C.S. Lewis

Clive Staples Lewis was born on 29th November 1898 in the Strandtown area of East Belfast. The untimely death of his mother, Flora, in 1908 to cancer, was to change the course of his childhood. 

Jack, as he was affectionately known to friends, and his older brother Warren were sent to Wynyard School in England as their father, Albert, struggled to cope with the loss of his wife. Despite a brief spell at Campbell College in Belfast in 1910, Jack remained in England returning home only on school holidays to see his father and extended family. 

Despite a Christian upbringing in the St. Mark’s Church of Ireland in Dundela, it is well known that Lewis became an atheist at the age of 15. He served in the military during World War I but when wounded, returned to England and studied English and philosophy at Oxford. Lewis slowly re-embraced Christianity, influenced by arguments with his Oxford colleague and friend J. R. R. Tolkien, and he converted to Christ in 1931.

Lewis became a fellow and Tutor in English literature at Oxford University until 1954, when he was elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement due to ill health in August 1963. 

Despite the fact Lewis spent most of his life in England, his time in Northern Ireland was nonetheless influential. The landscapes of Counties Down and Antrim in particular are said to have been the main inspiration for Lewis’s best known novels, based on a land called Narnia. 

Living as I do so close to the Mourne Mountains, I can sense how Lewis imagined and had this vision of a place far away where it was “always winter”. When any snow falls, it becomes even more obvious with the forest and mountain tops creating the most white wonderland.

Published between 1950 and 1956, these have become childhood classics revered by adults who now read them to their children as well. Three of the seven Chronicles of Narnia were also made into films, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia distributed by Disney and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader released by 20th Century Fox in 2010. In all three movies, Aslan’s voice is the distinguished tones of Liam Neeson.

Aslan is Turkish for ‘lion’ and Lewis often capitalises the word lion in reference to Aslan since he created him to parallel Jesus.

I’ve chosen to feature Lewis on the blog, because of a quote I came across which featured in his book On stories which I believe tells a lot about his desire to tell stories and create characters to give children courage to face all that life can throw at them:

Since it is so likely that children will meet cruel enemies let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.

I can’t help but wonder was his desire to help other children anything to do with losing his mother at such a young age - he was only 10 when she died and so he faced the pain of separation from a parent. That would have been such a tumultuous experience, enough I’m sure for Lewis to want to help other children face difficulties in life such as he had.

Lewis, who was known as an apologetic Christian, was always trying to promote Christianity and make complex theology into everyday language by the use of story.

One of Aslan’s most famous and noticeable quotes is “Courage, dear heart,” from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (note, you will only find the quote in the book and not the film).  It’s the story of a grand quest, Lucy and the others are on a ship heading into dark, unknown waters.  Everyone is afraid, and they’re getting worried that Aslan has led them in the wrong direction.  

At one point in the midst of all the commotion on the boat, Lucy whispers, “Aslan… if ever you loved us, send help now.”  After she whispers this, Lewis writes: “The darkness did not grow any less, but she began to feel a little … better.” Then Lucy hears a gentle whisper in reply: “Courage, dear heart.”  And even though she cannot see him, she knows that Aslan is near.

Lewis wrote this knowing the words of Psalm 27 in the Bible: 

Wait on the Lord;

Be of good courage,

And He shall strengthen your heart;

Wait, I say, on the Lord! (NKJV)

In addition, Lewis wrote many other books, some which have become ‘Signature Classics’. Lewis was an advocate of the need for courage and in Mere Christianity, Lewis’s legendary radio broadcasts during World War II, wrote this:

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.

Despite his talent with the written word, Lewis was by all means a modest man, another outward expression of his Christian faith. He gave away two-thirds of the money he earned and didn’t live the high celebrity lifestyle that some of his literary contemporaries now enjoy. Maybe post lockdown, I will one day visit the humble home the writer lived in, the Kilns in Oxford.

‘A Grief Observed’ was initially printed under the pseudonym N.W. Clerk as Lewis did not want anyone to know, until his death, as he was describing his emotions and feelings from losing his wife, Joy, whom he had only been married to for four years.

In a recent Pints with Jack podcast, Joy’s son Douglas Gresham recognised the courage his step father Jack had in dealing with the loss and putting pen to paper to express his feelings:

“He was suffering enormously but was very easily persuaded to help other people get through it too - that was the courage of the man.”

C.S. Lewis died on 22nd November 1963 with kidney failure, his death overshadowed by the assassination that day of American President J.F. Kennedy. Through his writings, Lewis’ legacy lives on in his books and the beloved Narnian characters whose courage to face fears continues to inspire generations of young readers.

WHY NOT… visit Kilbroney Park in Rostrevor and you can walk the short Narnia trail and meet the various characters Lewis created in his fantasy books.