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Becoming C. S. Lewis, Volume 1: A Biography of Young Jack Lewis

Harry Lee Poe

4.10 · Rating details · 21 ratings · 13 reviews

"This excellent work will have readers eagerly anticipating the next volume." --Publishers Weekly

The writings of C. S. Lewis cannot be fully understood apart from a grasp of his formative adolescent years. Unfortunately, many biographies speed over this important season of Lewis's life.

Slowing down to focus on his younger years, this detailed portrait of "Jack" Lewis helps ...more

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Hardcover, 312 pages

Published November 12th 2019 by Crossway Books

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Nov 11, 2019 Becky rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2019goodrule-new, reviewcopy, operationbiography

Who is the primary audience of this new biography? I would say that it would most appeal to scholars. A strong interest in history, literature, philosophy, the first world war would certainly help. A love of Lewis' writing--his literary essays, his philosophy, his nonfiction, his fiction--would be an absolute must. It isn't enough to merely love and adore the Chronicles of Narnia. One must equally love and adore his other books and articles as well.

The premise of this one is simple, "During his Who is the primary audience of this new biography? I would say that it would most appeal to scholars. A strong interest in history, literature, philosophy, the first world war would certainly help. A love of Lewis' writing--his literary essays, his philosophy, his nonfiction, his fiction--would be an absolute must. It isn't enough to merely love and adore the Chronicles of Narnia. One must equally love and adore his other books and articles as well.

The premise of this one is simple, "During his school days, the boy who would grow to become C. S. Lewis formed his most important tastes in music, art, literature, companionship, religion, sports, and almost every other aspect of life. While his ideas and critical thought about what he liked and disliked would change, his basic preferences came together during this period and formed the foundation out of which his later life grew." And..."The questions of C. S. Lewis that began to form in his mind during childhood and adolescence would compel him toward answers that resulted in his conversion to faith in Jesus Christ many years later."

But above all else, this one requires an enormous amount of patience--the patience of a saint, perhaps?! It is tedious, cumbersome work. Unless you are incredibly curious to know about smallest details of his daily life, year after year after year after year...one could probably sum up everything you really needed to know about this time period in his life in about a hundred pages--maybe 112 pages.

This one is idea-driven. What ideas did C.S. Lewis hold during his childhood and adolescence? When did those ideas form? Did those ideas change throughout these years? Did these ideas change as he became an adult? Did they ever change? To what extent did he stay the same and to what extent did he change? What books did he read? When did he read them? Did he reread them? Did he talk about them with anyone? Did his opinions on those books, on those authors change over time? Are there any parallels between his own books that he would later write and those that he read? Are there any similar themes? What relationships were significant to him when he was eight? when he was nine? when he was ten? when he was eleven? when he was twelve? when he was thirteen? ETC.

So many WORDS. It's not that I didn't care at all. It's that I didn't care all that much. For example, do we really need to know how often a young Jack Lewis thought about sex? which friends he discussed sex with? what his sexual fantasies were? who he fantasized about? how Lewis viewed women at this time in his life? where he got his views of women from? I pick on this one issue--which I consider almost non-relevant to C.S. Lewis the author and theologian revered by Christian masses. Almost. I mean, I suppose it shows his fallenness. But still. And this is just one example.

All that being said...I can't deny the book was well-researched. He obviously spent A LOT of time finding out EVERY LITTLE THING he possibly could about C.S. Lewis. And I do believe there are a handful of readers in the world who will care because they share a similar obsession with anything and everything Lewis related. The details go to the extreme. But it's a solid read. ...more

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Aug 15, 2019 Bob H rated it it was amazing

Shelves: biography, literary-history, lgbt, religion, social-history

This is a well-researched and intriguing biography of C.S. Lewis, the author and lay theologian, and is the first of a three-volume work. Here, the book covers the first 20 years of Lewis' life, his formative years of his origins in Northern Ireland, his school years in England and his time on the Western Front in the latter part of WWI. It would be an eventful, often troubled boyhood, with harsh "public" (i.e., private upper-class) schools and his eventual tribulations in the war; it was a This is a well-researched and intriguing biography of C.S. Lewis, the author and lay theologian, and is the first of a three-volume work. Here, the book covers the first 20 years of Lewis' life, his formative years of his origins in Northern Ireland, his school years in England and his time on the Western Front in the latter part of WWI. It would be an eventful, often troubled boyhood, with harsh "public" (i.e., private upper-class) schools and his eventual tribulations in the war; it was a period that young Lewis would pick up an uneven education, encounter the rigors of puberty and fall out of religious belief.

The author, a C.S. Lewis scholar, has had the benefit of newly published memoirs, letters and material, and has also explored archives in Oxford and elsewhere. This book does draw out more detail about Lewis' life, even more than Lewis would describe in his own autobiography Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life. The author could have kept to this outline but has filled out Lewis' account with much more context and detail.

In a way, this book could be titled "The Education of C.S. Lewis" because it traces young Lewis' literary tastes, philosophy studies, intellectual habits and formative interests. We also learn of his socializing, usually negative, in school and his formative time later with a private tutor, W. T. Kirkpatrick, who seems to have been a gifted teacher and a good mentor. We even learn about Lewis' early erotic interests, along with those of his closest boyhood friend, Arthur Greeves, who unlike Lewis seems to have developed same-sex interests as well as shared intellectual interests. Lewis did spend a brief time at Oxford, much of it in officer training, and come to realize that the poshy disdain of the "bloods" -- upper-class boys he had encountered at school -- would not be there when he came back from the war, for many of the "bloods" would not come back from the trenches. All of this, the author tells us, is what would form C.S. Lewis.

The author does leap forward in his narrative a bit, foreshadowing Lewis' later Oxford friendship with his literary "Inklings" circle, notably influential friends like J.R.R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson, and their re-conversion of Lewis back to Christianity. This comes later, for Lewis at 20, in 1918, was yet to find fame and intellectual maturity, and just beginning to settle in at Oxford. Still, we see him on the cusp of a greater life, and the author shows considerable empathy in telling Lewis' story so far. His description of the educational milieu of Britain, its religious and social life, is perceptive and clear, and we learn much of Lewis' times, not just his early life. Highly recommend -- and I look forward to the next volume.

Read in advance-reading copy from Amazon Vine. Publication due out Nov. 2019. ...more

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Dec 04, 2019 John Stanifer rated it it was amazing

This new biography of C.S. Lewis, the first of a projected trilogy, focuses almost exclusively on Lewis's adolescent years from his birth in 1898 through the end of the Great War (WWI) in 1918.

That makes it fairly unique among the many, many biographies of Lewis. Most are more concerned with the Oxford years (Tolkien, the Inklings, Narnia) and/or his romance with Joy Davidman.

Why zero in on such a specific period in Lewis's life? It's easy to see why by the end of it. These are the years when This new biography of C.S. Lewis, the first of a projected trilogy, focuses almost exclusively on Lewis's adolescent years from his birth in 1898 through the end of the Great War (WWI) in 1918.

That makes it fairly unique among the many, many biographies of Lewis. Most are more concerned with the Oxford years (Tolkien, the Inklings, Narnia) and/or his romance with Joy Davidman.

Why zero in on such a specific period in Lewis's life? It's easy to see why by the end of it. These are the years when Lewis formed the tastes, passions, and pursuits that would occupy him for the rest of his life. Not surprising, considering that's the time of life most of us form the core of who we are.

Some of the information was familiar from the likes of George Sayer's classic biography "Jack" or even Lewis's own Surprised by Joy, though it never hurts to see information you thought you knew analyzed from a slightly different angle.

One of the most startling sections of this book, for me, was the presentation of Lewis's friendship with his war buddy, Paddy Moore. In short, Poe's account left me with the impression that Jack was far more interested in Paddy's mother, Mrs. Moore, than in his friendship with Paddy himself. I won't spoil the details, but this left me shaking my head a couple of times about how callous the younger Lewis (apparently) acted towards his dad, his brother, and his friend by comparison with how he treated Mrs. Moore. Of course, most of what we know comes from surviving letters, so it's fair to argue that this is, in the end, one more interpretation (albeit a convincing one) of evidence that has (mostly) been around for a while.

One of the points where this book shines brightest is in giving us a thorough treatment of Lewis's reading as a young person. What he read, how often he re-read it, and what it was in these books that appealed to him is described with a level of anecdotal and analytical detail that I haven't really seen to quite this extent (even if, again, there are things we knew from other Lewis biographies).

I'd be remiss if I failed to mention how GORGEOUS this book is. The cover, the photos at the front and back of the book (i.e. the endpapers), and the black-and-white photos scattered throughout ensure that those who DO judge books by their covers and physical qualities won't be disappointed in the least. A few of the photos have never been published.

I had the privilege of meeting Hal, the author, last month at Montreat College's Lewis symposium. Attendees had the chance to purchase early copies of the book, so I bought one and had it signed! I will definitely be keeping this on my Inklings shelf amidst the other classics of the field. ...more

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Nov 14, 2019 Kimberly rated it it was amazing

Becoming C. S. Lewis (1898–1918): A Biography of Young Jack Lewis by [Poe, Harry Lee]I found this book, Becoming C.S. Lewis, to be a well-researched volume. This is to be the first of three-volumes on the gentleman. It talks about the first 20 years of Lewis' life. His time in Northern Ireland, England and in WWI. He had his troubles during this time - his education was hit and miss, and difficulties with religion.

The author, Harry Lee Poe was able to use his research, including recent published ...more

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Aug 20, 2019 Brian rated it really liked it

Shelves: european-history-great-britain

Becoming C. S. Lewis follows the life of Jack Lewis from birth to his transition to adulthood at age 20 following World War I. The book focuses quite a bit on his school years and the literally influences and atheist world view he developed during that time. Harry Lee Poe, a Christian scholar, sets this as part 1 of a trilogy he is writing about Lewis life and conversion to Christianity. He shows how the groundwork for his faith is being set up during his formative years and after world war I he ...more

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Oct 26, 2019 George1st rated it it was amazing

As Harry Lee Poe demonstrates by counting the number of pages devoted to C. S. Lewis's influential and formative adolescent years found in their books, many previous Lewis biographies tend to devote insufficient space in examining this crucial period. This is rather surprising as Lewis himself in his autobiographical work Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life fully acknowledged this period's importance to his later development. This fully researched book drawing on material from the ...more

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Dec 13, 2019 Bethany rated it liked it

Many people know the name C.S. Lewis. When I think of C.S. Lewis, I think of the Chronicles of Narnia books that I enjoyed as a child. So, when I had the chance to read a biography of his childhood, I figured that it would be a great opportunity to see into the mind of a classic and well-loved author.

Becoming C.S. Lewis is a book about about the childhood and early life of C.S. Lewis, from 1898-1918. There will be other volumes available about his adulthood and later life. The book told about ...more

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Nov 14, 2019 Lisa rated it really liked it

C.S. Lewis concentrated heavily on his incredibly harrowing school days in his autobiography, yet many biographers think that their effect on him has been exaggerated! Professor Poe noticed this, and decided to restore Lewis's young life back into prominence. This was when his tastes and dislikes were formed - the older C.S. Lewis still liked and disliked the same things. This was also when he read the books which eventually led him to Christianity.

Poe delves deeply into Lewis's dark school ...more

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Oct 27, 2019 Shar rated it it was amazing

I thoroughly enjoyed this charming walk through the early years of the life of C.S. Lewis. My knowledge of him prior to reading this biography was pretty much limited to The Chronicles of Narnia! So I can’t possibly give an opinion on the content being accurate but I very much got the impression that this is a well-researched and honest biography.

It is focused on the education of Lewis and shows us how he began to develop from schoolboy to author, his influences and inspiration, it also covers ...more

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Nov 06, 2019 Darlene rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nonfictionnovember, netgalley-review, literary-reference

I received this book from Netgalley for review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
After reading this delightful biography on the early years of C. S. Lewis's , I have gained an entirely new perspective on the man, his reading life, his likes and dislikes, and his own works. There are several factors that affected the boy , his education and philosophy that surprised and enlightened me. His path to Christianity was ordained by Almighty God and a fascinating journey. Each of his lectures, ...more

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Dec 02, 2019 Katrina Zartman rated it really liked it

"The story of his youth and its significance suggests the importance of this period of life for everyone." In this book, Becoming C.S. Lewis, the author focuses on the early formative years of Jack Lewis's life.
What struck me most was the long-suffering and mercy of God that is displayed toward the proud and independent boy, youth, and young man.

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Nov 12, 2019 Cristie Underwood rated it it was amazing

Shelves: kindle

This was an in depth look at the impact beloved author C.S. Lewis' younger years had on his later writing. I found out so many new facts about this author and enjoyed this immensely!

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Nov 21, 2019 Maudaevee rated it liked it

This was an interesting biography, it focused on just the early (considered more formative) years of C.S. Lewis's life. It was well researched and I think a good view into those years.

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