Questions About Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life

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Answered Questions (1)

What is the quote about when losing his mother, he felt like the great island had sunk and he was left adrift?

Lee With my mother's death all settled happiness, all that was tranquil and reliable, disappeared from my life. There was to be much fun, many pleasures, …moreWith my mother's death all settled happiness, all that was tranquil and reliable, disappeared from my life. There was to be much fun, many pleasures, many stabs of Joy; but no more of the old security. It was sea and islands now; the great continent had sunk like Atlantis.(less)

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Unanswered Questions (2)

In Chapter XIII, Lewis writes: "I returned to Oxford...in January 1919. But before I say anything of my life there I must warn the reader that one huge and complex episode will be omitted. I have no choice about this reticence. All I can or need say is that my earlier hostility to the emotions was very fully and variously avenged. But even were I free to tell the story, ..." Did he ever explain this elsewhere?

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Reading chapter 14 "Checkmate", trying to get in to his head when he writes "I felt as if I were a man of snow at long last beginning to melt.......I rather disliked the feeling." Not quite the "Joy" he was longing for, could this be his transition into faith?

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