C.S. Lewis: A Biography

By Walter Hooper and Roger Lancelyn Green

Book Overview

This is the true story of C.S. Lewis - one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century - whose books for children and adults have become much-loved classics.

Part of the story of C.S. Lewis has been made famous through the film 'Shadowlands'. Here this fascinating man's entire life-story is told by those who knew him personally.

C.S. Lewis was born in Belfast in 1898 and was sent to England for a public school education with his elder brother, Warren. Lewis exhibited a genius for imagination and perception from his earliest years. Brought up in a Christian household, Lewis lost his faith in his teenage years but was to regain it, with reluctance, as a fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford. His faith subsequently influenced his writings. He became a vigorous champion of the Christian faith through classics such as Mere Christianity and through his BBC broadcasts.

His Chronicles of Narnia became children's classics and he was deluged with correspondence from his young readers.

In his latter years he unexpectedly fell deeply in love with a divorced American, Joy Greshem, and married her, only to suffer the devastation of her death a few years later. C.S. Lewis died in 1963 at his home in Oxford.

During his lifetime C.S. Lewis suggested to his friend, Roger Lancelyn Green, who was a fellow English scholar, that he would undertake his biography one day. After Lewis's death in 1963 Lancelyn Green and Walter Hooper were approached by several of Lewis's friends, to write the biography. Warren Lewis, brother to Jack, contributed a great deal to the writing. The authors had at their disposal a vast collection of letters and diaries, as well as the recollections of many surviving family members and friends.

Walter Hooper has enhanced the original text with additional material to provide a new, expanded edition which all C.S. Lewis fans will be keen to own.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0007157142
• ISBN13: 9780007157143
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: HarperCollins Entertainment
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Excellent book, great service.

This book is as discribed and we are very pleased with its condition. The service from the seller was prompt and it was properly protected for shipping. We will order from this seller again.

the only biography that should be read

I do not lie when I say that this should be the only biography read on Lewis. The others are good, too; though perhaps "appropriate" might be a better word to describe them. This on the other hand is thorough, accurate, reliable. There is nothing better out there, I promise you.

Very good, but not the best

This is a very good biography on C. S. Lewis by two men who knew him personally. They present an even-handed coverage of Lewis's life, weaving in discussion of Lewis's many writings. The biography is entertaining, even funny at times (how could a biography on Lewis not be humorous?!), but I'm afraid some of the humor is so British, that it will be lost on most American readers. A better biography, in my opinion, is Jack by George Sayer (who also knew Lewis). But this was probably the first important biography of Lewis to be written, and is very good in its own right. I'd recommend it for Lewis fans who want to read multiple biographies. But if you just want to read one, get George Sayer's.

A Book Lover's Delight

Book lovers are introduced to the subject in an enticing way as Lewis' boyhood environment is described in the opening section:"The house was full of books--I had always the same certainty of finding a book that was new to me as a man who walks into a field has of finding a new blade of grass--through all of these were the works of novelists, historians, essayists and biographers."On researching their subject, the authors confess in the preface: "This colossal monument of paper contains many hundreds of letters from C. S. Lewis to his father, his brother, his close friend Arthur Greeves, and a few other family connections; it also includes dairies, sometimes kept with great minuteness, covering many years." So the challenge of condensing this data into book form was formidable. What adds to it is Lewis' quest for knowledge. He read widely and wrote prolifically. The result of this aim at telling the story of a masterful mind is successful, however. We know the essence of the man after having read this inspiring look at his life.

An entertaining biography

Although I think George Sayer's JACK the best of the C.S. Lewis biographies available, Green and Hooper's book is also good, with the added advantage that both men knew their subject personally. Their book complements Sayer's and is worth obtaining for Lewis fans. It is certainly better than Wilson's biography of Lewis, though without quite the achievement of Sayer's book.