Surprised By Joy By Cs Lewis Summary

This section of the reading begins with an explanation from the editor detailing how C.S. Lewis very rarely wrote autobiographical works, and when he finally did it was only to explain a few things to the fans that asked questions or to clarify. The editor then explains how A Grief Observed showed a deeper insight into Lewis’s marriage. Surprised by Joy, Lewis’s first real attempt at an autobiography, begins with a description of his nurse Lizzie. To Lewis, as a child, she was the physical embodiment of good. She along with his brother Warren made up his early childhood. Lewis goes on to explain that although very imaginative, with his drawings and stories, he felt that he had never really experienced beauty or religion. In 1905 after moving to what felt like a mansion to the small boy, the world of literature encompassed him. His endeavors, imagination, and his sense of self expanded, especially with his creation of Animal-Land. This gave him glimpses of he what he experienced as bliss. Moments where he felt such desire, but as soon as they came, they just as easily slipped away. He eventually came to call this Joy. Something he spent a lot of his life trying to find this again. Lewis the reiterates the story of the death of
Lewis. Kirkpatrick was a rationalist, logic and logic alone dominated their conversations. Lewis then describes what his life was like at the Gastons living and learning with the Kirkpatricks. He details learning Greek and his daily routine. Hs days consisted of intellectual pursuits, be it via books, conversations, or thoughts in solitude. One of his favorite things to do was walk through the countryside and examine all that lay before him with anticipation of reading one of the books he had ordered. He concludes with a line of gratitude to the “Great