History Creator / CSLewis

* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''. In terms of InUniverse chronology, they were published in AnachronicOrder. Later editions correct the SequelNumberSnarl by numbering them chronologically, but many readers maintain that reading them in publication order is more rewarding because the prequel contains [[CallForward references that only make sense if you've read the other books first]]. As for Lewis himself, the man didn't care that much about reading order.

* EvilIsCool: [[invoked]] AvertedTrope. '''Hard'''! Lewis's works do a good deal to deconstruct this line of thinking, most prominently in ''Literature/TheScrewtapeLetters'' .

* PhilosophicalParable

* PerspectiveFlip: ''Till We Have Faces'' is the myth of Myth/CupidAndPsyche as told by Psyche's sister, the one who persuaded Psyche to disobey Cupid.

* PerspectiveFlip: ''Till We Have Faces'' is the myth of Cupid and Psyche as told by Psyche's sister, the one who persuaded Psyche to disobey Cupid.

** Much of Lewis's fiction (''Literature/TheScrewtapeLetters'', ''Literature/TheGreatDivorce'', five of the seven [[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia Narnia]] books, and the second book in Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy, specifically) takes place during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. It's usually not dealt with extensively, but you can catch plenty of references to the Blitz and the subsequent air raids, blackouts, etc. all the same: for instance, in ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe, the Pevensies are fostered with Digory Kirke at his house in the countryside to keep them away from the Blitz. This is understandable, as Lewis lived in England and did much of his writing during the '30s and '40s.

* AuthorAvatar: Strange case in that it's the avatar of another author. The old man who owns the warderobe (aka. an old Digory Kirke) is supposedly inspired by Lewis' best friend John (you may know him better as Tolkien).

Lewis was born and raised in [[UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland Ulster]]. [[MissingMom His mother died]] when he was young. He was educated in a series of English {{Boarding School}}s, the first of which was run by a SadistTeacher. He fought in [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI the Great War]]. He was a member of UsefulNotes/TheInklings and a friend of Creator/CharlesWilliams and Creator/JRRTolkien, whose influence partially led him to rediscover Christianity (though Lewis being an Anglican and Tolkien a Roman Catholic led to some friction). He published an autobiography of his early life and conversion titled ''Surprised by Joy'', which was edited by his friend, the American writer Joy Davidman. After he [[CitizenshipMarriage married her so she could remain in the UK]], they [[MarriageBeforeRomance fell desperately in love]] and had an Anglican ceremony after Joy was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer. She died four years later, leaving Lewis so heartbroken that he ended up writing ''A Grief Observed'' to work through his struggle with his faith. Lewis himself died on the same day as [[Literature/BraveNewWorld Aldous Huxley]] and UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy; this led to his passing being almost unpublicized.

!!Non-fiction with their own pages

* Literature/TheDiscardedImage
* Literature/TheFourLoves

Lewis was born and raised in [[UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland Ulster]]. [[MissingMom His mother died]] when he was young. He was educated in a series of English {{Boarding School}}s, the first of which was run by a SadistTeacher. He fought in [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI the Great War]]. He was a member of UsefulNotes/TheInklings and a friend of Creator/CharlesWilliams and Creator/JRRTolkien, whose influence partially led him to rediscover Christianity (though Lewis being an Anglican and Tolkien a Roman Catholic led to some friction). He published an autobiography of his early life and conversion titled ''Surprised by Joy''. Afterwards, he met Joy Gresham and [[CitizenshipMarriage married her so she could remain in the UK]]. Then, they [[MarriageBeforeRomance fell in love]] and had an Anglican ceremony after Joy was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer. She died four years later, leaving Lewis so heartbroken that he ended up writing ''A Grief Observed''. Lewis himself died on the same day as [[Literature/BraveNewWorld Aldous Huxley]] and UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy; this led to his passing being almost unpublicized.

Lewis was born and raised in [[UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland Ulster]]. [[MissingMom His mother died]] when he was young. He was educated in a series of English {{Boarding School}}s, the first of which was run by a SadistTeacher. He fought in [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI the Great War]]. He was a member of UsefulNotes/TheInklings and a friend of Creator/CharlesWilliams and Creator/JRRTolkien, whose influence partially led him to rediscover Christianity (though Lewis being an Anglican and Tolkien a Roman Catholic led to some friction). He published an autobiography of his early life and conversion titled ''Surprised by Joy''. Afterwards, he met Joy Gresham and [[CitizenshipMarriage married her so she could remain in the UK]]. Then, they [[MarriageBeforeRomance fell in love]] and had an Anglican ceremony after Joy was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer. She died four years later. Lewis himself died on the same day as [[Literature/BraveNewWorld Aldous Huxley]] and UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy; this led to his passing being almost unpublicized.

Lewis and Gresham's romance was dramatized in the teleplay and its subsequent stage and film adaptations ''{{Film/Shadowlands}}'', with Joss Ackland, Creator/NigelHawthorne and Creator/AnthonyHopkins taking the role of Lewis in the television, stage, and film versions. Also, a {{biopic}} called ''Tolkien & Lewis'' portraying the two authors' friendship is reportedly in development.

* AuthorAppeal: He was apparently fond of [[DoesNotLikeShoes characters who go barefoot]], due to [[BarefootSage religious and mystical]] [[MagicalBarefooter symbolism]] behind it, and probably also [[BarefootLoon free-spiritedness and nonconformism]]. The number of barefooters is especially high in ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' (the Narnia wiki even has [[https://narnia.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Characters_who_go_barefoot a specific category for them]]): Lucy Pevensie (her brothers and sister also like to do it sometimes), Coriakin and Ramandu from ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'', Ramandu's daughter and Queen Jadis (at least in the illustrations), Shasta and the Hermit of the Southern March from ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy'' (though with Shasta, it's just BarefootPoverty), and Puddleglum from ''Literature/TheSilverChair''. Merlin from ''[[Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy That Hideous Strength]]'' is also barefooted.

* ''Boxen: the Imaginary World of the Young C. S. Lewis'' (1985): Stories about talking animals which Lewis and his brother wrote from childhood through their teen years, [[OldShame which he never considered publishing during his life]].[[invoked]]

* HilariousInHindsight: It wasn't until after Lewis published his autobiography ''Surprised By Joy'' that he wound up quite unexpectedly finding romance late in life and getting married... to a woman named Joy.

Lewis and Gresham's romance was dramatized in the teleplay and it's subsequent stage and film adaptations ''{{Film/Shadowlands}}'', with Joss Ackland, Creator/NigelHawthorne and Creator/AnthonyHopkins taking the role of Lewis in the television, stage, and film versions. Also, a {{biopic}} called ''Tolkien & Lewis'' portraying the two authors' friendship is reportedly in development.

* EnlightenedAntagonist: His generally tend to depict God with a shade of this, even those in which God and the protagonists are on the same side (such as ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''). The reason for this is that, in Lewis' view, the humans' fallen nature makes them inherently antagonistic to God, and to overcome that antagonism, humans must return to their primordial sinless state.

Lewis was born and raised in [[UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland Ulster]]. [[MissingMom His mother died]] when he was young. He was educated in a series of English {{Boarding School}}s, the first of which was run by a SadistTeacher. He fought in [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI the Great War]]. He was a member of UsefulNotes/TheInklings and a friend of Creator/CharlesWilliams and Creator/JRRTolkien, whose influence partially led him to rediscover Christianity (though Lewis being an Anglican and Tolkien a Roman Catholic led to some friction). He published an autobiography of his early life and conversion titled ''Surprised by Joy''. Afterwards, he met Joy Gresham and [[CitizenshipMarriage married her so she could remain in the UK]]. Then, they [[MarriageBeforeRomance fell in love]] and had an Anglican ceremony after Joy was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer. She died four years later. Lewis himself died on the same day (November 22, 1963) as [[Literature/BraveNewWorld Aldous Huxley]] and UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy; this led to his passing being almost unpublicized.

* BlasphemousPraise: {{Deconstructed}}. One of the letters collected in ''Letters to Children'' is to a young Christian reader of ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'' who was concerned that he loved Aslan more than UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}. Lewis wrote back to reassure him that this did not count as idolatry because Aslan is a MessianicArchetype, so loving what Aslan does amounts to the same thing as loving what Jesus did.

* GoodIsNotNice: Lewis' views on God - a being of absolute goodness - verged on CosmicHorrorStory, a theme that shows up in works from ''Narnia'' to ''The Great Divorce''. The fact that God is always good and right means that we are ''screwed'' when He comes to judge us, if not for Jesus' intervention.

* AuthorUsurpation: Fans of Christian literature might know about Lewis's other works, but they're not nearly as prominent in pop culture as ''Narnia''.

* JesusWasCrazy: Famously, ''Mere Christianity'' popularized the so-called "trilemma" argument in favor of the deity of UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}: if Jesus wasn't {{God}}, then it's fallacious to say He was "[[JesusWasWayCool a great moral teacher]]," since an actual great moral teacher would be humble rather than [[AGodAmI claiming to be God]] as Jesus did. So either Jesus was GodInHumanForm, Jesus was [[ThatLiarLies a liar]], or Jesus Was Crazy. [[note]]Assuming the usual [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} Christian view]] of Literature/TheBible, of course. Let's remember the Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment. And in fact, in the next chapter of that book, he considers other possibilities outside the "trilemma"—such as the possibility that Jesus' words were not recorded accurately.[[/note]]

* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''. In terms of InUniverse chronology, they were published OutOfOrder. Later editions correct the SequelNumberSnarl by numbering them chronologically, but many readers maintain that reading them in publication order is more rewarding because the prequel contains [[CallForward references that only make sense if you've read the other books first]]. As for Lewis himself, the man didn't care that much about reading order.

* {{Deconstruction}}[=/=]RealityEnsues: In 1955, a psychologist (to whom the idea of female astronauts had not occurred) suggested that Mars astronauts might need ladies of the evening to keep them sexually satisfied. In his short story "Ministering Angels," Lewis (taking [[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+26%3A5&version=NIV Proverbs 26:5]] to heart) shows how the implementation would fail; the only women who volunteered were a fashionable psychologist who bought this (and would talk the hind leg off a donkey) and a washed-up tart who has lost all her charms with age. Furthermore, the men on Mars are not nearly as horny as supposed (and Paterson is AmbiguouslyGay), the professor-whore is unlikeable, and the crew of the ship that brought the two are fed up with them.

* EpilepticTrees: Due in part to the unusual circumstances of his conversion, there's a conspiracy theory held by some militant atheists that Pr. Lewis was never actually an atheist, and that that entire stage of his life was a hoax.

* EpilepticTrees: Due in part to the unusual circumstances of his conversion, there's a conspiracy theory held by many militant atheists that Pr. Lewis was never actually an atheist, and that that entire stage of his life was a hoax.