C.S. Lewis: A Biography of Friendship

by Colin Duriez

An Oxford student of C.S. Lewis's said he found his new tutor interesting, and was told by J.R.R. Tolkien, 'Interesting? Yes, he's certainly that. You'll never get to the bottom of him.'
You can learn a great deal about people by their friends and nowhere is this more true than in the case of C.S. Lewis, the remarkable academic, author, populariser of faith - and creator of Narnia. He lost his mother early in life, and became estranged from his father, much to his regret. Throughout his life, key relationships mattered deeply to him, from his early days in the north of Ireland and his schooldays in England, as still a teenager in the trenches of World War One, and then later in Oxford. The friendships he cultivated throughout his life proved to be vital, influencing his thoughts, his beliefs and his writings.
What did Arthur Greeves, a life-long friend from his adolescence, bring to him? How did J.R.R. Tolkien, and the other members of the now famous Inklings, shape him? Why, in his early twenties, did he move in with a single mother twice his age, Janie Moore, and live with her for so many years until her death? And why did he choose to marry so late? What of the relationship with his alcoholic and gifted brother, who eventually joined his unusual household? In this sparkling new biography, which draws on material not previously published, Colin Duriez brings C.S. Lewis and his friendships to life.

Genres: Biography, Audiobook, Nonfiction, Friendship, History, Christian Non Fiction, Christian

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 22, 2013

About the author

Colin Duriez is an English writer and scholar best known for his work on the Inklings, the literary circle that included C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Owen Barfield, and Charles Williams. Born in Derbyshire in 1947, he moved to Leicester in 1983 to work as a commissioning editor for the publisher IVP. Over the years he has combined editorial work with teaching, and in 2002 he established his own business, InWriting, in Keswick, Cumbria, providing writing and editorial services as well as book acquisition for publishers.
Winner of the Clyde S. Kilby Award in 1994 for his research on the Inklings, Duriez has been praised as one of the most valuable contemporary scholars on Lewis. His numerous books explore the lives, friendships, and imaginative worlds of Lewis and Tolkien, including Bedeviled: Lewis, Tolkien, and the Shadow of Evil, The Oxford Inklings, and Tolkien and C. S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship. His work has been lauded for accessibility, scholarly insight, and fresh perspectives.
Duriez has also appeared in television documentaries such as A Quest for Meaning – Myth, Imagination & Faith in the Literature of J. R. R. Tolkien & C. S. Lewis. He lives in Wallingford, Oxfordshire.

Reviews

[BrokenTune · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, I am really torn about this biography.

I originally picked this up because a) I was looking for a better biography of Lewis than the last one I read ... I don't remember the author but it was dreadful; and b) I was trying to find out whether Duriez' style of writing biography works for me.
He seems to have written extensively on Lewis, Tolkien, and the Inklings, but he also seems to have a biography of Dorothy L. Sayers forthcoming. It is scheduled for publication in October and I was intrigued because I hope that he will use his Lewis/Tolkien/Inklings background to answer some of my questions about Sayers' interaction with the group and its members.

The C.S. Lewis biography turned out to be surprisingly good in that Duriez seemed to include a lot of quotes from letters - especially, from correspondence between "Jack", his brother Warnie, and their father. This was fantastic and provided exactly what I was looking for in terms an insight into what they were like in relation to each other.

Another aspect I really liked, was that he tried to present facts and not justify Lewis as some other biographers I have read. If I read a biography, it helps if the author is enthusiastic about his subject, but it is a deterrent if the biographer turns out to be a "fan-boy" or "fan-girl".
Duriez clearly is enthralled with the Inklings, having written about them several times, but I believe he managed to keep that distance that is required between the biographer and his subject to write a credible biography.

For the most part, Duriez also refrained from giving meaning or interpreting events in Lewis' life against his later work and faith. This is something I very much appreciate. However, there were instances where he did so and I found them jarring, even if there were only a few of them.

Where I felt the book was lacking, was the way that Duriez mentioned some of Lewis' theories, but didn't go into any explanations. So, it felt like some parts of the book were really superficial. Of course, the book was not supposed to be an analysis of Lewis entire work but if concepts are important enough to mention them in this biography, then I expect to be given an explanation so I can understand why and how they are important with respect to the biography.

I felt this was missing a lot.

