Cs Lewis Research Paper

Of the many contributions that C.S. Lewis has given us, his literature is the major contribution that still lives on to this day. From his first published book, The Pilgrims Regress, to his last book titled The Discarded Image, many of his views are captured in his works. While his religious views are captured in his novels, Lewis’ childhood and adulthood continues to shine in his autobiographies, revealing the former Clive, or “Jack” as he liked to be called.
Clive Staples Lewis was born in Ireland’s capital of Belfast on November 29th, 1898. He was the second born son of his father and solicitor Albert James Lewis and mother Florence Augusta; his brother Warren, three years his elder, was his only sibling. His mother Florence, who had cancer, died in 1908. Following his mother’s death, Lewis and Warren were sent to Wynyard School, a boarding school located in Hertfordshire, England. After two years of attending Wynyard, Lewis returned to his hometown in Ireland where he soon enrolled at Campbell College, a grammar school. Several months after enrolling as a boarding student, Lewis was withdrawn due to the development of serious respiratory issues. Following this issue, Lewis was sent to Malvern, England, “which was famous as a health

resort, especially for those with lung problems” (C.S. Lewis Timeline).
In the years after Lewis was sent to England, he would make his first trip to Oxford to take a scholarship examination, one he would later win.

In 1917, he would attended University College in Oxford. Since WW1 had raged on for three years now, Jack joined a cadet battalion of the University Officers’ Training Corps. In November of the same year, he traveled to France as an officer, commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the Somerset Light Infantry. During the war Lewis was hospitalized for trench fever and wounded during the Battle of Arras. After the war, he “adopted” Janie Moore as his foster mother. Her son Edward Courtnay Francis "Paddy" Moore, a former cadet who had fought alongside Lewis, had been killed during the

war.
Residing in Mrs. Moore’s home, Lewis resumed his studies at Oxford and in 1922, he attained a bachelor of arts. At Oxford, Lewis exceled in English, Ancient History, and Philosophy; he was appointed as a philosophy tutor at the university. He remained a tutor from 1924 until 1925 when he was appointed as an English tutor at Magdalen College in Oxford. He went on to hold the position for 29 years.
The Inklings, a literary circle, began meeting in 1937, among its members were Lewis and his brother Warren. For over a decade the Inklings continued to meet where they “praised the value of narrative in fiction, and encouraged the writing of fantasy” (Inklings). Famous author J. R. R. Tolkien read his unfinished manuscript of The Lord of the Rings at an Inklings meeting. The Inklings last meeting occurred in 1949.
Leading up to his death in 1963, Lewis married American Poet and Writer Joy Davidman on April 23rd, 1956 at the Oxford Registry Office. Almost fifty years later Lewis’ stepson Douglas Greshman talked about the man he called a father. Douglas talks about the first time that he met Lewis saying that he was a “slightly stooped, balding, round-shouldered being with long nicotine-stained fingers and teeth” (Remembering My Stepdad). Douglas goes on to say that “Despite my initial dismay, Jack soon emerged from my imaginary C.S. Lewis to become a real friend and a much-loved stepfather” (Remembering My Stepdad).
Joy Davidman was married to Lewis for four years before she died of cancer on July 13th 1960. Two years after her death, Lewis received some grave news; he was diagnosed with cancer. He died a year after his diagnosis on November 22nd, 1963, which happened to be the same day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, due to serious illness.
Irish author, soldier, and critic C.S. Lewis once said: “Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become (C. S. Lewis Quotes).” Validating on the way that literature affects our lives, Lewis, publishes many academic books and works on Christianity, and even a few poems and autobiographies. Out of all his published works, “Jack” was most know for the few fiction novels that he wrote, The Narnia Chronicles, published from 1951 until 1956 is known as his best known works of fiction.
The first book in The Narnia Chronicles, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, published in 1950, begins in WWII, with four siblings of the Pevensise family, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, are sent to stay with the eccentric Professor Kirke. On a rainy day, the kids decide to explore the house. Lucy, the youngest of the four, stumbles upon a room with a large wardrobe. She climbs inside and finds a strange new world full of danger and excitement. Following the release of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in The Narnia Chronicles was Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia (1951), The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952), The Silver Chair (1953), The Horse and His Boy (1954), The Magicians Nephew (1955), and The Last Battle (1956).
Being the religious man that he was, many people have connected biblical references too many of Lewis’ novels. Growing up, Lewis had converted from Christianity to Theism, Atheism, and finally reverting back to Christianity. The Narnia Chronicles, which Lewis is undoubtedly known for, has references to the bible in its characters and the origin of Narnia. While some felt that Lewis’ stories were “violent”, he successfully won them over to accepting Christ by entertaining them with a wonderful story and descriptive symbolism. Lewis felt that the easiest way to win people over was to present the idea of Christ into a fictional world which is where Narnia came in to play.