His Life
Nov. 29, 1898 Born in Belfast, Ireland
1901 Queen Victoria dies
1908 Mother Flora dies of cancer
1911 Ceases to be a Christian while studying at Cherboug House, a preparatory school for Malvern College
1912 The Titanic sinks
1914-1918 World War I
1914-1917 Studies with W. T. Kirkpatrick (“the Great Knock”); during this time he reads George MacDonald’s Phantastes, which “baptizes” his imagination
1917 Begins studies at University College, Oxford; meets Paddy Moore and his mother Mrs. Janie Moore; joins army and is sent to France
1918 Wounded in action and hospitalized in London; Paddy Moore is killed in battle
1919 Returns to University College, Oxford
1924 Begins tutorial work at University College
1925 Elected Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford
1925 G. K. Chesterton publishes The Everlasting Man
1926 Meets J. R. R. Tolkien.
1929 Confesses on his knees in his Magdalen rooms that “God is God”; father Albert dies in Belfast
1930 Lewis and Moores move into The Kilns
1931 Accepts truth of Christianity while riding to Whipsnade Zoo
1932 Warren Lewis retires from the army and moves into The Kilns
1933 Circle of friends called “the Inklings” forms
1936 Meets Charles Williams
1939 First evacuated children arrive at The Kilns
1939-1945 World War II
1940-41 Gives lectures on Christianity for the Royal Air Force
1941 Preaches famous sermon “The Weight of Glory” at the church of St. Mary’s in Oxford
1941-1944 Gives 25 talks on BBC radio; these talks will eventually become Mere Christianity
1942 First meeting of the Oxford Socratic Club
1945 United Nations founded
1945 Charles Williams dies
1946 Awarded honorary Doctor of Divinity by University of St. Andrews
1947 Featured on the cover of Time magazine
1949 George Orwell publishes 1984
1950 Receives first letter from Joy Davidman Gresham
1951 Mrs. Moore dies
1952 Meets Joy Davidman during her trip to London
1953 Joy moves to England with her sons David and Douglas
1954 J. R. R. Tolkien publishes The Lord of the Rings
1954 Accepts Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University
1956 Marries Joy in a legal ceremony
1957 U.S.S.R. launches “Sputnik” into orbit
1957 Ecclesiastical marriage at Joy’s hospital bed; Joy’s cancer goes into remission
1960 Joy dies
Nov. 22, 1963 Dies at The Kilns and is buried in the parish churchyard
Nov. 22, 1963 John F. Kennedy is assassinated
1973 Death of brother Warren Lewis
His Works
1919 Spirits in Bondage: A Circle of Lyrics [under pseudonym Clive Hamilton]
1926 Dymer [under pseudonym Clive Hamilton]
1933 The Pilgrim’s Regress: An Allegorical Apology for Christianity, Reason and Romanticism
1936 The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition
1938 Out of the Silent Planet
1939 Rehabilitations and Other Essays
1939 The Personal Heresy: A Controversy [with E. M. W. Tillyard]
1940 The Problem of Pain
1942 The Screwtape Letters
1942 A Preface to ‘Paradise Lost’
1943 Perelandra
1943 The Abolition of Man
1945 That Hideous Strength
1946 The Great Divorce
1947 Miracles
1948 Arthurian Torso [poems by Charles Williams with commentary by C. S. Lewis]
1949 Transposition and Other Addresses
1950 The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
1951 Prince Caspian
1952 Mere Christianity, combining Broadcast Talks (1942), Christian Behaviour (1943), and Beyond Personality (1944)
1952 The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
1953 The Silver Chair
1954 The Horse and His Boy
1954 English Literature in the Sixteenth Century Excluding Drama
1955 The Magician’s Nephew
1955 Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life
1956 The Last Battle
1956 Till We Have Faces
1958 Reflections on the Psalms
1960 The Four Loves
1960 Studies in Words
1960 The World’s Last Night and Other Essays
1961 A Grief Observed [under pseudonym N. W. Clerk]
1961 An Experiment in Criticism
1962 They Asked for a Paper: Papers and Addresses
1964 Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer
1964 The Discarded Image
Posthumous collections includePoems (1964), Letters of C. S. Lewis, ed. W. H. Lewis (1966), Of Other Worlds (1966), Christian Reflections (1967), God in the Dock (1970), Fern-Seed and Elephants (1975), The Dark Tower and Other Stories (1977)
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