The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy, 1950 - 1963
1840
The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy, 1950 - 1963
1840eBook
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Overview
This collection, carefully chosen and arranged by Walter Hooper, is the most extensive ever published. Included here are the letters Lewis wrote to such luminaries as J.R.R. Tolkien, Owen Barfield, Arthur C. Clarke, Sheldon Vanauken, and Dom Bede Griffiths. To some particular friends, such as Dorothy L. Sayers, Lewis wrote fifty letters alone. The letters deal with all of Lewis's interests—theology, literary criticism, poetry, fantasy, children's stories—as well as his relationships with family members and friends.
The third and final volume begins with Lewis, already a household name from his BBC radio broadcasts and popular spiritual books, on the cusp of publishing his most famous and enduring book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which would ensure his immortality in the literary world. It covers his relationship with and marriage to Joy Davidman Gresham, subject of the film Shadowlands, and includes letters right up to his death on November 22, 1963, the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
This volume also includes both a special section of newly found letters from earlier time periods covered in volumes one and two and mini-biographies of Lewis's regular correspondents.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780061947285 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins |
| Publication date: | 07/14/2009 |
| Sold by: | HARPERCOLLINS |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 1840 |
| Sales rank: | 610,941 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
About the Author
Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954, when he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. He wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. His most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classics The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and have been transformed into three major motion pictures.
Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) fue uno de los intelectuales más importantes del siglo veinte y podría decirse que fue el escritor cristiano más influyente de su tiempo. Fue profesor particular de literatura inglesa y miembro de la junta de gobierno en la Universidad Oxford hasta 1954, cuando fue nombrado profesor de literatura medieval y renacentista en la Universidad Cambridge, cargo que desempeñó hasta que se jubiló. Sus contribuciones a la crítica literaria, literatura infantil, literatura fantástica y teología popular le trajeron fama y aclamación a nivel internacional. C. S. Lewis escribió más de treinta libros, lo cual le permitió alcanzar una enorme audiencia, y sus obras aún atraen a miles de nuevos lectores cada año. Sus más distinguidas y populares obras incluyen Las Crónicas de Narnia, Los Cuatro Amores, Cartas del Diablo a Su Sobrino y Mero Cristianismo.
Date of Birth:
November 29, 1898Date of Death:
November 22, 1963Place of Birth:
Belfast, Nothern IrelandPlace of Death:
Headington, EnglandEducation:
Oxford University 1917-1923; Elected fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford in 1925Website:
http://www.cslewisclassics.comRead an Excerpt
The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3
Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy, 1950 - 1963By C. Lewis
HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Copyright © 2007 C. LewisAll right reserved.
Chapter One
1950
During the spring of 1949 Lewis began dreaming of lions and by May 1949 he had written the first of the Chronicles of Narnia--The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. This was hardly finished when he had the idea for the next story, Prince Caspian--or 'A Horn in Narnia' as it was first called. By the time this volume of letters opens Lewis was at work on yet another Narnian story, The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader', the manuscript of which would be ready for Roger Lancelyn Green1 to read when he visited Lewis at the end of February 1950.2
To Jonathan Francis 'Frank' Goodridge (P):3
Magdalen College
Oxford
[1 January 1950]
There have been very few pupils in my 26 years' experience as a tutor for whom I can speak so confidently as I can for Mr. Frank Goodrich.4 As a scholar he has quality which his actual degree did not at all represent. The year in which he sat for his Final was one of strange surprises for many tutors about many pupils: but apart from that, his failure to do himself justice can be explained by two factors.
(1.) He is really too conscientious a student, too determined to get to the bottom of every question, to make an idealexaminee: good at probing and not at all good at advertising: incapable of 'bluff '.
(2.) He gave rather more time than he could afford to his duties as secretary of a philosophical club.5 I saw a good deal of him in that capacity and it was his Minutes which first convinced me that he had attributes quite out of the ordinary. He could condense, and slightly popularise, the arguments of speakers (often very erudite) with less loss than any man I have ever known.
This satisfies me that he will be a good teacher: he might very well turn out to be one of the great teachers. His personal character won my respect from the beginning and this respect steadily increased during the time he was with me. He is one of the most disinterested--I think I could say one of the most selfless--men I have ever met: and, in spite of his good humour and patience, which are unfailing, I should not like to be the boy who tried to 'rag' him. If I had a son of my own there is no one to whom I would entrust him so gladly as to Mr. Goodrich.
C. S. Lewis
Fellow & Tutor of Magdalen
Continues...
Excerpted from The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3 by C. Lewis Copyright © 2007 by C. Lewis. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Preface vii
Abbreviations xix
Letters
1950 1
1951 81
1952 153
1953 273
1954 400
1955 549
1956 693
1957 823
1958 911
1959 1008
1960 1120
1961 1220
1962 1309
1963 1400
Supplementary Letters 1486
'Great War' Letters 1596
Biographical Appendix 1647
Index 1739