Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a
British novelist, poet, academic, medievalist,
literary critic, essayist, lay
theologian, broadcaster, lecturer, and Christian
apologist. He held academic positions at both Oxford
University (Magdalen College), 1925–54, and Cambridge
University (Magdalene College),
1954–63. He is best known for his fictional work, especially The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Space Trilogy, and for his
non-fiction Christian apologetics, such as Mere
Christianity, Miracles,
and The Problem of Pain.
Lewis
and fellow novelist J. R. R.
Tolkien were close friends. They
both served on the English faculty at Oxford University, and were active in the
informal Oxford literary group known as the Inklings.
According to Lewis' memoir Surprised
by Joy, he was baptised in the Church
of Ireland, but fell away from his faith during adolescence. Lewis returned to
the Anglican Communion at the age of 32, owing to the
influence of Tolkien and other friends, and he became an "ordinary layman
of the Church of England". His faith profoundly affected his
work, and his wartime radio broadcasts on the subject of Christianity brought
him wide acclaim.
In
1956, he married American writer Joy
Davidman; she died of cancer four years later at the age of 45. Lewis died on
22 November 1963 from renal
failure, one week before his 65th birthday. Media coverage of his death was
minimal, as he and fellow British author Aldous Huxley died on
the same day that US President John F. Kennedy was
assassinated. In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of his death, Lewis was honoured
with a memorial in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.
Lewis's
works have been translated into more than 30 languages and have sold millions
of copies. The books that make up The
Chronicles of Narnia have
sold the most and have been popularised on stage, TV, radio, and cinema. His
works entered the public domain
in 2014 in countries where
copyright expires 50 years after the death of the creator, such as Canada.
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