The Fame of C.S. Lewis

A Controversialist's Reception in Britain and America

By: Stephanie L. Derrick

Narrated by: Elizabeth Sastre

C. S. Lewis, long renowned for his children's books as well as his Christian apologetics, has been the subject of wide interest since he first stepped-up to the BBC's microphone during the Second World War. Until now, however, the reasons why this medievalist began writing books for a popular audience, and why these books have continued to be so popular, had not been fully explored.

In fact, Lewis, who once described himself as by nature an "extreme anarchist", was a critical controversialist in his time - and not to everyone's liking. Yet, somehow, Lewis' books directed at children and middlebrow Christians have continued to resonate in the decades since his death in 1963. Stephanie L. Derrick considers why this is the case, and why it is more true in America than in Lewis's home-country of Britain.

The story of C. S. Lewis' fame is one that takes us from his childhood in Edwardian Belfast to the height of international conflict during the 1940s to the rapid expansion of the paperback market and on to readers' experiences in the 1980s and 1990s and, finally, to London in November 2013, where Lewis was honored with a stone in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey. Derrick tells us that, in fact, the author himself was only one actor among many shaping a multi-faceted image. The Fame of C. S. Lewis is the most comprehensive account of Lewis' popularity to date, drawing on a wealth of fresh material and with much to interest scholars and C. S. Lewis admirers alike.

©2018 Stephanie L. Derrick (P)2018 Recorded Books

eh ... there's something happening here ...

A sideways, weirdly veiled attack on the legitimacy of Lewis's work. Written by and for the sort of person who'd like to account for Lewis's popularity in some other way than "he was a great writer and thinker." So I guess if that's you, happy reading. Otherwise, save your credit for better fare.

Confused author

There are many things wrong with this book. Near the beginning there is a very long listing of criticisms from people in academia. VERY long. The author did not explain how this contributed to Lewis' fame. Nor did she acknowledge that that is what academics do. They critique one another. She said frequently that Lewis was projecting a persona, implying that he was not genuine about himself. A massive number of Lewis scholars would not agree with this. She talked about the CS Lewis brand as if he was just marketing himself. One reason for his fame, according to the author, was he was really lucky to come out with Narnia books just at the time that paperbacks were becoming popular and children's books were becoming a maturing genre. Why didn't this benefit all the other hundreds of children's authors? Also, she says, Lewis benefited from the wonderful marketing by his publishers. But the same marketers were helping all competing authors. The book is heavily negative about Lewis - so how did he become famous? There are many other problems with this book. I do not know the motives of the author, but they were not to explain Lewis' fame. Most Lewis scholars would say that Lewis became famous because he wrote very well and what he wrote was often profound.