C. S. Lewis: A Biography

by A. N. Wilson

Overview

A subtle and poignant portrayal of the creator of The Chronicles of Narnia.

Brilliant. Agnostic. Prejudiced. Gregarious. Bullying. Loyal friend. Heavy drinker. One of the most learned scholars of his generation. A controversial Christian apologist. Author of a children's fantasy that has sold millions upon millions of copies. And, after his death, almost a cult figure. C. S. Lewis was an incredibly complicated man, and, as revealed in this splendid biography, a mystery to those who knew him best. "I know of no modern biographer who equals Wilson's delicacy of touch and sensitivity to human quandaries. An astonishing book."—Leon Edel "The mixture presented in Wilson's biography of the life of learning...of domestic drama and bad temper, religion, and sex, is irresistible."—New York Review of Books

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393323405
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	08/17/2002
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	867,571
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

A. N. Wilson is the author of the acclaimed biographies Tolstoy, C. S. Lewis, Jesus, and Paul; God's Funeral, and several celebrated novels. He lives in London.

Editorial Reviews

I know of no modern biographer who equals Wilson's delicacy of touch and sensitivity to human quandaries. An astonishing book.

Leon Edel

The mixture presented in Wilson's biography of the life of learning...of domestic drama and bad temper, religion, and sex, is irresistible.

New York Review of Books

One might see the life of Christian apologist Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) as a Freudian case history. As an Oxford undergrad, he took up with Janie Moore, 25 years his senior, whom he passed off as his ``adopted mother''; she filled a gap left by the death of his mother when he was nine. When Moore, his companion for over 30 years, died, Lewis married Joy Davidman, an aspiring poet-novelist dying of cancer who had two small sons--her circumstances parallel to those of Lewis's own mother. Wilson ( Tolstoy ), though attuned to psychoanalytic theory, avoids reductionist psychobiography in this absorbing, intimate portrait of a secretive figure. He presents Lewis as a Romantic egoist in the tradition of Wordsworth and Yeats, as a seeker who transformed his obsession with childhood memories into moral fables for our age. Primary sources yield fresh insights into Lewis's Oxford circle, the Inklings, and particularly into his friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien. Photos. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly