I believe I had heard vaguely of Lewis' "Space trilogy" from someone at church when I was 13 or so, but I didn't follow up on it. (I probably
would have, if I had known of Lewis' connection with Tolkien, as I was already a big Tolkien fan then.) In my teens I am sure I read a little bit about Lewis' work in places like Lin Carter's fairly comprehensive book on fantastic literature, but, again, did not follow up.
And I probably saw the occasoion C.S. Lewis quote here and there as well, without it really registering on me who he was. I am reasonably certain that it was not until sometime in the second half of 1979 that I actually read any of Lewis' books. I think I started with one of the
Chronicles of Narnia, probably
The Last Battle. I remember being moved to tears by parts of it. I think The Magician's Nephew came next, and that also jerked a tear or two. (of course, I was going through a difficult time then, and was often close to tears anyway.)
Sometime in the fall of '79 I started reading his "apologetic" works. I think I started with
Mere Christianity, then
Miracles, then
The Problem of Pain. I didn't care much for
The Problem of Pain at the time.
The Screwtape Letters didn't initially work for me either, thought I have since found something to like in it. I should probably give
The Problem of Pain another chance as well.
Around that time the combination of reading two -- no,
three -- things -- a clever and strirring synopsis of Shakespeare's King Lear by Fritz Leiber, and an essay that dealt in part with King Lear -- the part about First Servant, and how his would have been the best part to play if it had been Real Life -- by C.S. Lewis, and another essay by Lewis about Shakespearean criticism, titled "Hamlet: the Prince Or the Poem?" -- prompted me to give Shakespeare another chance too, after having been thoroughly put off the Bard's work by the way it had been taught in high school. Hm, now that I think of it, reading Huxley's
Brave New World about that time may have played a role as well. It's funny how sometimes a lot of things will converge at once.
Anyway I collected and read a lot of Lewis' work thoughout the Eighties, and came to think of him as a sort of posthumous "master," much the way he thought of George MacDonald. Around 1988-'89 I had a slight falling out with Lewis over something in his book,
The Four Loves, something about differing conceptions of patriotism. But I've gotten over it. Or, rather, I have "agreed to disagree" with him on some small points.
DWM
"It is when we try to grapple with another man's intimate need that we perceive how incomprehensible, wavering, and misty are the beings that share with us the sight of the stars and the warmth of the sun." -- Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim(1899?)