Novelist
Essayist
Nonfiction
Short Story
Poet
Children’s
writer
Critic
Biography
• Clive Staples Lewis born in Belfast, Ireland to Mr.
Albert Lewis
• Served in France during World War I
• Attended Oxford University, then stayed on as a
Fellow at Magdalen College from 1925 to 1954
• In 1954 Lewis became a professor of medieval and
Renaissance English at Cambridge
• In 1956 Lewis married American poet Joy
Davidmon, who, 4 years later, died of cancer.
His Works
• Lewis was an advocate for Christianity,
explaining and defending the religion in
such studies as Mere Christianity (1952).
• Out of the Silent Planet (1938),
Perelandra (1944), and That Hideous
Strength (1946) in the Space Trilogywhere Dr. Ransom is kidnapped and
transported to the distant planet
Malacandra
• The Screwtape Letters (1940)-
 Lewis wrote Non-Fiction, Fiction, and Poetry
 Literature style falls into category of Poetry, Myth, and
Science Fiction
 Being an atheist, and converting to Christianity was
reflected in two of his works: The Space Trilogy, and
Chronicles of Narnia
 Lewis stressed author’s intent as a theory of criticism
rather than the reader’s prejudices and personal views.
 Lewis desired to reach a wide audience in his works,
young and old, even if it came at a price of negativity
toward new works.
 Trilogy based on “Scientism” - the methods, mental attitude, doctrines, or
modes of expression characteristic or held to be characteristic of scientists
 Lewis's use of language has also been praised in this series. Kath Filmer
was impressed by Lewis's use of figurative, symbolic and metaphorical
language: "Lewis's images and metaphors depict the immanence of God,
the reality of human corruption, and the cosmic battle between good and
evil" (219)
 Lewis used science as a cohesive element in the third installment of the
saga and "that places the novel in the tradition of hard science
fiction"(Lowenberg 235)
 Lewis's writings have been quite incorrectly viewed by some as antiscience.
 Faye Ann Crowell clearly recognized the truth of the matter in stating:
that it was not science which Lewis was attacking, but certain ideas held by
people usually not scientists."
 The main character of the science fiction trilogy, the hero Elwin Ransom, is a
theist who embraces the values of pity, kindness, honesty, and respect for
individuals.
 In ironic contrast, the villain Professor Weston in the first two novels is a
brilliant physicist who believes there are no absolute truths.
 An important subject in these novels based on the main character is Philology
 Commonly defined as the study of literature that includes or may include
grammar, criticism, literary history, language history, systems of writing, and
anything else that is relevant to literature.
 Thomas Lessl believed philology is much more influenced by science than is
literature.
 Lewis included the study of Philology in his this Trilogy by making the main
character a professor in the subject.
 The most famous and positively received series of seven novels by
Lewis
 Target audience is children and young adults
 Series wrote in a style that is like and unlike allegory
 Allegory is a figurative mode of representation conveying a
meaning other than the literal. (Normally Fiction)
 The greatest mark of criticism for the series is a new volume of
essays by twenty-five critics, Revisiting Narnia: Fantasy, Myth and
Religion in C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles (BenBella Books, 2005)
 These writers, including authors of fantasy fiction, scholars from
different disciplines, ministers and priests, a “liberal feminist
agnostic,” and an animal rights’ advocate, disagree widely and
blessedly
Based on Christianity and Fantasy, presents visions of a glorified
or beneficent "Nature.“
 Good and Evil are apparent in the novels
Lewis wanted to draw people to Christ by creating a world in
which the gratification of natural desires leads to a desire for the
"Ultimate Good.“
 Most criticism on the series comes from Atheists, such as Philip
Pullman
 Alan Jacobs sums up this prejudice of the novels with "Those who
dislike Christianity itself can be far more harsh“
 Lewis wanted to express his own beliefs of Christianity in the
novels after converting from Atheism himself
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe the first in this series was
into a full lenghth movie by Disney pictures and Walden Media.
 “A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him
than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on
the walls of his cell.”
 “A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too
careful of his reading.”
 “Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and
you get neither.”
 “Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make
man a more clever devil.”
 “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only
because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”