Brief Guide To C. S. Lewis

A comprehensive guide that provides synopses of Lewis's fiction, an overview of his other writings, a biography and a look at all the many different versions of his stories that have appeared. An engaging guide to the life and work of the unassuming scholar who opened the door to the magical world of Narnia Clive Staples 'Jack' Lewis's death on 22 November 1963 was overshadowed by the shock assassination on the same day of US President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. Fifty years later, he has been properly honoured with a memorial in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. Simpson charts Lewis's journey from religion to atheism, then, under the influence of his friend J. R. R. Tolkien, through theism to Christianity; the author's marriage to the American writer Joy Davidman Gresham; and his battle with cancer. He discusses Lewis's fiction, not only the Narnia series for which he is most famous, but also less well-known works such as the science-fiction trilogy Out of the Silent Planet, and his remarkably accessible religious writings - many of them written originally as talks for radio - from The Screwtape Letters to Mere Christianity. Most companions to Lewis's work have been written from a religious perspective. This guide assumes no biblical scholarship; the focus is on what Lewis wrote rather than the specific texts that he dissects. Considerations of the many adaptations of Lewis's stories on stage and screen are enlivened by fresh interviews with some of their creators. November 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Clive Staples 'Jack' Lewis, when a memorial to him will be placed in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey. Although perhaps best known as the author of the seven Chronicles of Narnia, published between 1949 and 1954, Lewis also wrote The Pilgrim's Regress, a trilogy of science-fiction novels incorporating Christian themes, and a large number of non-fiction books about his faith, accessible to Christians and non-believers alike. In a survey of the greatest British writers since 1945, the Times newspaper ranked Lewis eleventh, ahead of Salman Rushdie, Anthony Burgess and Ian Fleming.A Brief Guide to C. S. Lewis explores Lewis's life, from his reconversion to Christianity under the influence of his friend J. R. R. Tolkien, which had such a profound influence on his writing - both fiction and non-fiction - to his marriage to American writer Joy Davidman Gresham and his battle with cancer. He died on 22 November 1963, a day before the first-ever episode of Dr Who, a TV series with many links to his Narnia stories was shown. Although this Brief Guide ranges well beyond the world of Narnia to explore other aspects of Lewis's life and his other writings, it does not do so - unusually among books on Lewis - from the point of view of Christian scholarship, thereby assuming much knowledge of theology on the part of readers. That Lewis wrote about the problems of praying is significant; the specific texts he discusses and dissects are likely to be of less significance to most readers.The guide provides synopses of Lewis's fiction, an overview of his other writings, a biography and a look at all the many different versions of his stories that have appeared. In doing so it draws on recent interviews by the author with some of the many talented people who have worked on these adaptations.