C. S. Lewis

1
C. S. Lewis

• A Brief Biography
• by Jeff Gordon

2
Endless Books (Lewis 10)

• C. S. Lewis was born in Belfast on November 29,
  1898 (Visser).

3
Education

• After attending horrific schools as a boy, a
  private tutor prepared Lewis for undergraduate
  studies at University College, Oxford (Sayer 66).

4
Tutor, Lecturer, Scholar

• After a brief stint in the British army, Lewis
  took three first-class degrees from Oxford and
  ultimately began teaching English there at
  Magdalen College (Sayer 107).

5
The Writer

• Once established at Oxford, Lewis wrote
  scholarly books like The Allegory of Love (1936)
  and theological works like The Screwtape Letters
  (1942). (Visser)

6
C. S. Lewis Goes to Venus

• In Perelandra, Lewis shows human beings exporting
  evil to outer space.
• Lewis believed that this middle book in his Space
  Trilogy was the best (Sayer 180).

7
Conversion

• Lewis was for many years a convinced atheist.
  He attributed his conversion to Christianity to
  his reading and to the influence of friends like
  Hugo Dyson and J. R. R. Tolkien (Lewis 216).

8
The Kilns Lewiss Oxford Home (Sayer 140)
9
The Wardrobe

• In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the
  wardrobe functions as a symbol for the human
  capacity to pass from the ordinary to the
  extraordinary (Ford 438).

10
Lucy Encounters a Faun in Narnia (Ford 427-28)
11
Its all in Plato, all in Plato.

• Frustrated by the dullness of Peter and Susan
  Pevensie, Professor Digory Kirke wonders aloud
  about what is taught in schools these days.
• (See Ford 315-324.)

12
C. S. Lewis Moves to Cambridge

• While finishing his Narnia books, Lewis left
  Magdalen College, Oxford, and moved to Magdalene
  College, Cambridge
• (Sayer 218).

13
The Eternal Bachelor Ties the Knot

• In 1956 Lewis married Joy Gresham, who died a
  few years later of cancer (Sayer 223, 232).

14
Lewis Dies on November 22, 1963

• Lewiss tombstone ends with a quotation from
  Shakespeare Men must endure their going hence.
  The quotation appeared on a calendar in Lewiss
  boyhood home on the day his mother died (Hooper
  119).

15
Works Cited

• Ford, Paul F. Companion to Narnia. New York
  Collier, 1986. Print.
• Hooper, Walter. C. S. Lewis A Companion and
  Guide. San Francisco HarperCollins, 1996.
  Print.
• Lewis, C. S. Surprised by Joy The Shape of My
• Early Life. San Diego Harvest, 1984. Print.
• Sayer, George. Jack C. S. Lewis and His Times.
  San Francisco Harper Row, 1988. Print.
• Visser, John. "Biography." Into the Wardrobe A
  C. S.
• Lewis Web Site. 1994-2008. Web. 23 August 2008.