I also did not appreciate that with respect to Lewis' relationship with his wife, Duriez mentioned that she was a huge influence on his writing, but then withheld any examples or evidence to substantiate this comment. In fact, he the chapter on Joy really short and to my amazement merely referred the reader to William Nicholson's play Shadowlands.
I'm a big fan of the play. I'm a big fan of the film which is also based on Nicholson's play. However, including a brief quote by Debra Winger - taken from an "endorsement" on the back cover of Don W. King's Out of my Bone: The Letters of Joy Davidman - describing Joy as "keen spirit, mind, and wit" does not fill me with a lot of confidence about how Duriez handled his research, even if - all credit to him - he added an end note to even mention that the source here was a book jacket endorsement.

Anyway, there are aspects I enjoyed immensely about this biography, and I would recommend it to anyone who has never read a biography of Lewis' before and wants to start somewhere.

However, I would also advise caution: This book merely scratches the surface of Lewis' life and what it does contain about his work is negligible.

[Skrivena stranica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite good. I like how all of it is connected. But the thing is... I don't really like biographies. I am not attracted to the "after the real events" label. I enjoy the story. If I become well known writer one day, I hope people will know more about my work then my life. With same sentiment, I care little about biographies. Lewis is my favourite writer but I feel like his biography didn't bring me much insight into his mind. His writing is way better and way more interesting and I feel like I understood him way better that way.
Still, really nice biography, the rating is based solely on my distaste of the genre as a whole.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slightly above-average Lewis biography, with small emphasis on his friendships. Duriez generally knows what he's doing, and there's some deep research here, with plenty of references to letters and diary entries.

But I can't help wondering what's the purpose of this biography. If you want a Lewis bio, there are plenty of other deeper bios out there. If you want a book on Lewis's friendships, then you'd read a book on the Inklings. (There's really not a whole lot here on Lewis's friendships with people outside the Inklings, such as Arthur Greeves, Paddy Moore, George Sayer, or Walter Hooper.) The literary analysis is lopsided, with plenty of time given to details in works like Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Out of the Silent Planet, but little-to-no mention of works like A Grief Observed or Reflections on the Psalms or his various essays. There's almost no analysis of the legacy and influence Lewis left behind after his death. After Lewis's death is described, the book abruptly ends.

Duriez engages with some other Lewis scholars, for example A. N. Wilson's C.S. Lewis: A Biography. He also mentions A Morning After War: C. S. Lewis and WWI.

Apparently some material was pulled from Duriez's Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship to be used here.

Look at my C. S. Lewis shelf here on Goodreads, if you want to find other works that could be a better intro point for studies on Lewis.

See also from Duriez:
--The Oxford Inklings: Lewis, Tolkien and their circle
--J. R. R. Tolkien: The Making of a Legend
--The C.S. Lewis Chronicles: The Indispensable Biography of the Creator of Narnia Full of Little-Known Facts, Events and Miscellany
--Dorothy L. Sayers: A Biography: Death, Dante and Lord Peter Wimsey
--The A-Z of C. S. Lewis: A Complete Guide to His Life, Thoughts and Writings

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really debated on giving this three or four stars. It started out like a high school research paper- informative but not much heart behind it- but after the first two chapters or so the writing style improved as it got more detailed into the life and works of C. S. Lewis and how the Inklings were such an impact on his life. I quite enjoyed it all by the end. Overall a good read!

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was there any chance I WOULDN'T love this book? No. It's always a delightful experience to read about the life of C.S. Lewis and the friends and books he loved. In that vein, this book provided me with many titles of other things to read and I ALWAYS appreciate that in a book! The only question I have is whether my sister has made a grave error in lending me this one. Will she ever see it again? ;)

[Annie Booker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book. Describes the details of his close friendships with people like JRR Tolkien, Charles Williams and Owen Barfield and probably his most important relationships - with his brother Warnie and his wife, joy Davidman.

[Dayna Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful biography of Jack Lewis, by the imminently readable Duriez. Anything by Duriez is well worth the read. His work is always well-researched and easy to read for academics and non-academics alike. A Reader's Corner Highly Recommended Read.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been a Lewis fan since I was a teenager, and while I've picked up information about his life over the past 15 years, this is the first biography of him I've ever read. It was very interesting and seemed a good place to start before I read a more thorough biography. Not very long, so it never really had a chance to drag or get dull. C.S. Lewis really was a fascinating person!

Looking forward to reading more of this biographer's books.

