Join Books.org — it's free

General & Miscellaneous Biography, Literary Biography
C. S. Lewis by Beatrice Gormley — book cover

C. S. Lewis

by Beatrice Gormley
Write a review
Log in to track your reading progress.

Overview

When C.S. Lewis was writing the Narnia series, pictures of other worlds kept popping into his mind. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe "began with a picture of a Faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood," said Lewis of his most famous children’s book. "At first, I had very little idea how the story would go. But then suddenly Aslan came bounding into it….Once He was there He pulled the whole story together, and soon He pulled the six other Narnian stories in after Him."

Step through the other side of the wardrobe and meet the creator of the Chronicles of Narnia—the man whose rich imagination and deep Christian faith made this fantasy series a favorite for generations.

Drawing on her extensive research of Lewis’s books, letters, and diaries, Gormley paints a fresh and illuminating picture of Lewis, one that explores how the many facets of Lewis’s life reflected his deep and powerful experience of God.

Explores the man, the mind, and the spirit behind the fantasy world of Narnia.

Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Log in to write one.

Editorials

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Here is a clearly written, solidly researched, and insightful picture of the popular author. Gormley weaves human texture into the book by layering the threads of Lewis' life whether trivial, tragic, literary, or spiritual into a highly readable exposition of a warm, amiable, and brilliant man.

School Library Journal

Gr 6 UpIt is difficult to write about Lewis and not mention his Christianity. Gormley does a good job of focusing on her subject's spiritual life while providing a solid biographical context against which to examine it. His personal relationships, from his troubled one with his father, to his late-in-life marriage to Joy Davidman, are thoroughly explored, both for their import for him as a Christian, and as a writer. Other influences on his work are also discussed. Gormley describes Lewis's relationship with J.R.R. Tolkien, who did not like the "Narnia" books, and with other members of his writers' group, the Inklings, who played integral parts in his life. Quotes from the subject, his family, and friends lend a certain intimacy to the presentation. Pictures of Lewis and those close to him also enhance the book. This title continues what Michael Coren touches upon in The Man Who Created Narnia (Eerdmans, 1996), albeit with a stronger emphasis on Lewis's spirituality. Students looking for more than the basic biography will certainly find it here.Carol Fazioli, Cardinal Hayes Library, Manhattan College, NY

Book Details

Published
June 1, 1997
Publisher
Grand Rapids, Mich. : Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 1998.
Pages
182
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780802851215

More by Beatrice Gormley

Similar books