Like his most famous creation--Aslan, the Lion of Narnia--C.S. Lewis looms large in the popular imagination. An Irishman who spent most of his life in England, Lewis was also a literary scholar who gained fame as a popular theologian and writer of children's fantasies, as well as a confirmed bachelor who entered an unusual marriage late in life. Theologian Alister McGrath (The Twilight of Atheism) presents an accessible, clear-eyed portrait of Lewis and his contradictions, starting with his Irish childhood, his troubles at boarding school and his close relationship with his brother Warren ("Warnie"). He then concentrates on Lewis's time at Oxford University, where he spent most of his academic career.
Some fans may already be familiar with the highlights of Lewis's life, including his conversion to Christianity, his friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien and the wartime radio broadcasts that later became Mere Christianity. However, McGrath's extensive research into Lewis's correspondence provides fascinating detail, as well as a slightly altered timeline of his faith conversion that will be most interesting to Lewis scholars but is still compelling for the casual reader.
McGrath veers enjoyably into literary criticism with two chapters devoted to The Chronicles of Narnia, asserting, rightly, that these novels, Lewis's most enduring work, embodied many of his key ideas about the nature of the universe. The last chapter provides keen observations on the continuing popularity of Lewis's books and the man himself, half a century after his death. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams