C. S. Lewis Analysis

Few authors appeal to me as C. S. Lewis does. His writings, which combine a depth of understanding and creativity, I find to be wholly compelling. Having not studied Lewis, I do not know much about his life. Thus, I could not let pass the opportunity to attend a class on the life and literature of C. S. Lewis. Already, in this first week of class, I have learned some rather interesting things about this intriguing author.

First, I never really thought about C. S. Lewis as an atheist or how deeply he held his atheistic beliefs. I have, it seems, always considered him a Christian since I know him only through his Christian writings. His atheism, I discovered, though deep and profound, did not satisfy him. It was through literature that this dissatisfaction

These characteristics, however, were not always apparent in Lewis’s life. They developed over time and coalesced within a fertile environment. As a boy, Lewis developed a rich imagination (McGrath, 2013, pp. 14-16). During this time, he also began to experience a delight in and an intense desire for the transcendent. Though he did not understand these experiences at that time, they became the foundation of what Lewis would later call “Joy” (McGrath, 2013, pp. 18-20). As he grew older, Lewis seems to have let go of his imaginative side in favor of reason. The death of his mother, the rejection of his father, and the negative experiences at boarding schools all seem to have played a role in Lewis’s rejection of not only his imagination, but his longing for “joy” as well. It hurt too deeply to hang on to the possibility of something transcendent, which seemed so unrealistic considering the harsh realities of life. As a teenager, Lewis came under the tutelage of William Kirkpatrick, whose staunch rationality, atheism, and Socratic Method profoundly influenced the young Lewis (McGrath, 2013, pp. 37-43). Yet Lewis could not completely let go of his imagination, which was nurtured by Christian writers such as George MacDonald. Lewis would wrestle with this tension between reason, imagination, and longing for many years, unable to reconcile them within