The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. LewisThe White Witch, Aslan, fauns and talking beasts, centaurs and epic battles between good and evil -- all these have become a part of our collective imagination through the classic volumes of The Chronicles of Narnia. Over the past half century, children everywhere have escaped into this world and delighted in its wonders and enchantments. Yet what we do know of the man who created Narnia? This biography sheds new light on the making of the original Narnian, C. S. Lewis himself. Lewis was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably the most influential religious writer of his day. An Oxford don and scholar of medieval literature, he loved to debate philosophy at his local pub, and his wartime broadcasts on the basics of Christian belief made him a celebrity in his native Britain. Yet one of the most intriguing aspects of Clive Staples Lewis remains a mystery. How did this middle-aged Irish bachelor turn to the writing of stories for children -- stories that would become among the most popular and beloved ever written? Alan Jacobs masterfully tells the story of the original Narnian. From Lewis's childhood days in Ireland playing with his brother, Warnie, to his horrific experiences in the trenches during World War I, to his friendship with J. R. R. Tolkien (and other members of the "Inklings"), and his remarkable late-life marriage to Joy Davidman, Jacobs traces the events and people that shaped Lewis's philosophy, theology, and fiction. The result is much more than a conventional biography of Lewis: Jacobs tells the story of a profound and extraordinary imagination. For those who grew up with Narnia, or for those just discovering it, The Narnian tells a remarkable tale of a man who knew great loss and great delight, but who knew above all that the world holds far more richness and meaning than the average eye can see. |
From inside the book
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... Surprised by Joy , he prefaced the first chapter with a quote from Milton's Paradise Lost , a dark statement from Satan , musing on the occupants of the Eden into which he peers : " Happy , but for so happy ill secured . " * Lewis's ...
... Surprised by Joy to tell - of his eventual conversion to Christianity . His mother's death had nothing to do with that conversion as he understands it . But his insistence on the religious insignificance of Flora Lewis's death , and of ...
... surprised him as much as anything in his whole life . For the tawny face was bent down near his own and ( wonder of wonders ) great shining tears stood in the Lion's eyes . They were such big , bright tears com- pared with Digory's own ...
... Surprised by Joy , Lewis writes about it in a chapter that deals with his early adoles- cence , yet Boxen is already mentioned in letters that Jack wrote to Warnie when Jack was at Little Lea and Warnie at Wynyard — that is , in 1906 or ...
... Surprised by Joy , wrote an incan- descently bitter essay about his own school days , during which he was afflicted by teachers whom he thought to be " terrible , all - powerful monsters " and regularly subjected to " irrational terrors ...
Contents
1 | |
19 | |
THREE Red beef and strong beer | 44 |
FOUR I never sank so low as to pray | 65 |
SEVEN Definitely believing in Christ | 136 |
EIGHT Do you think I am trying to weave a spell? | 163 |
NINE What I owe to them all is incalculable | 194 |
ELEVEN We soon learn to love what | 248 |
TWELVE Joy is the serious business of heaven | 280 |
AFTERWORD The Future of Narnia | 305 |