C. S. Lewis

A compulsive writer from childhood, C. S. Lewis saw the world primarily through the medium of books. He read voraciously, and his own writing covers a broad range of genres. This timely study of C. S. Lewis casts a unique light on this beloved figure by tracing his development as a reader and a writer of books.

Lionel Adey shows how the two sides of Lewis's personality, for which Adey adopts the motifs of "the Dreamer" and "the Mentor," are key to understanding Lewis's writing in its various modes. Adey describes Lewis's early development and then devotes a chapter to each kind of writing he attempted: literary history, practical and theoretical criticism, novels for adults and for children, poetry, apologetics, essays and addresses, and letters. Throughout, Adey discusses formative biographical events in Lewis's life, such as the death of his mother when he was nine years old. Adey concludes with an estimate of Lewis's achievement and enduring legacy as a writer.