.
Publishes The Abolition of Man. Publishes the second novel in the Space Trilogy series, Perelandra. Publishes The Great Divorce. Tolkien a devout Roman Catholic and Hugo Dyson. See Humphry Carpenters The Inklings for a full account of this special group.
At the suggestion of Prof. Published in , it became a classic. Lewis was paid 2 pounds sterling for each letter and gave the money to charity. An additional minute session, answering questions received in the mail, was broadcast on September 6.
On seven consecutive Tuesdays, from February 22 to April 4 at to p. The Guardian was a religious newspaper that ceased publication in ; it had no connection with the Manchester Guardian. Moore died on January Since the previous April, she had been confined to a nursing home in Oxford.
Lewis lost the election for the position of Professor of Poetry at Oxford to C. Day Lewis. The next year his second volume of poetry, Dymer, was published under the name Clive Hamilton.
Alongside the generally self—centered life Lewis was leading, he demonstrated a loyal and generous nature. Janie King Moore, and her adolescent daughter Maureen. Then in , after completing his first degree, Lewis decided to share lodgings with them so that he could more carefully look out for their needs.
This gesture of kindness did more than help Mrs. Moore and Maureen; it got C. Lewis outside of himself and taught him patience. The association with the Moores also introduced him to Mrs. The spiritual awakening continued, enhanced by reading books by George MacDonald and G. One MacDonald volume called Phantastes had a powerful impact on his thinking. Chesterton as well. Barfield became a theist, and then a Christian, and he frequently badgered Lewis about his materialism.
These men became close friends of Lewis. He admired their brilliance and their logic. Soon Lewis recognized that most of his friends, like his favorite authors——MacDonald, Chesterton, Johnson, Spenser, and Milton——held to this Christian angle of vision which threatened his whole world view.
In these roads met, and C. With this revelation the Oxford don became a communicant in the Church of England. Christian history shows that when men and women meet Jesus, recognize His Nature, and then decide to trust and follow Him, they become strikingly different people.
If evidence of conversion is a new life, C. Lewis was obviously a believer after Many changes were apparent. His life now had a purpose—to know and obey God. This came to fruition most demonstrably in his writing. Earlier efforts to become a poet were laid to rest.
The new Christian devoted his talent and energy to writing prose that reflected his recently found faith. This little volume opened a thirty-year stream of books on Christian apologetics and discipleship that became a lifelong avocation. Between and his death in , C. Lewis wrote books including the seven volume Chronicles of Narnia, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, and Mere Christianity, that nudged atheists and agnostics toward the faith, and encouraged and nurtured believers.
As a good steward and responsible professional, Lewis did not ignore his academic discipline. These books are still widely read and highly regarded. Despite the large quantity and high quality of his academic publications, Lewis became known as a literary evangelist. The tone and impact of his theological and apologetical books help account for this reputation, as did his own assertion in a rejoinder to his critic, Dr.
First of all, the change was manifested in the mail. This enterprise consumed many hours each week. Furthermore, life with fame was laden with other pressures.
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