Lewis first met the American writer Joy Davidman in Oxford in 1952, following a lengthy correspondence. They were married in a civil ceremony at the Oxford Registry Office in 1956 in order to allow Joy to secure British citizenship and remain in the U.K. indefinitely. Shortly after their marriage Joy was diagnosed with cancer. In 1957 Lewis and Joy celebrated a full Christian ceremony at her hospital bed. The couple enjoyed a few years of happiness together, honeymooning in Ireland and visiting the Classical sites of Greece, before Joy died in 1960.
Letter from Lewis to Joy Davidman, 1953
Lewis and Joy’s relationship began with a series of letters in which they discussed spiritual matters and their shared love of fantasy writing. In this letter, Lewis describes his enthusiastic reaction to Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End (1953), which Joy had encouraged him to read.
The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS Eng. Lett. c.220/4, fols. 19-20
Fair copy of A Grief Observed (1961)
Following Joy’s death in 1960, Lewis poured out his grief into four empty notebooks. He later revised them as A Grief Observed, published in 1961.
The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS Dep. 763
First edition of A Grief Observed (Faber and Faber, 1961)
Lewis originally planned to publish A Grief Observed under the pseudonym Dimidius, meaning ‘halved’. Following advice from his publisher, T.S. Eliot, he switched to a pseudonym that he used for much of his occasional poetry: N.W. Clerk.
Magdalen College Library, Magd. LEWI-C (GRI) (res.)
Photograph of C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman
Joy Davidman and Lewis with Susie the dog, 1958.
Permission to reproduce given by the estate of Walter Hooper
First edition of Till We Have Faces (1956)
Lewis first began working on a new version of the Cupid and Psyche myth as a student. It was conversations with Joy that stimulated him to write it in the form of a novel, published as Till We Have Faces (1956) and dedicated to Joy.
Magdalen College Library, Magd. LEWI-C (TIL) 1956 (res.)
Photographs of the making of Shadowlands
The story of their relationship and Joy’s death was told in the 1993 film Shadowlands, in which Sir Anthony Hopkins played Lewis.
Magdalen College Archives, PH/P/133/1-4
Bust of C.S. Lewis
This bust of C.S. Lewis in bronze was sculpted by Faith Tolkien. Her sculpture of her father-in-law, J.R.R. Tolkien, can be seen in Exeter College chapel.
Magdalen College Chattels