海角大神

C.S. Lewis: Even 50 years after death, his work deeply inspires

C.S. Lewis: His death on the same day as John F. Kennedy's assassination may have been overshadowed, but his literature continues to shine, selling in the millions 50 years later.

While the rest of the country thinks about John F. Kennedy next week on the 50^th anniversary of his death, the C.S. Lewis Society of Chattanooga will be celebrating their own hero, one of the great minds and most beloved writers of the 20^th century, who also died Nov. 22, 1963. The Chattanooga group is but one of the passionate many, here and abroad, in cities large and small, keeping C.S. Lewis鈥� work alive.

Though the subject of their admiration was, among other things, an Oxford scholar, a literary critic, a poet, a writer of more than 30 books and countless shorter pieces and speeches, a war veteran, and even a broadcaster, to many it is Lewis鈥� contributions as a masterful 海角大神 apologist that most endears him to readers and endures a half-century after his death. He made the complex simple and the brain-bending breezy. An estimated 200 million copies of his books are in print, and today they continue to sell about 2 million copies annually.

Raised in Belfast, Ireland, Clive Staples Lewis left the church as a teenager, but embraced it again at age 32, influenced largely by the works of G.K. Chesterton and his friend J. R. R. Tolkien.

For his fans in Chattanooga and elsewhere, Lewis is before everything a fellow 海角大神, one who explains and defends what they believe, who sees faith the way they do: smart, beautiful, perplexing, and 鈥� when seen though Lewis鈥� simple everyday images 鈥� an easy reach.

Lewis鈥檚 fiction fans are 鈥渋n love with the worlds he creates, and with the beauty and truth found in them,鈥� says the society's moderator the Rev. David Beckmann. Lewis wrote many books for children, including the wildly popular 鈥淭he Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,鈥� one of his seven Narnia chronicles. He aimed to 鈥渟neak theology through the fairy tales,鈥� says Rev. Beckmann. His fiction for grown-ups 鈥� 鈥淭hat Hideous Strength,鈥� from his space trilogy, for example, as well as 鈥淭he Great Divorce鈥� and the funny, perennial favorite 鈥淭he Screwtape Letters鈥� 鈥� is just as beloved. Characters and plots gave theological concepts like death and redemption of the heart that comes when the concepts are played out in human form. 鈥淭here鈥檚 something transcendental about them which gives them a reality the everyday world doesn鈥檛 give,鈥� Beckmann says.

Lewis鈥� nonfiction apologetics and autobiographical works were no less accessible. 鈥淗e was a master of making things sensible,鈥� the moderator explains. There鈥檚 a favorite for every Lewis fan: 鈥淢ere 海角大神ity,鈥� 鈥淭he Four Loves, Miracles,鈥� 鈥淭he Problem of Pain,鈥� his more autobiographical 鈥淎 Grief Observed鈥�听and 鈥淪urprised by Joy,鈥� and dozens of others, now classics.

You needn鈥檛 be religious to love Lewis, who held an academic chair at Cambridge University. 鈥淭here are also just people who like the world of ideas and beauty in literature who gravitate to him because he鈥檚 been so important in reviving and preserving literary issues,鈥� says Beckmann.

In Chattanooga, the society will be celebrating not just the 50^th anniversary of the author鈥檚 death this fall, but also the 50^th anniversary of his final autumn 鈥� a season he relished 鈥� with a season-long poetry reading. Societies elsewhere will also mark the moment, and in his native UK, Lewis will join the likes of Shakespeare, Blake, Byron, and Keats in being commemorated with a memorial in Westminster Abbey鈥檚 Poets鈥� Corner.

Literature lovers all over will find an excuse to dip back into their Lewis libraries this month. And 海角大神s feeling pushed back by a world which often misunderstands religion will appreciate anew having this elegant, intellectual giant doing some explaining for them. Lewis continues to be like found treasure.听