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C.S.Lewis : A Biography
C. S. Lewis: A Biography
456 pages, Hardcover
First published June 10, 1974
24 people are currently reading
1140 people want to read
About the author
Roger Lancelyn Green
152 books247 followersRoger (Gilbert) Lancelyn Green was a British biographer and children's writer. He was an Oxford academic who formed part of the Inklings literary discussion group along with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Born in 1918 in Norwich, England, Green studied under C. S. Lewis at Merton College, Oxford, where he obtained a B.Litt. degree. He delivered the 1968 Andrew Lang lecture. Green lived in Cheshire, in a manor which his ancestors owned for over 900 years. He died in October 1987. His son was the writer Richard Lancelyn Green
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
November 13, 2013
Reading this after so long, and with more recent biographies of varying qualities in between, I was unclear what to expect when I was about to begin. Would it be like the joy of meeting a good friend after many years, or would it be a sore disappointment in the light of the more recent research I had read? I was delighted to find the former applied. This was a reunion with a best of friends.
Written by a close friend of Lewis & assisted by that master of the Lewis industry, Walter Hooper, it had all the advantages of a book written from an intimate knowledge of its subject, and including many illustrations and anecdotes from people who also knew Lewis personally. On the whole, the picture given of Lewis is an affectionate, interesting and well described portrait of a friend.
Subsequent biographies of Lewis point to its lack of objectivity & its airbrushing of certain aspects of Lewis’ life & relationships - his relationship with Mrs Moore, his youthful attraction to SM, and the alcoholism of his brother. However, in terms of level of importance in Lewis’ life & work these to me are very small beer when compared with the aspects that this book considers.
I actually sympathized with Green in his comments regarding analysis of Lewis’ relationship with Mrs Moore. He reluctantly enters into a very brief discussion and, not surprisingly, as a friend, takes an innocent view of it. I have to say that it little affects my regard for the quality of man and his work, even if it was in the early days a sexual relationship. Does it really affect any reasoned overall judgement of him? In my view - no.
The alcoholism of Lewis’ brother remains to my mind in the realm of tittle-tattle, except where it reflects on Lewis’ long-suffering & charitable approach to his brother’s problems. I don’t think that by leaving it out we have missed a great deal of any importance other than an interesting snippet of gossip. The attraction to SM that Lewis expresses in his youthful letters to Greeves seems to me to be no more than any adolescent’s experience of sexual fantasies of one kind or another. Lewis’ fantasies may not reflect those of many of us, but even so, in what way are these really relevant to analysis of his adult life or work.
The book provides much interesting source material related to Lewis’ life, is well written. There is some imbalance between the comprehensiveness of the account of his early life, set against the more limited, and occasionally patchy coverage, of the later stages of his life.
All-in-all the book provides a highly enjoyable and rich account of Lewis’ life, work and relationships, and an excellent foundation on which to build further using more recent accounts and material.
Written by a close friend of Lewis & assisted by that master of the Lewis industry, Walter Hooper, it had all the advantages of a book written from an intimate knowledge of its subject, and including many illustrations and anecdotes from people who also knew Lewis personally. On the whole, the picture given of Lewis is an affectionate, interesting and well described portrait of a friend.
Subsequent biographies of Lewis point to its lack of objectivity & its airbrushing of certain aspects of Lewis’ life & relationships - his relationship with Mrs Moore, his youthful attraction to SM, and the alcoholism of his brother. However, in terms of level of importance in Lewis’ life & work these to me are very small beer when compared with the aspects that this book considers.
I actually sympathized with Green in his comments regarding analysis of Lewis’ relationship with Mrs Moore. He reluctantly enters into a very brief discussion and, not surprisingly, as a friend, takes an innocent view of it. I have to say that it little affects my regard for the quality of man and his work, even if it was in the early days a sexual relationship. Does it really affect any reasoned overall judgement of him? In my view - no.
The alcoholism of Lewis’ brother remains to my mind in the realm of tittle-tattle, except where it reflects on Lewis’ long-suffering & charitable approach to his brother’s problems. I don’t think that by leaving it out we have missed a great deal of any importance other than an interesting snippet of gossip. The attraction to SM that Lewis expresses in his youthful letters to Greeves seems to me to be no more than any adolescent’s experience of sexual fantasies of one kind or another. Lewis’ fantasies may not reflect those of many of us, but even so, in what way are these really relevant to analysis of his adult life or work.
