Clive Staples "C. S." Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was an Irish-born British writer, literary scholar, and Christian apologist whose fiction and nonfiction have had a lasting influence on 20th-century literature and religious thought. He is best known for the children's fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia and for apologetic works such as Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters. Lewis was a prominent figure in Oxford literary life, a close friend of J.R.R. Tolkien, and a member of the informal Inklings group; his wartime BBC broadcasts on Christianity brought him wide readership.
Biography[]
Early life and education[]
Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast on 29 November 1898 into a professional Anglo-Irish family. His mother, Flora Lewis (née Hamilton), died when he was a boy; he was educated at private schools and later at University College, Oxford, where he read classics and then English.
World War I service[]
In 1917, at the age of 18, C.S. Lewis enlisted in the British Army during World War I. He joined the Royal Army Medical Corps as an infantry officer and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Somerset Light Infantry. Lewis saw active service on the Western Front in France.
During the war, he experienced the harsh realities of trench warfare and witnessed significant casualties among his fellow soldiers. In 1918, he was wounded in combat, sustaining a minor injury to his chest and back. The experience profoundly affected him, both emotionally and intellectually, shaping his later reflections on human nature, suffering, and faith.
After recovering from his injury, Lewis returned briefly to duty before the war ended in November 1918. His wartime experiences left a lasting mark, influencing both his literary work—particularly the themes of courage, loss, and morality in his fiction—and his eventual conversion to Christianity in the early 1930s.
Conversion, the Inklings, and academic career[]
Lewis drifted away from the faith in adolescence but returned to Christianity as an adult, influenced by conversations with friends including J. R. R. Tolkien and other members of the Inklings, an informal Oxford literary circle. He spent many years as a fellow and tutor at Magdalen College, Oxford (where he lectured and published on medieval literature), and in 1954 accepted the chair of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge (Magdalene College). His academic work and his popular writings were closely linked: his literary criticism and his interest in myth and imagination fed directly into his fiction.
Major works and public influence[]
Between scholarly books and popular essays, Lewis authored more than thirty works. His seven-volume Chronicles of Narnia (the most commercially successful of his writings) blended Christian themes with classical and mythic material and sold millions of copies worldwide. His apologetic books and essays — notably Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Problem of Pain, and Miracles — made theological ideas accessible to a wide audience, especially through wartime and postwar BBC broadcasts. Lewis also wrote science-fiction (the Space Trilogy), literary criticism (The Allegory of Love), and the spiritual autobiography Surprised by Joy.
Later life and death[]
In 1956 Lewis married American writer Joy Davidman; she died in 1960. Lewis continued to write and lecture until his health declined; he resigned his Cambridge post in 1963 and died at the Kilns in Oxford on 22 November 1963 of kidney failure. He was buried at Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry. In 2013 a memorial to Lewis was unveiled in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey.
Legacy[]
Lewis's influence spans children’s literature, fantasy, Christian apologetics, and literary scholarship. The Chronicles of Narnia remain cultural touchstones (adapted many times for stage, radio, TV, and film), and his apologetic works continue to be widely read across denominations. Scholarly and popular interest in his life and writings has produced extensive Lewisiana — biographies, critical studies, and societies devoted to his work.
Selected works[]
- The Chronicles of Narnia (series) — The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) et al.
- Mere Christianity (1942)
- The Screwtape Letters (1942)
- The Space Trilogy (also called the Ransom Trilogy)
- Surprised by Joy (autobiography)
Gallery[]
