Remembering C. S. Lewis: 50 Years Later

        C. S. Lewis was born on November 29th, 1898, in Belfast, Ireland, the son of Albert Lewis, who was a lawyer, and Flora Hamilton Lewis.  Here he grew up with his elder brother Warren where they lived in a great big house which they played in and explored together.  Here it was too, that the seeds of adventure in the Narnia Chronicles were planted.  But life soon had a sudden shock.  His mother died of cancer in the summer, and Lewis’ father sent his boys off to boarding school in England.  

        Lewis moved two years later to Malvern College where he stayed until he continued on to Oxford University two years before the First World War.  After volunteering to fight and getting wounded late in the War, he and his brother eventually moved in with the mother of one of his friends who was killed in the War.  She looked after Lewis and his brother until she died much later on.  It was during this time at the Kilns, which was the name of their home, that Lewis began to write volumes.  

        Here, in 1950, he wrote The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe which is, without a doubt, his most read and most famous book.  It was here that the adventures with Warren in the great old house in their boyhood became real in The Magician’s Nephew.  It was here that Lewis wrote what I consider to be his greatest book, The Last Battle.  (I do not have the time nor space to write about it here, but if you read it for yourself, you will know what I mean.)  The effect that these books have had on the world is amazing.  Embodying Christian theology, with pure adventure, realistic fantastical worlds and creatures, with an author who has a wonderful grasp of the English language, these books must be considered C. S. Lewis’s highest achievements.  

        After writing many other books, such as Mere Christianity, and, Surprised by Joy, and having been made a Fellow of Magdalene College in Oxford, and with many other awards bestowed upon him, C. S. Lewis died on November 22nd, 1963, which is this day, fifty years ago.  He now rests with his Lord and Saviour, but his books, and the adventure, wonder, and truth embodied in them, still remain to be read by numbers of people the world over.  


Written and Posted by William A Moore