Promotional Information

Covers the life, times, and works of C.S. Lewis in a comprehensive set that leaves no stone unturned

Table of Contents

Volume I: An Examined Life Acknowledgments Preface Chapter 1 An Examined Life: Introducing C. S. Lewis Chapter 2 Lewiss Belfast Childhood (1898-1908) Chapter 3 Lewiss Schooling: Trials and Tribulations (1908-1917) Chapter 4 Lewis and Military Service: War and Remembrance (1917-1918) Chapter 5 Lewis the Reluctant Convert: Surprised by Faith Chapter 6 Lewis in Oxford: the Student Years (1917-1923) Chapter 7 Lewis in Oxford: the Early Tutorial Years (1924-1940) Chapter 8 Lewis in Oxford: the Later Tutorial Years (1940-1953) Chapter 9 Lewis in Cambridge: the Professorial Years (1954-1963) Chapter 10 C. S. Lewis and Owen Barfield: Adversaries and Confidantes Chapter 11 C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien: Friends and Mutual Mentors Chapter 12 C. S. Lewis and Joy Davidman: The Severe Mercies of Late Romance Chapter 13 A Grief Observed: Lewis as Diarist Author Biographical Notes Volume II: Fantasist, Mythmaker, and Poet Chapter 1 Patches of Godlight: C. S. Lewis as Imaginative Writer Chapter 2 Rehabilitating H. G. Wells: C. S. Lewiss Out of the Silent Planet :Chapter 3 Perelandra: A Tale of Paradise Retained Chapter 4 That Hideous Strength: Spiritual Wickedness in High Places Chapter 5 The World of Narnia: Medieval Magic and Morality Chapter 6 Sons of Adam, Daughters of Eve, Children of Aslan :Interacting with the Nonhuman in The Chronicles of Narnia Chapter 7 Cartography and Fantasy: Hidden Treasures in the Maps of The Chronicles of Narnia Chapter 8 Till We Have Faces: A Study of the Soul and the Self Chapter 9 C. S. Lewiss Short Fiction and Unpublished Works Chapter 10 Telling the Truth Upside Down: The Screwtape Letters Chapter 11 Columns of Light: The Pre-Conversion Narrative Poetry of C. S. Lewis Chapter 12 Early Lyric Poetry: Spirits in Bondage (1919) and Joy (1924) Chapter 13 Topical Poems: Lewis Post-Conversion Poetry Author Biographical Notes Volume III: C. S. Lewis: Apologist, Philosopher, and Theologian Chapter 1 The Ecumenical Apologist: Understanding C. S. Lewiss Defense of Christianity Chapter 2 C. S. Lewis as Allegorist Chapter 3 Mere Christianity: Uncommon Truth in Common Language Chapter 4 The Sermons of C. S. Lewis: The Oxford Don as Preacher Chapter 5 The Abolition of Man: C. S. Lewiss Philosophy of History Chapter 6 The Great Divorce: Journey to Heaven and hell Chapter 7 Miracles: C. S. Lewiss Critique of Naturalism Chapter 8 Stealing Past the Watchful Dragons: C. S. Lewiss Incarnational Aesthetics and Todays Emerging Imagination Chapter 9 Letters to Malcolm: C. S. Lewis on Prayer Chapter 10 An Apologists Evening Prayer: Reflecting on C. S. Lewiss Reflections on the Psalms Chapter 11 Understanding C. S. Lewiss Surprised by Joy: A Most Reluctant Autobiography Chapter 12 Gifted Amateurs: C. S. Lewis and the Inklings Author Biographical Notes Volume IV: C. S. Lewis: Scholar, Teacher, and Public Intellectual Chapter 1 The Christian Intellectual in the Public Square: C. S. Lewiss Enduring American Reception Chapter 2 The Letters of C. S. Lewis: Lewis as Correspondent Chapter 3 The Four Loves: C. S. Lewiss Theology of Love Chapter 4 C. S. Lewis as Philologist: Studies in Words Chapter 5 The Inklings Abroad: Reading C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien Outside the U. K. and North America Chapter 6 The Allegory of Love and The Discarded Image: Lewis as Medievalist Chapter 7 English Literature in the Sixteenth Century: C. S. Lewis as Literary Historian Chapter 8 Everymans Tutor: C. S. Lewis on Reading and Criticism Chapter 9 A Most Potent Rhetoric: C. S. Lewis, Congenital Rhetorician Chapter 10 C. S. Lewis as Scholar of Metaphor, Narrative and Myth Chapter 11 C. S. Lewis and the Media: Cinematic and Stage Treatments of Lewiss Life and Work Chapter 12 C. S. Lewis Scholarship: A Bibliographical Overview Chapter 13 Valediction From the Shadowlands: C. S. Lewis and the Gospel of Homesickness Author Biographical Notes

About the Author

BRUCE L. EDWARDS is Professor and Associate Dean at Bowling Green State University. His works include The C. S. Lewis Readers Encyclopedia, for which he served on the editorial board and wrote 25 entries, The Taste of the Pineapple: Essays on C. S. Lewis as Critic, Reader, and Imaginative Writer, Not a Tame Lion: The Spiritual World of Narnian, and Further Up and Further In: Understanding C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Reviews

"Edwards...the author of five other books on C. S. Lewis, in part seeks to correct what he sees as failings in the approaches taken in recent Lewis biographies. These failings, he believes, include an emphasis on perceived personality defects in the author that taint the treatment of his religious conviction and scholarship and, in contrast, an excessive veneration in some biographies that has tended to reduce consideration of Lewis's scope and accomplishments to a few selected aspects of his life and work. To set the record straight, Edwards has gathered a wide-ranging and well-ordered group of essays from an international panel of contributors and divided them into four volumes meant to cover more comprehensively all major aspects of Lewis's life and career.... [T]his is the most thorough and current collection available of analysis and opinion on Lewis.... [R]ecommended for academic and large public libraries." - Library Journal

"The master apologist did not ruminate about himself overmuch. Although he did take his experiences in life into account including his Belfast childhood rife with troubles at school, his service in war, his successes (which were not inconsiderable) at Oxford and Cambridge, his friendships, marriage and bereavement he believed those experiences to be not unique to himself but part of any life. In this he was exceedingly modest, and this set of essays on Lewis's life and work prove so in biographical pieces, critical reviews of works ranging from theology to fantasy, commentary on his role as a Christian intellectual, reviews of his work as a literary historian, tutor and lecturer, and considerations of him as a lover of words." - Reference & Research Book News