C. S. Lewis : Creator of Narnia

by White, Michael

• ISBN13: 9780786716111
• ISBN10: 0786716118
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-11-10
• Publisher: Da Capo Pr

Summary

Arguably the most influential Christian writer of the twentieth century, C. S. Lewis founded his literary reputation on the now classic critical work The Allegory of Love. Within the next five years he would garner international acclaim as the author of The Screwtape Letters and Out of the Silent Planet, the first of three science fiction novels that owe much to his dynamic friendship with J. R. R. Tolkien. In 1950, with the publication of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, he would win the hearts of children worldwide. Yet Clive Staples Lewis's path to renown not only as a groundbreaking literary critic, novelist, and Christian theologian was an intellectual and emotionally chaotic one, as Michael White reveals in this probing new biography. He follows the young Lewis, a nervous man profoundly depressed by the death of his mother, in a spiritually tormented course that would take him through the trenches of World War I to the upper ranks of English letters. White cleverly deconstructs Lewis's novels and religious works to reveal the frequently tormented soul and imagination from they sprung. Most importantly, he delves into the mythos that has long surrounded Lewis and rediscovers the man beneath.

Author Biography

Michael White is the author of more than twenty books, notably his recent TOLKIEN: A BIOGRAPHY, a bestseller in Britain, and ISAAC ASIMOV, also published by Carroll & Graf. He is a former science writer for GQ magazine and a consultant for the Discovery Channel. In a previous incarnation he was a member of the Thompson Twins pop group, and lectured in science at Oxford before becoming a full time writer in 1991. He lives in Perth, Australia.

Table of Contents

Introduction	ix
1 'Call Me Jack'	1	(17)
2 The Call of Learning	18	(23)
3 Scholarship and War	41	(14)
4 'Mother'	55	(21)
5 Fellowship	76	(21)
6 Fantasy	97	(39)
7 Friendship	136	(22)
8 From War to Joy	158	(20)
9 Joy	178	(22)
10 Life without Joy	200	(11)
11 Legacy	211	(16)
Notes	227	(6)
Appendices	233	(18)
A Guide to the Publications of C.S. Lewis	233	(8)
A Chronology of the Life and Times of C.S. Lewis	241	(4)
Those Who Survived C.S. Lewis	245	(6)
Bibliography	251	(3)
Index	254