C.S. Lewis Biographies

[slideyfoot]

Out of interest, which is your 'favourite' (if thats the right word in this case) biography of Lewis, and why? The more I read about Lewis, the more his posthumous reputation and critical treatment reminds me of Sylvia Plath; a mythologised figure steadily brought to often contradictory hagiographical positions by enthusiasts. In such cases, it can be of greater illumination to read critical reactions to biographies rather than the actual biographies themselves; with Lewis, there are quite clearly a variety of different camps, particularly amongst those who idolise the man.

Hence I'm intrigued as to what the 'best' biography is from the perspective of this particular forum. It would also be nice to find a truly objective biography of Lewis (i.e., not written by an author with an explicitly Christian agenda or alternately, someone looking to knock down the icon), but I'm increasingly doubtful one exists. No doubt its only going to get worse as the films pile up.

[PrinceOfTheWest]

One I found helpful is The Inklings by Humphrey Carpenter, though one must read it with a grain of salt. This review (http://www.greenmanreview.com/inklings.html) found it even-handed, but I detected a slight tone of conflict-seeking, if you know what I mean - it seemed at times that Carpenter was looking to exaggurate conflicts and tensions between the men, when such things could have easily been explained by the normal unfolding of human relationships. But that is but a small part of the work, and it is by and large excellent.

Another good one, recently published, is C.S. Lewis and the Catholic Church, but Joseph Pearce. Pearce is a superb biographer who has done works on Chesterton, Tolkien, and Oscar Wilde. Despite the name (Lewis was Anglican), the book is a thorough and fair analysis of Lewis' life and thought. Pearce, an Englishman and a Catholic, is an admirer of Lewis, but not so much to ignore his flaws. His thorough understanding of Tolkien also helps him bring some of the perspective that Carpenter does. I've read several biographies of Lewis (including his own Surprised by Joy), and Pearce's is the one I think I learned most from.

[Charn_Tim]

Well I don't know if anyone is still reading this thread, but I just read through C.S. Lewis' autobiography, Surprised by Joy in the last couple of days and I found it extremely illuminating. Obviously, it isn't a biography, but it does give as accurate an account as possible of his life from early childhood up to his hiring as a fellow of Oxford. The book is mostly about his early life and his "search for joy" where he defines joy in a technical sense, distinct from pleasure or happiness. (I would give his precise definition of joy that he uses in the book, but I don't have the book in front of me, and I don't want to say something inaccurate; roughly, it is the deep desire you feel when you see the prettiest sunset, or when you finish an amazingly good book and you feel like you know all the characters and author, or when you really connect with another person who shares the same beliefs as you, etc. He likens it to what the Romantics were always aiming for-the "transcendent" experience. He really has some extremely interesting things to say about "joy" in his sense of the word, whether you're a Christian or not).

In the last part of the book, he discusses the philosophical and logical arguments and beliefs that lead to his conversion from atheism to philosophical idealism (i.e. belief in a Hegelian "Spirit" or "Mind") then to theism and finally to Orthodox Christianity. The story that he gives, as a "search for joy" is extremely fascinating, and although I haven't read any biographies of Lewis, I would recommend checking this out first.