"I can't imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once."
- C. S. Lewis
One of the most famous writers known throughout the world is Clive Staples Lewis, better known as C. S. Lewis, also called Jack by family and friends. The nickname "Jack" caught on when his dog Jacksie died. The four-year-old Lewis took on the name and would not respond to any other name but later on accepted Jack. Even though he was recognized as a British writer he was Irish. He was born in Belfast Ireland on November 29th, 1898, and in Oxford, Oxfordshire England, on November 22nd, 1963 he died of kidney failure. C. S. Lewis deeply admired the works of the English writer J.R.R Tolkien. This admiration greatly influenced his style of writing.
The Early Life of C. S. Lewis
In his early teens, Lewis had rejected Christianity and lived as an atheist through his 20s. While living as an atheist he felt like something was missing from his life, so he then turned to theism in 1930. With a bit of help from his friend J. R. R. Tolkien who was devout to the Roman Catholic, C. S. Lewis became a Christian in 1931. All of the events of his spiritual journey are recorded in his book "Surprised by Joy" which was published in 1955 in his early 30s.
During World War two, he gave many speeches on the BBC radio station. One of the speeches resulted in the book now known as "Mere Christianity". In Mere Christianity, Lewis aims to prove that God exists. It goes on to explain human nature, God and Jesus, mortality, and a lot more. Here's a sneak peek to the preface:
"I am a very ordinary layman of the Church of England, not especially 'high', nor especially 'low', nor especially anything else. But in this book, I am not trying to convert anyone to my own position. Ever since I became Christian I have thought that the best, perhaps the only, service I could do for my unbelieving neighbors was to explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times."
One of Lewis' Popular Works:
His very first successful fiction was "Out of the Silent Planet", published in 1938. A novel that held Christian allusions and themes. One of Lewis' greatest works would have to be "The Chronicles of Narnia", written in 1950. "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is the most popular one. People everywhere enjoy the wonderous tale of the Pevensie siblings.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
The story follows the four children Peter, Susana, Edmund, and Lucy, who are from the World War two era. They are sent to the countryside for their safety, to live with an old-fashioned professor in his stuffy mansion. Bored out of their minds the children decided to play a game of hide and seek. While finding the perfect hiding spot, the youngest, Lucy discovered a wardrobe that ends up being the gateway to an enchanted land called Narnia. There she met a faun by the name of Tumnus, who relayed to her that Narnia has been in eternal winter since the white witch began to rule. When Lucy returns from her trip she tells her siblings about Narnia but of course, no one would believe something so far-fetched, especially from the mouth of their baby sister.
Eventually, all the siblings pass through the wardrobe to Narnia. Lucy takes them to visit Mr. Tumnus, however, they come to find that the faun had been arrested by the white queen. The party was then led by a robin to a beaver who takes them to his home and reveals the prophecies of the magical land.
"Wrong will be made right when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrow will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter will meet its death,
And when he shakes his mane, we'll have spring again."
"When Adam's flesh and Adam's bone
Sits at Cair Paravel throne,
The evil time will be over and done."
When they looked around Edmund was nowhere to be found. Unfortunately, the boy was deceived by the White witch and decided to side with her. In hopes of receiving a reward for the information he spilled, Edmund is horrified when the witch takes him as a hostage and disclosed to him that she intends to capture and slaughter his family. The siblings and the beavers had to flee the house from the witch's pursuit of them. In a few hours, the ice melts away and spring returns to Narnia. When they arrived at the Stone Table, Lucy, Peter, and Susan are awed to see that Aslan was no regular lion. Even his aura was filled with majesty. Meanwhile, the evil witch decides to kill Edmund to stop the prophecy from being fulfilled, and in the nick of time some of Aslan's people rescued him. The witch makes a deal with Aslan, in exchange for Edmund's blood, Aslan would die in his place, leaving the siblings and his people to fight the war without him. However, what she did not know was if innocent blood was shed on the stone table time would be reversed, resulting in Aslan's resurrection.
After the fight was won and the white witch was destroyed the Pevensie siblings became the new rules of Narnia and lived there for many years. while out hunting one day Lucy saw a familiar lamppost and ran towards it with her older siblings running after her. As they went further into the woods they found themselves stumbling out of the wardrobe into the spare room of the professor's country house. Gaping at one another they realized that reverted from royals to simple children. No time had passed in England at all since their visit to Narnia. Found by the professor, they relay the experience to him, who had also been to Narnia. He told them once they entered a gateway once it would never open again.
Inspiration for Narnia
Inspiration came for this novel series when Lewis was sixteen, starting with a faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood. A few years later Aslan was created from his constant dreams of lions. "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" was written for his goddaughter named Lucy. The name "Narnia" is symbolic of heaven or a perfect world. The first draft was destroyed, however, because Lewis's friends did not like how it was written. Finally, after ten years "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" that we know now was completed.
Other Information
Throughout his life, Lewis wrote over thirty books. The Narnia series sold over 100 million copies worldwide. Other exceptional works by C. S. Lewis are, "The Four Loves", "The Great Divorce", "A Grief Observed", "Miracles", and "The Screwtape Letters".
His writing genres consist of Christian apologetics, fantasy, science fiction, and children's literature. He believed that there was no point in reading a book as a child if it was not worth reading as an adult, that became his goal when writing books for children.
The Chronicles of Narnia also has movies that are just as good as their books. Check them out if you haven't already. It'll be a magical experience.
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