The book provides much interesting source material related to Lewis’ life, is well written. There is some imbalance between the comprehensiveness of the account of his early life, set against the more limited, and occasionally patchy coverage, of the later stages of his life.
All-in-all the book provides a highly enjoyable and rich account of Lewis’ life, work and relationships, and an excellent foundation on which to build further using more recent accounts and material.
July 19, 2015
I always know it's coming. I know he's going to die. I know how he's going to die. And, I'm always sad all over again reading about his last, happy days at The Kilns. After reading 6 biographies of his life, I know as much about this man as anyone could probably know these days aside from those who actually knew him personally. I don't know why I love him like I do. I just do. He lived a life I couldn't imagine living. He had a brain I couldn't imagine having. He was a sweet, jolly, brilliant man. I love him. I really do. When I go to heaven, I'm gonna meet this man.
October 10, 2007
This biography made me fall in love with C.S. Lewis. He was such an amazing person.
October 31, 2020
I still remember when I purchased this book from St. Phillips in Oxford, England, and the feeling of great excitement I had when Walter Hooper himself signed it for me. He was a very kind, funny, a great conversationalist, from my native state of North Carolina, and it was absolutely amazing hearing him talk about memories he had of Jack Lewis.
May 15, 2009
An insightful introduction written by former student and lifelong friend, Green and Hooper, Lewis' companion-secretary for the last nine years of his life.
August 10, 2014
An early biography of Lewis, this has the charm of reporting events without layers (and years) of interpretation.
January 21, 2022
I very much enjoyed the biography of C.S. Lewis by his former student and friend Roger Lancelyn Green and late-life personal secretary Walter Hooper (who just died in 2020 of Covid!). For being the very first biography written about Lewis, and by people who surely would want to protect his reputation, I was pleasantly surprised about how open the writers were about Lewis’s relationship with Mrs. Moore. A highlight for me was reading about the development of the Narnia series. I hadn’t realized how involved Roger Lancelyn Green was in the brainstorming and editing process.
October 6, 2023
A very engaging biography lovingly written by friends that does not tip into hagiography. The focus is on Lewis' family life, successful career in academia/literature, and and journey away from Christianity and back as an enthusiast. Comparatively little is about the Narnia series beyond its intellectual development. It definitely comes across that Lewis had a prodigious memory, was among the most well-read persons of his time, and extremely knowledge about Western literature. There is much about the long-running Inklings meetings including Tolkien and other brights.
March 29, 2019
A wonderful biography of one of my favourite writers
March 17, 2019
I liked "Jack" by George Sayer better. Maybe because I read it first. But be sure to read Lewis's own "Surprised by Joy" before either.
September 3, 2024
Absolutely phenomenal biography. I first became interested in C.S. Lewis from reading the Narnia books in Elementary School. Soon thereafter I read the Space Trilogy and then eventually a couple of his religious works, but apart from a few references in books about Tolkien there was so much more about him that is not often mentioned. This book is a fitting testament to a fascinating and creative man.
August 6, 2013
I feel it only fair to preface my review with the fact that I went into reading the book knowing very little about the man or his work, other than the fact that he was a highly regarded novelist, whose work often had underlying Christian messages in the form of allegory. I had not read even one of his books, but simply admired the little I knew about the man and have similar aspirations/life goals for myself. Had I been more familiar with his works, I assume the book would have been at least somewhat more enjoyable.
That being said, the book felt almost as if it contained two parts. The majority of the first half felt like a mere collection of facts organized chronologically and presented as such, with very little in the way of flow between them. Not only that, the facts were usually small, forming nothing in the way of even short stories. It was instead an excessive amount of dates and references that repeatedly broke any and all fluidity in the structure of the book. There are some insightful and even fascinating sections, but they were few and far between; too much so to encourage deep immersion into the early life of C.S. Lewis. For example: How many times does one book need to reference another (Surprised By Joy) before it feels like a ripoff? Whatever that amount, the first half of the book repeatedly flirted with the possibility of crossing over that line. All in all, I'd say the first half was poorly formulated and thus rarely an interesting read.
