Clive Staples Lewis was a celebrated Anglo-Irish novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, lay theologian and Christian apologist whose impact and influence lives on.

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A C. S. Lewis Literary Chronology

1898 Born On 29 November in Belfast, Ireland.


1905 The family moves to “Little Lea” on the outskirts of Belfast.

1908 His mother, Florence Lewis, dies of cancer On 23 August. In September he is sent to school at Wynyard in Watford, Hertfordshire, England.


1910 He attends Campbell College in Ireland.

1911 Returns to England and attends school at Cherbourg House, Malvern, beginning in January.

1913 Enters Malvern College, a university preparatory school, in September.

1914 Moves to Surrey and is tutored by W. T. Kirkpatrick (“The Great Knock”).

1916 Reads George MacDonald’s Phantastes. This book, he wrote, “baptized” his imagination. MacDonald, he later claimed, was quoted in every book he subsequently published.

1917 Begins his studies at University College, Oxford, in April; commissioned a second lieutenant in the Somerset Light Infantry in September; goes to the front in November.

1918 Wounded in action in April.

1919 Returns to University College; publishes Spirits in Bondage under the pseudonym Clive Hamilton.

1920 Takes a First in Honour Moderations (midway examinations).

1922 Takes a First in Greats (classics and philosophy), and awarded the B. A.

1923 Takes a First in English Language and Literature in the Honour School.

1924 Assumes duties as tutor at University College.

1925 Elected Fellow in English Language and Literature at Magdalen College, Oxford.

1926 Publishes Dymer under the pseudonym Clive Hamilton.

1929 His father, Albert J. Lewis, dies in Belfast; becomes a theist but not a Christian.


1931 Confesses belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and becomes a regular communicant in the Church of England.

1933 Publishes The Pilgrim’s Regress: An Allegorical Apology for Christianity, Reason and Romanticism under his own name, dropping the Clive Hamilton pseudonym forever.

1936 Publishes The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition.

1938 Publishes Out of the Silent Planet.

1939 Publishes The Personal Heresy A Controversy, with E. M. W. Tillyard; publishes Rehabilitations and Other Essays.

1940 Publishes The Problem of Pain; begins lectures on Christianity to members of the Royal Air Force.

1941 Begins a series of over twenty talks on the British Broadcasting Corporation radio.

1942 Publishes Broadcast Talks, a small book based on his 1941 and 1942 BBC radio lectures; publishes The Screwtape Letters and A Preface to “Paradise Lost”

1943 Publishes Perelandra, The Abolition of Man, and the BBC radio lectures entitled Christian Behaviour

1944 Publishes Beyond Personality from his BBC talks.

1945 Publishes The Great Divorce and That Hideous Strength.

1946 Edits George MacDonald: An Anthology

1947 Publishes Miracles: A Preliminary Study; edits with others Essays Presented to Charles Williams.

1948 Publishes Arthurian Torso.

1949 Publishes Transposition and Other Addresses.

1950 Receives his first letter from Joy Davidman; publishes The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

1951 Publishes Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia


1952 Meets Joy Davidman; publishes Mere Christianity, which includes Broadcast Talks, Christian Behaviour and Beyond Personality, all in revised form; publishes The Voyage of the “Dawn Treader”

1953 Publishes The Silver Chair

1954 Publishes The Horse and His Boy and English Literature in the Sixteenth Century Excluding Drama.

1955 Assumes the position of Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Magdalene College, Cambridge. His inaugural address is “De Descriptione Temporumî; publishes Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life and The Magician’s Nephew.

1956 Marries Joy Davidman in a civil ceremony in April; publishes The Last Battle and Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold

1957 Marries Joy Davidman in an Anglican ceremony in March.

1958 Publishes Reflections on the Psalms.

1960 Publishes The Four Loves, Studies in Words, and The World’s Last Night and Other Essays. His wife, Joy, dies on 13 July.

1961 Publishes A Grief Observed and An Experiment in Criticism.

1962 Publishes They Asked for a Paper.

1963 Dies on 22 November, the same day Aldous Huxley and John F. Kennedy died.

1964 Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer which he finished in 1963, is published.


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