C.S. Lewis: A Biography, by A.N. Wilson

“This book is not intended to be iconoclastic, but I will try to be realistic, not only because reality is more interesting than fantasy, but also because we do Lewis no honour to make him into a plaster saint. And he deserves our honour.” -A.N. Wilson, from the Preface.

Working under the assumption that there can never be too many biographies of a respected and controversial public figure (see Abraham Lincoln), A.N. Wilson chose Clive Staples Lewis, the oft-read and widely quoted Oxford scholar and public Christian apologist, as the subject for his seventh biographical work. Since there were already so many biographies of Lewis (a google.com search for “C.S. Lewis biographies” revealed a staggering nine-hundred and forty-two results, although the actual number of books devoted to Lewis is probably closer to one hundred), I approached this new version of the life of Lewis with a healthy dose of skepticism. What could Mr. Wilson have to contribute, I thought, that hasn’t already been said in the forty-three years since Lewis’ death?

As it turns out, however, Wilson does have very good reasons to write this book. The main reason is that he is a damn good biographer. And while biography is, by disposition, subjective, C.S. Lewis: A Biography should nevertheless be considered a definitive work. It is a must-read for any interested person who is familiar with the C.S. Lewis life and library (as I know many who will read this are). Wilson draws extensively from primary sources such as Lewis’ endless letters as well as interviews from those who knew Lewis personally to create a work of exceptional verve and depth. With over 35 works of biography and fiction to his credit, Wilson, I think, is well-qualified, perhaps uniquely so, to document the life of one of Christendom’s most beloved figures. The passages are lush and absorbing, peppered with just the right amount of direct Lewisian quotes and anecdotes from people who knew him, while producing a flowing and coherent narrative. It is helpful if you enjoy the sort of formal British language that comes obligatory with the Oxford style, but Wilson is such a good writer that, I think, most any truly interested person should no trouble navigating the text. Like a good college professor, he guides you, the student, through the material without spoon-feeding you the conclusion. You must come to that point on your own.

The secondary reason to read such an iconoclastic (no matter what the preface claims) and honest version of C.S. Lewis’ mythologized life is the way it will make you reconsider your heroes. It is imperative for the intellectually lazy and easily persuaded American Christian who has only read Mere Christianity or perhaps The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe to be exposed to this book, in order to jolt him out of a narrow view of C.S. Lewis as the patron saint of Protestantism. I have read several biographies of Lewis and most of them are less-than-critical of a man who lived a very flawed and conflicted life even if he did write Mere Christianity. Wilson has no qualms about exposing the gritty and sometimes disturbing details of the life of Lewis, from his cigarette-stained teeth to his nasty temper and the vicious cruelty that he would sometimes show to his friends and enemies. From his youthful delusions of becoming the next great English poet, to his middle years living as the ambiguous companion/domestic slave of a woman twice his age, to his later years and romance of and marriage to a “loud and vulgar” (in the words of Lewis’ brother, Warnie) American woman 17 years younger than him, Wilson’s narration of C.S. Lewis is never dull. It is impossible to read a man’s writings the same after you know about his personal life. This is especially true with Lewis.

Of particular interest to me, having read most of Lewis’ essays and theological works outside of the Narnian paradigm, was the progression of his philosophy. While most of us are familiar with the conservative and passionately dogmatic C.S. Lewis of Mere Christianity and The Problem of Pain, there was a very different side of the author that isn’t strongly represented in his popular books. Devastated after a particularly debate with fellow Oxford philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe, in which Lewis’ entire argument for the existence of God put forth in Miracles was thoroughly demolished, he began to move away from that sort of a style of popular Christian apology and into a more ambiguous view of the world around him. His theology became largely based on the idea of Myth as an expression of an otherwise un-expressible reality, an idea encouraged by J.R.R. Tolkien and Charles Williams. This is quite evident in the best book of the entire Lewis pantheon, Till We Have Faces. It was also around this time that Lewis began to retreat into his childhood fantasies by writing the world of Narnia into existence, having realized that our reason for existence is better explained through stories and relationships than systems and doctrines. (And you thought Donald Miller was the first one with that idea.)

And yet, for all the Lewis-myth debunking that Wilson engages in, the reader comes away from this biography with a renewed sense of respect for prolific Oxford don who wrote some of the most popular Christian books of our time. It is the story that engages, and the life that keeps our attention. All human lives are interesting in their own way, and all deserve biography, but none more so than that of C.S. Lewis. A.N. Wilson does a commendable job of conveying that extraordinary life with all its flaws and ugliness, to our benefit, and it is well worth our time.

C.S Lewis: A Biography is available from Powells Books.