Journal 1922-1927

themes

• The precariousness of a young academic.
• Life with Mrs. Moore.
• Intellectual development.

Family

Letters and autobiography

Other names

• All My Road Before Me: The Diary of C.S. Lewis, 1922-1927
• Personal diary
• Autobiography

Lewis’s early diary, written while he was an atheist, jobless, and living with Mrs. Moore and her daughter in a modest Oxford home: an unvarnished record of difficult years.

Quick facts

How to approach it

Reading level: Easy. For biographers and curious readers, in English.

In a few words

Lewis kept this diary partly for Mrs. Moore, who read it. It reveals his daily life: private tutoring to earn a little money, exams, job hunting, housework, walks, conversations with Barfield, endless reading, and the nervous breakdowns of a friend. The diary ends in 1927, when Lewis finally becomes a fellow at Magdalen College.

What to expect from Lewis

Written before his conversion; the title comes from a line of poetry that Lewis loved.

Direct link to Narnia

No direct link: the diary ends more than twenty years before the first Narnia book. It does, however, show the everyday groundwork of reading and conversation from which the writer would later emerge.

What today’s reader retains

This diary speaks surprisingly to our times: a brilliant recent graduate, jobless, taking on odd teaching jobs, running a household, and doubting his future. Today’s reader finds an unexpected Lewis, neither wise nor famous, and measures the distance he traveled to become the author of Narnia.

Lewis’s legacy

Precious for biographers, especially in understanding the relationship with Mrs. Moore.

Key takeaways

• The precariousness of a young academic.
• Life with Mrs. Moore.
• Intellectual development.

See also

• The household at the Kilns: Warnie, “Minto,” and Maureen, the family Lewis chose for himself
• The alter ego and the anti-self: Arthur Greeves and Owen Barfield, the two friendships that shaped Lewis
• Biography of C.S. Lewis (1): from Belfast to Oxford, 1898-1931