C.S. Lewis was maybe the most prolific writer of fantasy to come out of Ireland, his „Chronicles of Narnia“ are now a hugely successful series of movies.
Dates
Born in 1898 in Belfast,
died 1963 in Oxford.
Who was C.S. Lewis?
Charles Staples Lewis, almost inevitably known as C.S., was first and foremost an academic – after serving in the British Army during the First World War he took degrees at Oxford University and became a fellow of Magdalen College. He remined there until being poached by the opposition ... in 1954 he took the chair of medieval and Renaissance English at the University of Cambridge.
His academic prowess, however, is these days eclipsed by his literary fame – C.S. Lewis was a member of the Oxford „Inklings“ (as was J.R.R. Tolkien) and wrote both science-fiction and fantasy. In both his Christian religion was a major influence.
Most people will know Lewis as the author of the hugely popular „Narnia“ books. The first of these „Chronicles of Narnia“ was published as „The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe“ in 1950.
Important Works of C.S. Lewis
- “The Chronicles of Narnia“ (1950 - 1956)
- “The Allegory of Love“ (1934)
Irish Places Connected to C.S. Lewis
- There is a fine statue of C.S. Lewis in Belfast, complete with the wardrobe that forms the gateway into Narnia.
- Narnia was based on the landscape of County Down – but the recent movies were filmed in New Zealand.
