10 Things You Didn’t Know about C.S. Lewis
1. He wrote poetry. Lewis hoped in his twenties that he would become known as a poet and published two books of poetry. Spirits in Bondage is a series of poems he wrote while serving in World War I, making him a minor member of the war poets movement. Dymer is a book-long epic about authoritarianism, adventure, and magic. Ultimately, Lewis put away his hope of becoming a well-known published poet, although he kept writing poetry and routinely criticized modernist poet T.S. Eliot. Late in his life, Lewis befriended Eliot when they were both on a committee to revise the Church of England Psalter.
2. He was a great academic. Readers discovering Lewis’ many books for the first time may not realize that Lewis wrote them while working full-time at Oxford University, teaching subjects like philosophy and medieval literature. Lewis released several important academic books, including English Literature in the Sixteenth Century Excluding Drama.
3. He didn’t mind friends disagreeing with him. Lewis had many lifelong friendships—particularly with his brother Warren, also known as “Warnie.” An interesting feature of his many friendships (with fellow academics like J.R.R. Tolkien, with college friends like Owen Barfield, with fellow writers like Charles Williams) was that he didn’t mind friends disagreeing with him. He relished a good debate where friends who respected each other could give opposing views, pushing each other to think better.
4. He wrote with a pen. Given how many books Lewis wrote (and the many sermons and lectures he gave over the years), you’d think he used a typewriter to get words out as fast as possible. In fact, Lewis wrote with a nib pen, which requires routinely putting the pen in an inkwell. Writing with a pen slowed him down, but scholars like Devin Brown have noted it gave Lewis time to think carefully about what he was communicating.
5. He wasn’t stuffy. Lewis was unquestionably a smart man who read very widely, yet he never became fussy or snobbish. In The Fellowship, Philip Zaleski and Carol Zaleski describe Lewis’ conversation with Oxford student Alaister Fowler on “what is life’s greatest pleasure?” After considering classic options like great art and mystical ecstasy, Lewis said the answer was finding a bathroom after a long country walk.
6. He wrote science fiction. Most readers familiar with Lewis’ fiction know the Chronicles of Narnia and The Screwtape Letters. Fewer readers know about the Space Trilogy, three science fiction books Lewis wrote in the 1930s-1940s that involve space travel, paranormal servants of God (and darker forces), and scientists trying to change humanity or earth into something more mechanical.
7. His faith hurt his career. Although Lewis had a substantial academic career at Oxford, he neither received a professorship. Warnie and Tolkien both mention surprising animosity when Lewis was up for promotions—Warren remembered someone saying he couldn’t recommend the author of The Screwtape Letters for a professorship. Scholars like Philip and Carol Zaleski explain the issue was that Oxford academics were expected to stick with their academic specialty. Lewis broke that rule with his radio talks, speeches, and books about Christianity. Ultimately, Cambridge offered a professorship to Lewis, which he accepted in 1954.
8. He gained a wife and children later in life. Although he never had children, Lewis entered a civil union with Joy Davidman, a divorced American writer with two sons, in 1956. What began as a civil union so Davidman could maintain residency in England led to a romance, and they were married by an Anglican priest in 1957. Their surprising marriage story (and Davidman’s 1960 death from cancer) was dramatized in the film Shadowlands. Lewis’ stepson Douglas plays an important part in promoting Lewis’ legacy, including co-producing Disney’s three Narnia movies.
9. He died the same day as two other famous people. Lewis passed away on November 22, 1963, less than an hour before John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas. Aldous Huxley also passed away that day. Peter Kreeft used this interesting fact as the basis for Between Heaven and Hell, which imagines the three men meeting after death and talking about their views before being called into the final judgment room.
10. He wasn’t the only writer in the Lewis family. Lewis’ father, Albert, wrote several stories which weren’t published during his lifetime; one was recently published in the CS Lewis academic publication Sehnsucht. Warnie made a lifetime career out of the British Army, but after retiring, he wrote several books on 17th-century France.
Further Reading: Why Was Charles Williams the Odd Inkling?
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