Biography

C.S. Lewis

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Born
November 29, 1898 · Belfast, Ireland [now in Northern Ireland], UK
Died
November 22, 1963 · Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK (uremia caused by kidney failure)
Birth name
Clive Staples Lewis
Nickname
- Jack
Height
5′ 10¾″ (1.80 m)

C.S. Lewis was born in 1898 and brought up in a very strict, religious household. While he was quite young, his mother died of cancer but the "stiff upper lip" in favour at the time meant he wasn't allowed to grieve. He became an Oxford don and led a sheltered life. He seriously questioned his religious beliefs and finally left the church. The death of his mother is reflected in "The Magician's Nephew". When an American fan Joy Gresham, came to visit him, they found they enjoyed each others company and she stayed. She was dying of cancer and he was afraid to express his emotions until she convinced him that it was OK to "allow" himself to love her even though it would shortly lead to heartbreak when she died. This was a great writer who dared to examine his emotions and beliefs and record them for the rest of us. Most famous for his childrens book (The Narnian Chronicles) he also wrote a very interesting Science Fiction Trilogy and some of the most intriguing Christian literature. He finally resolved his crisis of faith after tearing apart and fully examining the Christian (and other) religion and re-embraced Christianity.
- IMDb mini biography by: Steve Crook <steve@brainstorm.co.uk>

His speech patterns, and some aspects of his personalities, were the basis for the character of Treebeard in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
A close personal friend of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Died on 22 November 1963, the same day as writer Aldous Huxley and President John F. Kennedy, as result of the various illnesses Lewis had.
The head of his boarding school was a cruel tyrant who was later committed to an insane asylum. As a result, bad teachers and poor schools are frequently mentioned in his books.
For many years, the Narnia books were read in the same order in which they were written and published: 1. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) 2. Prince Caspian (1951) 3. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952) 4. The Silver Chair (1953) 5. The Horse and His Boy (1954) 6. The Magician's Nephew (1955) 7. The Last Battle (1956)

In recent years, the books' publishers have reordered them so that the stories take place in a more chronological order: 1. The Magician's Nephew 2. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe 3. The Horse and His Boy 4. Prince Caspian 5. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader 6. The Silver Chair 7. The Last Battle

The "correct" order in which one should read The Chronicals of Narnia is a subject of fierce debate, with both orders having their defenders and attackers.

All that is not eternal is eternally out of date.
[Written on his wife's tombstone] Here the whole world (stars, water, air, And field, and forest, as they were Reflected in a single mind) Like cast off clothes was left behind In ashes yet with hope that she, Re-born from holy poverty, In Lenten lands, hereafter may Resume them on her Easter Day.
In arguing against Him, you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all.
Christ died for men precisely because they were not worth it; to make them worth it
A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. - from Mere Christianity

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