Jack: C.S. Lewis and His Times

This biography of C.S.Lewis, poet, novelist, literary critic and theologian is written by a lifelong friend who seeks to present a more balanced portrait than has been possible before, by making use of family papers and the million word diary kept by Lewis's brother. He vividly describes the Belfast background, the cruel schooling and sadism, Lewis' terrible experiences in the Great War, the strange promise to a brother officer that led him to live with a woman twice his age for years at the Kilns, Oxford, the young poet, the academic career and his friendship with J.R.Tolkien and other Oxford dons who made up The Inklings group. The author goes on to describe Lewis' conversion to Christianity and the run-away success of the wartime Screwtape Lectures on the BBC and the extraordinary marriage to the eccentric American divorcee, Joy Davidman that altered him profoundly in his last years. This book provides a full survey of the whole literary output, academic, fictional, theological and poetic.