Literary Works — Nonfiction

See also: Fiction & Poetry

"A Year With C. S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works"

Harper SanFrancisco; (October 21, 2003)
Beloved author C .S. Lewis is our wise and inspiring guide in this elegant collectible book of 366 poignant and thought-provoking daily meditations.

"The Abolition of Man"

London: Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1943; rpt. New York: Macmillan Paperbacks Editions, 1965.
Not explicitly Christian. Three lectures defending the concept of Natural Law (a moral standard known in principle to all human societies).

"The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition"

Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1936; rpt. New York: Oxford Paperback, 1958.
This work first made Lewis's reputation in his profession as a literature professor. It deals with the development of allegorical love poetry in Western Europe from Ovid to Spenser. Parts of it are of interest only to the specialist, but I do not think this is true of the book as a whole. Reading it significantly changed my views on the workings of the subconscious.

"All My Road Before Me: the Diary of C. S. Lewis, 1922-1927"

San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991. Walter Hooper, ed.

"Beyond Personality: the Christian Idea of God"

London: Geoffrey Bless, 1944.

"Boxen: The Imaginary World of C. S. Lewis"

San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1985.
Contains some of Lewis' earliest works.

"Christian Reflections"

William B. Eerdmans, 1967
A collection of papers

"The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature"

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964.
This work is an account of the view of the cosmos that was standard in medieval times, with a discussion of its effect on literature and on the imagination.

"English Literature in the Sixteenth Century (Excluding Drama)"

Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954.
A standard reference work. Much of the material is of interest chiefly to the specialist, but someone already familiar with the doctrines on which Christians are in general agreed and wanting to understand the differences that gave rise to the Protestant Reformation will find much helpful material.

"An Experiment in Criticism"

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961.
Deals with Art, particularly literature. Many critics have distinguished good books from bad books, and then defined Bad Taste as a taste for Bad Books. Lewis asks what will happen if we reverse the process by distinguishing two kinds of pleasures to be gotten from books (or music, or painting) and then distinguishing books on the basis of the kind of pleasure that they offer, or the way in which they invite the reader to approach them.

"Fern Seed and Elephants"

Collins (Fount), 1975
A collection of papers.

"The Four Loves"

London: Geoffrey Bles, 1958.
An analysis of different kinds of love, and different uses of the word "love," taking as its starting point four Greek words for kinds of love.

"A Grief Observed" [originally under the pseudonym N. W. Clerk]

1961
An account of the suffering caused by the death of his wife, Joy, in 1960.

"George MacDonald: An Anthology"

London: Geoffrey Bles, 1946.

"God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics"

Ed. Walter Hooper. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1970.
A collection published after Lewis's death of various essays, brief memos, letters to the editor, etc. that he had written.

"Letters"

Servant Books. Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1988

Latin letters (with English translations) exchanged between Lewis and two Italian priests in Verona, Italy between 1947 and 1961.

"Letters of C. S. Lewis"

Ed. W. H. Lewis. London: Geoffrey Bles, 1994 (second edition).

"The Letters of C.S. Lewis to Arthur Greeves (1914-1963)"

Ed. Walter Hooper. Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1979

Originally published as "They Stand Together"

Delightful and instructive correspondance between Lewis and one of his closest friends.

"Letters to an American Lady"

William B Eerdmans, 1967.

"Letter to Children"

Collier Books, MacMillian, 1988.

"Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer"

London: Geoffrey Bles, 1964.

"Mere Christianity"

New York: MacMillian, 1943.
This originated as a series of fifteen-minute radio talks addressed to a very general audience, undertaking to give a general account of Christian belief. It begins with a discussion of some reasons for believing that God exists, and why it matters that He does, and then continues with an account of the redeeming work of God in Christ. It includes a discussion of Christian moral standards, and Trinitarian theology. Throughout, the author undertakes to confine himself to the common Christian core of belief, and to steer clear of disagreements between denominations -- hence the word MERE in the title.

"Miracles: A Preliminary Study"

London: Geoffrey Bles, 1947.
The author defines a miracle as "an interference with Nature by a supernatural power," and proceeds to examine the question of whether we have grounds for believing that there exists something that can properly be called supernatural (this involves definitions of Nature other than just "everything that exists"), whether there are grounds for supposing that that something could not or would not interfere with the workings of Nature, and what sort of view of reality is involved in the Christian assertion of the Miracle of the Incarnation (God took human nature upon Himself in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth). A cogent discussion and analysis of fundamental questions.

"Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories"

Ed. Walter Hooper. London: Geoffrey Bles, 1966.
Includes "It All Began As A Picture" (1960), "On Criticism," "On Science Fiction" (1955), "On Stories" (1947), "On Three Ways of Writing for Children" (1952), "A Reply to Professor Haldane," "Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What's To Be Said" (1956), and "Unreal Estates" (1964).

"On Stories: and Other Essays on Literature"

Ed. Walter Hooper. London, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1966.
Twenty Lewis pieces about the excellence of Story. Includes: "On Stories," "The Novels of Charles Williams," "A Tribute to E.R. Eddison," "On Three Ways of Writing for Children," "Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What's to Be Said," "On Juvenile Tastes," "The Hobbit," and "A Panegyric for Dorothy L. Sayers," among others.

"The Personal Heresy: A Controversy" (co-authored by E.M.W. Tillyard)

London: Oxford University Press, 1939.
Six essays (three by each author) debating whether poetry is, or should be, the expression of the poet's personality.

"A Preface to 'Paradise Lost'"

London: Oxford University Press, 1960.
A series of lectures on epic poetry and in particular on Milton's Paradise Lost. Lewis delivered these in his professional capacity as a specialist in Mediaeval and Renaissance English Literature, but they will be of interest to Christians as well as to English students, for Lewis maintains that one cannot understand or appreciate the poem without understanding (not necessarily accepting) the beliefs that the poem presupposes.

"Present Concerns"

Ed. Walter Hooper. London, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1986.
Nineteen short, lively, Lewis essays about a variety of things. Sample titles: "On Living in an Atomic Age," "Is History Bunk?," "Sex in Literature," "The Necessity of Chivalry," "Blimpophobia," and "Prudery and Philology."

"The Problem of Pain"

London: Geoffrey Bles, 1940.
Undertakes to answer the question, "If God is good and God is omnipotent, then why is there pain and evil in the world?" or, as otherwise put, "If God loves me, why can't I get my locker open?"

"Reflections on the Psalms"

London: Geoffrey Bles, 1958.
Problems or questions that occurred to Lewis while praying or studying the Psalms, and his thoughts thereon.

"Rehabilitations and Other Essays"

London: Oxford University Press, 1939.
Includes "Christianity and Literature," High and Low Brows, and "William Morris."

"Selected Literary Essays"

Ed. Walter Hooper. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969.

"Studies in Medieval & Renaissance Literature"

Ed. Walter Hooper. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966.

Fourteen essays about a variety of subjects in this field of literary study, including Dante, Tasso, Spenser, and Milton.

"Studies in Words"

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1960.
Takes several English words (and often their counterparts in Latin or Greek) and discusses changes in their meaning from century to century, and the patterns of human thought underlying the changes.

"Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life"

London: Geoffrey Bles, 1955; New York: Harcourt Brace, 1955.

"They Asked for a Paper: Papers and Addresses"

London: Geoffrey Bless, 1962.
Includes "De Descriptione Temporum" (1954) and "Psycho-analysis and Literary Criticism" (1941), among others.

"Transpositions and Other Addresses"

London: Geoffrey Bles, 1949.
Includes "The Inner Ring" (1944), "Learning in War-Time" (1939), and "The Weight of Glory" (1941).

"The Weight of Glory"

MacMillian, 1980
Includes:
THE WEIGHT OF GLORY - On the promises concerning Heaven.
TRANSPOSITION - (The title essay of the earlier editions.) On the indwelling of the higher in the lower.
THE INNER RING - On the urge to "belong" as a temptation.
AND OTHER ADDRESSES

"The World's Last Night"

San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973
Includes:
THE EFFICACY OF PRAYER - Does it make sense to believe that prayer can change things?
ON OBSTINACY IN BELIEF - Does it ever make sense to believe something "in the teeth of the evidence"?
THE WORLD'S LAST NIGHT - How ought the doctrine of Christ's Second Coming to affect our lives and thoughts?
AND OTHER ESSAYS - Many collections of Lewis's essays have appeared since his death, and there is an annoying lack of uniformity, so that the same essay may appear in two different books, or in one but not another collection with the same title.