He is known all over the world as the author of the most popular cycle "The Chronicles of Narnia", but few people know that Clive Staples Lewis was also a poet, philosopher, tireless preacher of Christian values, a veteran of the First World War and a truly amazing person whose life was full of meaning and highest joy. …
Childhood, adolescence, young years
Clive Staples Lewis was born on November 29, 1898 in the Irish city of Belfast. His father worked as a lawyer, and his mother, belonging to a noble Scottish family, did the housework and raised Clive and his older brother Warren. It was his mother who instilled in little Clive a love of literature, folklore, linguistics, he literally idolized his mother, but when he was not even ten, she died. The gloomy, laconic, drinking father sent the boy to a closed school, and that was the end of his happy, carefree childhood.
After the death of his mother, the formerly religious Clive lost faith in God. After studying at the school that he hated, Clive went to Oxford, but did not have time to enjoy student life - in 1917 he was drafted into the army, and he went to the front. Once before the fight, Clive and his friend Paddy Moore vowed that they would take care of each other's families in case one of them died. In that battle, Paddy died, Clive was wounded, and he was found unfit for further service. Clive kept his promise - until the death of Paddy's mother, he took care of her and her daughter.
After graduating from Oxford, Clive received a master's degree and at the same Oxford began to lecture on English literature. He was destined to work here for thirty-six years.
Creation
In 1930, unexpectedly for everyone, the convinced atheist Clive Lewis turned to God and returned to the fold of the Anglican Church. It was during this period that he began to write a lot and fruitfully, as if inspired by the faith he had acquired. But he was interested not only in religious topics, Lewis suddenly became interested in the fantastic genre, which in those years was becoming more and more popular. And acquaintance with Professor Tolkien, the future author of the famous "The Lord of the Rings", played an important role here. By the way, the prototype of the protagonist of the "Space Trilogy", the philologist Ransom traveling from planet to planet, was the same John Tolkien, a friend and colleague of Lewis.
In 1950, Lewis published The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, a children's story. The success exceeded the wildest expectations of the author, and in six years he wrote six more books from the cycle that brought him worldwide fame and secured a solid place in the golden fund of fantastic literature. The Chronicles of Narnia has been translated into 47 languages and has sold over 100 million books since its first publication. The fairy tale about the country of Narnia, which can be entered through the door of an ordinary wardrobe, reflected the religious ideas of the author, and allusions with the biblical narrative were clearly visible in it.
Personal life
Already at a fairly mature age, an inveterate bachelor Lewis met the American Joy Davidman. They got married in 1956. Their marriage was doomed even before they exchanged rings - Joy was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and when Lewis proposed to her, she was already confined to a hospital bed. But after the wedding, a miracle happened - the disease receded, and the couple lived together for another four years, four years filled with love and happiness. When Joy passed away, Lewis took over the care of her children.