[eleanor · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was useful to the diss, but i just don’t think it was the best written memoir on c.s. lewis if felt draggy at points and didn’t have any heart to it but yes

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Duriez was the gentleman who gave us a kind and informational tour at The Kilns outside of Oxford on 3 March, 2020.

His scholarship is impeccable and his words generous and articulate. I very much enjoyed this biography in light of Lewis’ friendships and learned much that I didn’t know before (though that is probably due to my ignorance and lack of study).

From Colin I learned— through both the tour and this text— that there is much in this world that is un-Googleable and there is also much to be said for studying source materials, whether that entails a visit to Ireland or to Warnie’s manuscripts at Wheaton’s library. I also learned that my impression of Lewis is through the eyes of Colin—what touched him in particular, or where the intersections of his interests and Lewis’ life met. I found this is something to be cherished and noticed across the many topics I find myself absorbing secondhand. It also was enough to encourage and challenge me to discern the topics I am interested in pursuing and absorbing firsthand in the years and days to come.

[Carol Bakker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do we really need another biography on C.S. Lewis? I read it, didn't I? :: grin :: There will always be a different lens or angle to look at this astonishing literary giant. So bring it on!

Having read several biographies as well as Lewis's own memoirs I didn't expect to learn something new. But I did! In our household we call these TBOIs (Tasty Bits of Information).

CSL (died 11-22-1963) anonymously wrote J.R.R. Tolkien's obituary (died 9-2-1973).
[This is a thing for famous people. Newspapers have obituaries filed in advance so they can print the obit immediately when that person passes.]

Quoting Duriez:
Indeed, it may not have been until Lewis was gathering information for his anonymous obituary of his friend for The Times very many years later that he got to know him more in the usual sense. In fact, his description of his friend's life in that obituary is one of the best brief biographies in existence, the other being Tom Shippey's entry on Tolkien in the Dictionary of National Biography.

You know I looked it up. Here is the link.

...indeed Tolkien used to describe himself as "one of the idlest boys Gilson (the Headmaster) ever had". But "idleness" in his case meant private and unaided studies in Gothic, Anglo-Saxon and Welsh, and the first attempt at inventing a language - of which more hereafter.

[Michal Čop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Keďže kniha v podstate splnila to, čo mala- viac mi priblížila život C.S. Lewisa- môžem skonštatovať, že som s ňou spokojný. Na druhej strane, viem si predstaviť aj lepší životopis, i keď sa nedá povedať, že by bol tento zlý.
Problémom bolo, že miestami kniha nebola veľmi čítavá. A to z toho dôvodu, že niektorým veciam sa autor venoval až príliš dopodrobna (ako napr. hľadaniu presného dátumu, kedy sa Lewis obrátil) a niekedy mi pripadala až príliš akademicky úzkostlivá, čo znižovalo čitateľský zážitok.
Knihe by určite viac prospelo, keby sa autor viac venoval tým najzaujímavejším veciam z Lewisovho života, ako napr. prečo sa Inklings prestali baviť o svojich dielach, ako Lewis došiel od civilnému sobášu s Joy k cirkevnému, Warnieho alkoholizmu, Lewisovou smrťou a tým, čo bolo po nej, a pod.

[Adriana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting biography about the life of one of the most important writers in the world, the creator of Narnia and many other books. The book focuses on his life, the relationships he had. It talks about an aspect of magic, Christianity and science in his life. The book is about how he grew up surrounded by books and magic, how he developed in education and literature, and how he was influenced by friends like Tolkien and his brother.

[Sonia Balcer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is well organized and researched, and fantastically engaging — intimate without being sentimental, warm-hearted without glossing over difficult aspects of C.S. Lewis’ life. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this skillful and meticulous biography.

[Jon Beadle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A complete delight to read. It really challenged me to deepen my own friendships.

[Jason Roland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding biography of CS Lewis. I've read many books by and about Lewis but this one probably had the most info I hadn't heard before. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Hermien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative.

[Karen Swango Sluder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read lots of books by and on CS Lewis but this has been my favorite biography of his life.

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent, respectful portrayal of Lewis and his life.

[Pam · Rating 2 out of 5]

A narration that was too flat that couldn’t draw me in. Perhaps reading this would have been better?

[Peter Holford · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Properly lived out, he gradually discovered, friendship could open one's eyes to previously unseen aspects of reality, whether this be the world of nature, realms of the imagination, or the hard-won reaches of human thought.' (p.84)

I have long been interested in the life and writings of CS Lewis but I particularly enjoyed this biography. It is recent (being published just last year) and I was also interested to read it having met the author once when I was working with IVP in Leicester. But I liked this biography because of the angle taken: 'a biography of friendship', looking at the key relationships in his life and going far beyond his most famous friendships (such as JRR Tolkien, Joy Davidman and his brother Warnie). For example, 'The first lifelong friend I made at Oxford was A. K. Hamilton Jenkin ...' Indeed, we are told, Lewis had 'a great talent for friendship' and 'he saw the making of friends to be character-building ...' Read the biography yourself, to find out more.

Other aspects of Lewis' life that stood out to me include the comments on lecturing and on reading. I always knew that CS Lewis was a wonderful lecturer, drawing an audience far exceeding the students enrolled in his courses. What I didn't realise was that he decided right from the start of his teaching career, that he would not read from notes written out in full, but would 'talk rather than recite' realising that 'lectures that were read simply sent his students to sleep'. His notes were generally a series of complex headings with the only parts written out in full his frequent quotations from the texts being taught.

I also knew that reading featured large in his childhood, but here we learn that some considered him 'the best read man of his generation'. 'From his childhood onwards, Lewis read voraciously and eclectically. Later in his career, he typically defended the value of 'low brow' reading ... in the face of literary elitism.' (p111). I like him more and more.

So, overall, 5 stars, Colin Duriez - a very much appreciated addition to the canon on Lewis.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A Biography of Friendship" concerns itself primarily with the various friendships of C.S. Lewis and the effects those friendships had on his thought and work. Those interested in Lewis's friends - Tolkien, Barfield, Williams, etc. would find much to enjoy as well. I also found interest in the minor details of life in the early to mid 20th century.

The work moves quickly with episodes and antidotes pulled from the letters and diaries of those involved. The book does an excellent job of connecting people, events and books to the eventual work and thought of Lewis. Nothing is explored in epic biographical detail yet the book gives many insights that only the most well-read would have made on their own. You may best view the book as a tour through the vast personal papers of Lewis and his friends with an expert guide weaving it all into a narrative while pointing out the connections the layman would miss.

The book is enjoyable and a quick read. The style is relaxed. A few sections could use light editing. As an example, a quote from Tolkien is given twice but not in a manner which leads the reader to believe they were meant to recall the first. A few transitions are abrupt. Again, all small things only of note to those on the lookout for them.

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honest & True
This is a well written book that reads like a great conversation. The extent with which the author shares the true story of Lewis’s life is amazing. It wasn’t written from the point of adoration that makes the reader question the honesty instead it is written with fresh insight into a wonderful friendship. As a fan of C S Lewis I was hoping for an enjoyable read – but Mr. Duriez delivered much more than expected. Enjoy! NetGalley and Lion Hudson Plc provided an advanced review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Madison · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a little slow at times like many biographies. I enjoyed it though. C.S. Lewis was a very talented and intellectual man that I look up to. I have read almost everything he has written. I enjoyed getting to know the man behind the brilliance. He was a fascinating man with characteristics I would not of guessed before reading this book. If you want to learn more about C.S. Lewis I would recommend reading this book.

[Graham Heslop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Duriez has provided readers with an invaluable primer on C. S. Lewis. He avoids being overly concerned with details and problematic dating and instead offers us a clear window in the great man. For a relatively short biography, comparing it to both Alistair Mcgrath's and the Zaleskis', Duriez captures Lewis in each of the major periods in his life; and tied to each, we are shown Lewis' developing thought, convictions, and relationships, alongside his almost immutable character and brilliance

[Michael D'Offay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much I learnt from this.
I was challenged by the life that Lewis modeled: his friendships were integral to his growth as a Christian and a person. The person I want to be will be determined by the kind of friendships I keep.
Lewis benefited from friendships to help sharpen his mind and explore ideas.

[Paul Chiswick · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting take on C S Lewis from the perspective of his closest friends and family. Not being a Lewis afficionado, I never realised he had written so many books, my knowledge going no further than The Chronicles of Narnia. This book gives a deep insight into Lewis' character, his religious beliefs, and his life as a don at Oxford and, later, professor at Cambridge. An enlightening read.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good biography, emphasising his friendships with Barfield, Tolkein and his wife, Joy Davidman.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

The interactions of Jack and the Inklings, Jack and his brother Warnie, Jack & Joy -- such a practical biography!

[Bill Brinkley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was easy to read. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand the Man, C.S. Lewis.