Then came the second half. While it, too, suffers from some of the structural issues mentioned above and an excess of referencing, with deeper dissection of Lewis' works and the ways they were formed, it recaptured my attention. Though maybe a bit heavy on the mention of great conversations from which we receive but one sentence, the second half gave a decent amount of insight into not only the inspiration of Lewis' most successful works, it also offered a fair bit into Lewis' reactions to said success and his general everyday life thereafter.
Overall, the book earned a solid three stars, thanks to the stronger second half. I considered four, but I'd be remiss if I were to overlook the research heavy/story deficient first half. One thing is certain and that is that Lewis was an extraordinary man with a remarkable mind and a larger-than-life personality. He fully deserves the respect he acquired throughout his life, even if he would be quick to shoot it down. Perhaps someday I will give this biography another chance when/if I get around to reading enough of Lewis' writings. As it stands now, the book left much to be desired, but also could have been considerably worse.
That being said, the book felt almost as if it contained two parts. The majority of the first half felt like a mere collection of facts organized chronologically and presented as such, with very little in the way of flow between them. Not only that, the facts were usually small, forming nothing in the way of even short stories. It was instead an excessive amount of dates and references that repeatedly broke any and all fluidity in the structure of the book. There are some insightful and even fascinating sections, but they were few and far between; too much so to encourage deep immersion into the early life of C.S. Lewis. For example: How many times does one book need to reference another (Surprised By Joy) before it feels like a ripoff? Whatever that amount, the first half of the book repeatedly flirted with the possibility of crossing over that line. All in all, I'd say the first half was poorly formulated and thus rarely an interesting read.
Then came the second half. While it, too, suffers from some of the structural issues mentioned above and an excess of referencing, with deeper dissection of Lewis' works and the ways they were formed, it recaptured my attention. Though maybe a bit heavy on the mention of great conversations from which we receive but one sentence, the second half gave a decent amount of insight into not only the inspiration of Lewis' most successful works, it also offered a fair bit into Lewis' reactions to said success and his general everyday life thereafter.
Overall, the book earned a solid three stars, thanks to the stronger second half. I considered four, but I'd be remiss if I were to overlook the research heavy/story deficient first half. One thing is certain and that is that Lewis was an extraordinary man with a remarkable mind and a larger-than-life personality. He fully deserves the respect he acquired throughout his life, even if he would be quick to shoot it down. Perhaps someday I will give this biography another chance when/if I get around to reading enough of Lewis' writings. As it stands now, the book left much to be desired, but also could have been considerably worse.
March 7, 2021
Drawing upon a wealth of primary source material and first-hand reminiscences, Hooper and Green published the first full biography of C.S. Lewis. (Green was a close friend and literary collaborator with Lewis, and Hooper, his private secretary at the end of Lewis' life, would become perhaps the world's leading editor and interpreter of his mentor's work.) As such, this remains essential reading for scholars of Lewis and the Inklings. This work is especially strong on fleshing out Lewis' literary career, both as a scholar and an author of children's and adult fiction. Green and Hooper provide essential insight into the genesis of the Ransom (or "Space") trilogy, the Chronicles of Narnia, and the masterful, if misunderstood and underappreciated Til We Have Faces. Other biographers have explored other aspects of Lewis' life and thought more fully, including some of its more controversial aspects, but Hooper and Green early set the standard for Lewis studies.
May 13, 2016
I enjoyed reading about this great mans life, this particular biography for me was "too much information". I think literary Scholars would enjoy more than me the books he read and approved of. I however, am more interested in his actual life facts and found myself flicking through great amount of pages.
November 4, 2015
This was a reasonably good depiction of the major events in C.S. Lewis's life. My complaint is that it didn't give me a good sense of who he was and what made him tick. I would like to see a more thorough and intimate biography of this great thinker.
September 9, 2016
I read this almost thirty years ago. I read it during a dark stretch of my life after reading Lewis' Mere Christianity. I remember the intense relief and sense of peace that came over me. I saw Hope in the distance and I knew I could survive. I have been reading Lewis ever since then.
