Category: Jack in Retrospect

RETROSPECT: October 1st -10th

William OFlaherty Jack in Retrospect, Special Feature

Highlights for the opening third of October (1st – 10th) include: Concluding book from his final BBC radio series, an unsigned review of The Hobbit and the release of A Preface to ‘Paradise Lost’.

While Lewis did go on to record a radio series on love in the late 1950’s, his final one for the BBC was given in early 1944. The book version of it was published on the 9th of October that same year as Beyond Personality: The Christian Idea of God. It is now more remembered at being the forth book in Mere Christianity where it was given a new subtitle: “Or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity.” In either edition there were eleven chapters, however, there were only seven talks on the radio, so he added four chapters. They were “Time and Beyond” (chapter 3), “Two Notes” (chapter 6), “Counting the Cost” (chapter 9), and “Nice People or New Men”

RETROSPECT: September 22nd – 30th

William OFlaherty Jack in Retrospect, Special Feature

Highlights for September 22nd – 30th include: Debut story of a Sci-Fi trilogy, a landmark book published anonymously and the death of Lewis’s father to cancer.

It’s no secret that Lewis is known for being a versatile writer. One of his earliest efforts that spotlighted this fact is what happened on the 23rd in 1938. This is when Lewis released the first of what is referred to many fans as the Ransom trilogy. That’s because Dr. Elwin Ransom is a central character introduced in Out of the Silent Planet. Released a dozen years before the Narnia stories, some call this his first imaginative apologetic work. Apparently Lewis himself wasn’t aware of how useful of a tool fiction could be to present Christian ideas in a latent way. It was

RETROSPECT: September 12th – 21st

William OFlaherty Jack in Retrospect, Special Feature

Highlights for September 12th -21st include: Another Narnia book published, a landmark professional title, a final poetry book and the start of his third broadcast series.

If you thought the previous ten day span over the years was a productive period for Lewis, then you will be no less amazed at what occurred during this time. In the above highlights I didn’t even mentioned the autobiography that came out on the 19th in 1955. Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life is not a typical life story “as told by the author.” The subtitle tries to suggest the different approach of the book and in the preface Lewis elaborates further about this point. He notes that the main goal is to “tell how I passed from Atheism to Christianity,” but he actually expresses skepticism that anyone would want to read about

RETROSPECT: September 1st – 11th

William OFlaherty Jack in Retrospect, Special Feature

Highlights for September 1-11 include: Two Narnia books published, a final fictional work, being on the cover of Time in the U.S. and his only title devoted to a book of the Bible.

Time CoverThe number of books published over the years during these ten days would be enough for most authors for an entire lifetime. Although, two of the titles are collections of shorter works were released after his death, interestingly the five others were during the last eleven years of his life. An additional title, A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C.S. Lewis, is a lesser known collection of quotes first available in March, 1968, but was published as a paperback on the 9th in 1980.

RETROSPECT: August 22nd – 31st

William OFlaherty Jack in Retrospect, Special Feature

Highlights for August 22nd – 31st include: An unfortunate childhood loss, letters from Screwtape on gluttony and love, and the radio broadcast of the last chapter of what’s now book one of Mere Christianity.

As mentioned during a previous column last month, Lewis lost his wife to cancer. The second most significant loss for him was during his childhood, when his mother, Florence Augusta Hamilton Lewis, died on the 23rd in 1908. This was also due to cancer. Although Lewis had prayed for his mother to live, he reports not actually being a Christian at the time

RETROSPECT: August 1st – 11th

William OFlaherty Jack in Retrospect, Special Feature

Highlights for August 1-11 include: Lewis’s first time ever on the radio, earning of a second First at Oxford and two more letters from Screwtape.

In one sense not a lot of events occurred in Lewis’s life over the years during the first week and a half in August; but then the most significant from this period is likely among the highest points in his entire life. It was on the 6th in 1941 that he stood before a microphone to kick-off the first of four scheduled talks about “Right and Wrong: A Clue to the Meaning of the Universe.” The place was the offices of BBC Home Services and the local time was 7:45 p.m. Over the next fifteen minutes he would speak on “Common Decency,” but later this first chapter of book one in Mere Christianity would be called “The Law of Human Nature.”

RETROSPECT: July 22nd – 31st

William OFlaherty Jack in Retrospect, Special Feature

Highlights for the period of July 22-31include: Lewis on the radio that wasn’t a part of the eventual Mere Christianity book, the U.S. release of The Four Loves and the publication of a friend’s landmark book that Lewis encouraged the author to write (hint: it has a “ring” to it).

When you consider a person’s life over the years (like this series has with C.S. Lewis), it’s no surprise that there might be a week or two were relatively little significant events happened. Such is the case for this time-period. However, there was a very meaningful moment in the life of a now more famous friend, J.R.R. Tolkien. In 1954 The Fellowship of the Ring was published at the end of July (the actual date is either the 24th or 29th, as I’ve seen both listed).

It’s not just because they were friends that it’s worth mentioning, rather

RETROSPECT: July 11th – 21st

William OFlaherty Jack in Retrospect, Special Feature

Highlights for the period of July 11-21 include: the first book resulting from speaking on the BBC, an unusual meditation, and the death of Joy.

When Lewis agreed to do talks over the radio he had no idea how well received they would be. After two successful series of talks that were each in five parts and another series scheduled to start in late September, the book Broadcast Talks was released on the 13th in 1942. Unlike the later books released after each of his last two series, this book contained no additional material. They were merely five chapters each to match what was on the air. The only difference had to do with the order of the chapters from the first series.

RETROSPECT: July 1st – 10th

William OFlaherty Jack in Retrospect, Special Feature

Highlights for the first third of July (1st – 10th) are: the release of his landmark nonfiction book, the publication of a new collection of shorter works and the preface to his first claim to fame was written.

In the early 1950’s Lewis saw continual success from his writing. By the middle of 1952 he had experienced significant praise from his venture into children’s literature with two Narnia stories released and a third due out in a few months. But it was on the 7th of July in 1952 that a new book came out that was actually a re-release of previous material that secured Lewis as an author of practical information about the Christian faith. Mere Christianity is the best known non-fiction book by Lewis. Various individuals from many walks of life give credit to this book as either strengthening their faith, or as a tool that God used to lead them to Christianity.

RETROSPECT: June 22nd – 30th

William OFlaherty Jack in Retrospect, Special Feature

Highlights for the final third of June (22nd – 30th) include: Sharing The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with his close friends four months before it was published, being awarded an honorary Doctorate of Divinity and more talk from Screwtape about the “law of Undulation.”

As you may recall, Lewis met frequently with a group of friends called the Inklings. They gathered at a variety of places, but on the 22nd in 1950 it happened to be at the Eagle and Child. When they came together at this location it was unusual for them to actually read any of their works. Nevertheless, this was a special occasion, as Lewis brought the galley proofs of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.