From a fantasy world inhabited by frogs to a land before there was sin… C.S. Lewis’ works are without a doubt diverse. Transforming his childhood imagination into a work read and reread by millions of children and adults all over the world, it is to say that Lewis had a knack for the precociously entertaining. Beginning with Boxen Land as a child, the tale features an imaginary world of creatures and their royalty in society (Gormley 12). Other interesting works pertaining mainly with animals are the Chronicles of Narnia series. The Lion, Witch and Wardrobe came about from the dreaming of Lewis and his younger brother during playtime (Gormley 12). Multiple elements of this novel display the environment in which Lewis lived, mainly in his mind and incredible imagination. His first vision of this wonderland happened at sixteen during a dream of a “faun (a man with goat legs) carrying a parasol in the snowy woods” (Markos). Through the wardrobe existed not only in this tale, but the inspiration (the wardrobe) stood in his house as well (Gormley 12).
A novel written for adults, his first in fact, entitled the Space Trilogy dealt with a world of inhabitants before the fall of humanity (Markos). A world without sin, what bliss.
Other works, more deep in nature, such as Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters, gave an approach to apologetics as Lewis saw them. Radio broadcasts during WWI were the inspiration for Mere Christianity (Edwards) while The Screwtape Letters told of a world of darkness and uncertainty (Robledo).
All reads by C.S. Lewis show to be timeless in our “world” and other “worlds” the same.
Dr. Bruce L. Edwards. “C.S. Lewis: A Modest Literary Biography and Bibliography”.
15 April 2010.
http://www.personal.bgsu.edu
Gormley, Beatrice. C.S. Lewis: Christian and Storyteller. Michigan: Eerdmans Books for Young
Readers, 1998. Print.
Louis Markos. “The Life and Writings of C.S. Lewis”. 2 February 2010.
http://www.teach12.com
Ryan Robledo. SFFWorld.com. “Space Trilogy by CS Lewis”. 1997-2009. 15 April 2010.
http://www.sffworld.com/brev/si214p0.html