May 28, 2015
A lovingly written biography by friends about a friend ... Love !
September 11, 2018
This autobiography, I believe the first, was written by Lewis's friend Roger Lancelyn Green and secretary Walter Hooper. As a result, it is very discreet, and chooses to focus largely on Lewis's academic life and academic, theological, and popular writings. It's a good overview, but maybe a little too biased to be the only account of Lewis one reads. The authors do note criticism of Lewis by friends and, well, critics, but overall the book is very forgiving and tends to defend Lewis's legacy.
May 16, 2022
Very intriguing, but information overload - the authors definitely did their job researching, collecting, preserving, and sharing CS Lewis quotes and book excerpts, as well as those of many others. But there was such a large quantity of quotes and information that it’s easy to get lost. But, it’s clear that the biographers knew, loved, and admired Lewis greatly and I have an even greater appreciation for him after reading this!
June 18, 2018
This book would probably be appreciated more by literary scholars who are familiar with the impressive number of literary works cited in this biography that were written and/or read by Lewis. I was disappointed that there was not a lot of insight into the personal life of Lewis until well into the last half of the book.
February 4, 2022
I greatly enjoyed reading this book. There was a lot about C.S. Lewis I didn’t know, and I get like I truly got to know him through this book. My only complaint was that there were parts that I found slow and slightly boring, but overall a very good read.
September 10, 2024
This is an excellent biography of Lewis. Very readable. So glad I read it. I believe it captures a bit of his spirit as well as any biography can. C. S. Lewis is one person I hope to meet in heaven.
February 1, 2017
This book is just full of information about Lewis. He was a fascinating man who was very well read, but didn't own many books on his shelves, because once he read a book, he kept it in his head!
October 11, 2018
Absolutely fantastic. You could read the intimacy and love of Green and Hooper. Very personal biography.
April 1, 2020
Delightful!
October 20, 2021
Good book but unfortunately too detailed for me
October 3, 2022
Excellent biography, walks through not only his personal life that we don't know about but takes you through the writing of all of his works, both academic and religious.
July 18, 2024
very good biography...
Readable like a novel!!!
I love C. S. Lewis and his books...
And I learned a lot about his life.
Inspirational and vitalizing...
Full recommendation!!!
Readable like a novel!!!
I love C. S. Lewis and his books...
And I learned a lot about his life.
Inspirational and vitalizing...
Full recommendation!!!
April 9, 2015
I really loved this book. I liked that it was written by a close friend and someone who knew him well. I appreciate the detail the author went into about Lewis's favorite books and authors and that it shared Lewis’s literary opinions. It's nice to know in great detail the people who influenced C.S. Lewis. I also liked the detail the author put into describing the writing process and timeline of the books that Lewis wrote himself and the motivations behind writing them. The author touched very nicely on Lewis's conversion to religion and Christianity but seemed to brush lightly over other events in his life. Sometimes there were long explanations of books or stories that Lewis liked or that might have influenced his writings and then only short sections on events in Lewis's life, like how he met Joy Davidman etc. On the whole, I really enjoyed it and I felt like it was a good insight into the life of C.S. Lewis. I would read it again.
September 3, 2016
This was a delight to read, though I admit I am a biased reader of this biography's subject.
It does what I most enjoy from biographies: it lifted the veil a bit on this great man. Filled with anecdotes and insights into what inspired Lewis's imagination, I feel sure this will thrill any Lewis reader.
As the book was divided into chapters devoted to certain parts of Lewis's life, the timeline can be a bit hard to follow, but I think it allowed the authors to fully flesh out those different areas.
I checked this out of our public library, but now want to make it a permanent part of our collection at home. Recommend to any and everyone.
It does what I most enjoy from biographies: it lifted the veil a bit on this great man. Filled with anecdotes and insights into what inspired Lewis's imagination, I feel sure this will thrill any Lewis reader.
As the book was divided into chapters devoted to certain parts of Lewis's life, the timeline can be a bit hard to follow, but I think it allowed the authors to fully flesh out those different areas.
I checked this out of our public library, but now want to make it a permanent part of our collection at home. Recommend to any and everyone.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews