C. S. Lewis: A Life [Hardcover]

Michael White (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 2004

Arguably the most influential Christian writer of the twentieth century, C. S. Lewis founded his literary reputation on the now classic critical work, The Allegory of Love. Within the next five years he would garner international acclaim as the author of The Screwtape Letters and Out of the Silent Planet, the first of three science fiction novels that owe much to his dynamic friendship with J. R. R. Tolkien. In 1950, with the publication of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, he would win the hearts of children worldwide. Yet Clive Staples Lewis’s path to renown not only as a groundbreaking literary critic and novelist but also as a Christian theologian was at times intellectually and emotionally chaotic, as award-winning author Michael White reveals in this probing new biography. He follows the young Lewis, a nervous man profoundly depressed by the death of his mother, in a spiritually tormented course that would take him to the upper ranks of English letters. He deconstructs Lewis’s novels and religious works to reveal the frequently tormented soul and imagination from which they sprung. Most importantly, he delves into the mythos that has long surrounded Lewis and rediscovers the man beneath.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Why a new biography of C.S. Lewis (1898–1963) now? White, who has written a biography of Lewis's friend Tolkien, offers no satisfactory answer in this pedantic and lackluster study of the author of the Chronicles of Narnia and other works. Relying on no new archival information, White retells the facts of Clive Staples Lewis's life, already well known from the hands of previous biographers. Born in 1898 in Belfast to a solicitor and his wife, the young Lewis escaped often into a world of fantasy, re-creating his own fictional world in stories. White recounts Lewis's university days, including his famous friendship with Tolkien and others, his early struggles to get appointed as a lecturer and his prolific writing life. White also records Lewis's youthful struggles with relationships, as well as his eventual amatory success in his famous marriage to Joy Davidman (chronicled in the book and film Shadowlands). White attempts to offer critical interpretations of Lewis's writings—from his novels to his Christian apologetics—but succeeds primarily at offering summaries. Moreover, the book's sluggish prose ("apart from his brilliance, Jack was a man like any other"), lack of critical insight and dearth of new or startling information about Lewis renders it superfluous.
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Review

"Our taste for wonder is well catered for."

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf (August 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786713763
• ISBN-13: 978-0786713769
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,016,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An atheist writes on C.S. Lewis, February 2, 2007

By 

Karl J. Franklin (Duncanville, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: C. S. Lewis: A Life (Hardcover)

White, Michael. 2004. C.S. Lewis: A Life. NY: Carroll & Graf.

One might wonder how the author, an atheist, would treat Lewis, once an atheist as well, but known by his writings as a foremost Christian apologist, author of the Narnia series, science fiction, scholarly studies, and other works. White generally treats Lewis with respect and clarity, although he consistently debunks any saintly attributes that Christians may hold of him. White is, for example, intrigued with the complex relationship of Lewis to his father and brother (Warnie), as well as with Mrs. Moore (whom he took responsibility for after her son was killed in war) and Arthur Greeves (a lifelong friend who was a homosexual), and embeds them throughout the biography. He ably discusses Lewis' scholarship and friendship with his male literary friends, the Inklings, especially focusing on the ensuing social distance between Tolkien (whom White has also written a book about) and Lewis. White is biased--for example, he describes Wheaton college as consisting of conservative Christians, classified as bigoted, hard-hearted and old-fashion. He wonders how such people can "morph" Lewis, who drank, smoked and told bawdy jokes, into the esteemed evangelical he is recognized as today. In a usually good review of the life of Lewis, discrepancies and biases of this sort turn up. Nevertheless, I would commend Lewis followers to read the book, if only because it presents him in a more negative and human light than other biographies.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A superficial and uninformative biography, December 28, 2004

By 

M. Tangerini (Sherborn, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: C. S. Lewis: A Life (Hardcover)

Skip this one. Michael White's biography of C.S. Lewis is riddled with groundless guesswork in place of innovative research or thoughtful interpretation. In describing Lewis's early life,for example, he refers to Lewis's "overactive imagination," and comments that Lewis listened to "pointless, meaningless" sermons when he was taken to church as a boy. On what, exactly, does he base such conclusions? These are the sorts of unverified, opinionated comments that even a freshman English student would be expected to avoid in his research, and they are peppered throughout the book. Further, the prose itself is colorless. One wonders at the sheer lack of vocabulary. The book offers nothing that might flesh out the intellectual context of Lewis's best known works. This biography is a waste of time.