Complete Correspondence (not translated)

More than three thousand pages of letters, from the seven-year-old child to the old man: the best biography of Lewis is probably the one he wrote without knowing it.

The first volume contains mainly the letters to his father, to Warnie and to Arthur Greeves, where the adolescent confides unreservedly, including about his torments and his atheism. The second covers his conversion, the Inklings, the war and his radio fame. The third tells of Narnia, Cambridge, Joy and the end. There are thousands of replies to unknown people, theological discussions, jokes, descriptions of walks and cats.

• Original title — The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis (3 volumes)
• First English publication — 2000-2006
• Genre — Correspondence
• First English edition — HarperCollins, ed. Walter Hooper: vol. I Family Letters 1905-1931 (2000), vol. II Books, Broadcasts and War 1931-1949 (2004), vol. III Narnia, Cambridge and Joy 1950-1963 (2006)
• Availability in bookstores — Not translated into French.
• Reading level — Variable — to browse
• For whom — For enthusiasts, in English.
• Year — 2000

themes

• Everyday life.
• Friendship (Greeves, Tolkien, Barfield).
• Faith in the making.

Family

Letters and autobiography

Other names

• The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis (3 volumes)
• Correspondence

More than three thousand pages of letters, from the seven-year-old child to the old man: the best biography of Lewis is probably the one he wrote without knowing it.

In brief

How to approach it

Level: Variable — to browse. For enthusiasts, in English.

The book in a few words

The first volume contains mainly the letters to his father, to Warnie and to Arthur Greeves, where the adolescent confides unreservedly, including about his torments and his atheism. The second covers his conversion, the Inklings, the war and his radio fame. The third tells of Narnia, Cambridge, Joy and the end. There are thousands of replies to unknown people, theological discussions, jokes, descriptions of walks and cats.

In the workshop of Lewis

Walter Hooper spent decades gathering these scattered letters.

What announces Narnia

The third volume contains the letters where Lewis explains Narnia to his readers.

What a modern reader will take away

In an era of instant messaging, these thousands of handwritten letters are impressive. They show a famous writer who considered it his duty to reply to everyone. For a reader of Narnia, the third volume is the most valuable: Lewis explains his books to those who read them.

The legacy he left behind

A major source for all biographers for the past twenty years.

Key ideas to remember

• Everyday life.
• Friendship (Greeves, Tolkien, Barfield).
• Faith in the making.

See also

• Letters from Narnia: C.S. Lewis writes to children
• Letters to an American (common title)
• The alter ego and the anti-self: Arthur Greeves and Owen Barfield, the two friendships that shaped Lewis
• Timeline of the life of C.S. Lewis

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis_bibliography
• https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis