Who Is CS Lewis?

CS Lewis was an author best known for writing the “Chronicles of Narnia” series. He was also known for his close friendship with “The Lord of the Rings” author JRR Tolkien.

Early life
CS Lewis (real name Clive Staples Lewis) was born on the 29^th November 1898. His birthplace was Belfast, Ireland. After being educated by private tutors, Lewis attended the Wynyard School, which was located in Watford, Hertfordshire. Later, when the school closed, he attended Campbell College. However, he was forced to leave after experiencing respiratory problems and instead attended Cherbourg House, a preparatory school located in Malvern, in Worchester.

After Cherbourg House, Lewis attended Malvern College and then went on to be privately tutored. He then attended University College, in Oxford. Later, he served in the first World War, during which he was wounded. He recovered and went on to receive a First in Greek and Latin Literature, Philosophy and Ancient History and English.

In 1925, Lewis began teaching at Magdalen College, where he worked for almost thirty years.

Writing career
Lewis’s first published work was “The Pilgrim’s Regress”, a fantasy novel that was released in 1933. The novel was published around the time that Lewis, who was originally an Atheist, became a Christian.

One of his most popular works is “The Space Trilogy”, which was published before his Narnia series. “The Space Trilogy” consisted of three novels. These were published from 1938-1945.

The “Chronicles of Narnia” followed in the early 1950s. This popular children’s series consists of seven novels, published between 1950-1956. The books explored many Christian themes, which Lewis’s friend JRR Tolkien did not agree with, despite being a Christian himself. Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” has been compared to the Narnia series. Many feel that both the series explore similar themes, although Pulman, who is an Atheist, has expressed a dislike for the Narnia series due to its Christian themes.

The works of CS Lewis have made a large impact on both readers and authors. Many well known authors, such as JK Rowling and Daniel Handler (also known as Lemony Snicket) are said to have been influenced by his novels.

To celebrate his work, a large statue of one of his characters from the Narnia series was created and now stands in East Belfast, Northern Ireland. The character is Digory, who appears in “The Magician’s Nephew” and is seen standing in front the magical wardrobe that transports many of the characters to Narnia.

Film adaptations
The most notable adaptation of Lewis’s works is the recent film adaptation of the Narnia series. The first instalment, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe”, was released in 2005 and received mostly positive reviews. The film did extremely well at the box office, becoming the highest grossing live-action film and the third highest-grossing film for Disney.

The second instalment, “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”, was released in 2008 and was equally as successful. It became number one at the box office in its opening weekend and received positive reviews. It was the second most successful 2008 film for Disney, the first being the computer animated film “WALL-E”.

The third instalment of the film series will be “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader”. This instalment will have a new director and is due for release in 2010. It will also be the first instalment to be distributed by 20^th Century Fox, who is taking over from Disney after disagreements. There are plans to continue with the fourth instalment, which will be “The Silver Chair”.

In addition to these films, there have also been animated film adaptations of the popular series.

As well as film, “The Chronicles of Narnia” have also been adapted to stage, radio and television. The series has also featured in a variety of songs by different bands. The series has also appeared as video games, which are based on the 2005 and 2008 film adaptations.

There are plans to adapt Lewis’s 1942 work “The Screwtape Letters”, which was a Christian satirical novel, to film. A comic book adaptation was released in 1994 by Marvel comics. A stage adaptation of the novel opened in 2006 and it has also been turned into an audio drama, earning a number of awards.

“The Great Divorce”, a fantasy novel by CS Lewis, was the inspiration for a variety of songs. The title of Lewis’s novels “Till We Have Faces”, was used as the title for an album by British musician Steve Hackett. Many musicians were influenced by the works of CS Lewis.

Later life and death
In 1956, Lewis married Joy Davidman Gresham, who was a writer previously married to the author William Gresham. As she was divorced, the couple were unable to marry in the Church of England, and so a ceremony was arranged so that they could marry by her bedside after she was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer. The cancer went into remission, but Gresham later experienced a relapse and died in 1960. Lewis was left to raise her sons.

A year after his wife’s death, Lewis’s own health began to deteriorate. After suffering kidney problems and a heart attack, which left him in a coma for nearly a day, he eventually collapsed and died on the 22^nd November 1963.

Even though Lewis was an extremely popular author, his death did not receive much coverage as it fell on the exact same day as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.