Man about town

Besides a handful of significant world leaders, few figures of the 20th century have been as consistently examined as C.S. Lewis. Collections of his letters have been published to great fanfare, multivolume biographies have emerged as bestsellers, and books about his various friendships and his creative life are beloved among bibliophiles (as we covered in the October issue when we reviewed John Hendrix’s lovely ode to Lewis’ friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien).

Simon Horobin’s recently published C.S. Lewis’s Oxford (Bodleian Library, 232 pp.) is another worthy addition to the field of Lewis studies. Less a biography of the man himself, it’s the story of the way the city of Oxford shaped Lewis’ faith, writing, and friendships—as well as the evolution of his professional interests.

Horobin, who, like Lewis, is a professor of medieval literature at Magdalen College, offers a tour of the chapels, libraries, colleges, footpaths, pubs, and other locations that became essential to Lewis’ understanding of his purpose and vocation—that helped him grow from the position of a college tutor to a renowned public speaker and apologist. Certainly the usual suspects are mentioned (e.g., the Eagle and Child, the pub where the Inklings often met; and The Kilns, where Lewis lived with his brother for several decades), but Horobin also explores lesser-known spots where Lewis most loved to read, write, walk, and chat. Especially interesting are the passages in which Horobin focuses on the way Lewis’ rooms at Oxford University itself (as well as the people he hosted in them) shaped his creative and spiritual life.

Lewis enthusiasts will also be pleased to find a variety of photographs, many of which capture the places the book describes. But especially compelling are images of book pages featuring Lewis’ detailed annotations inside various classic books, revealing the inner life of Lewis the reader.

Lewis is the rare person whose posthumous legend has grown to such a degree that he’s likely to be a figure of lasting influence. Because he was something of an open book—because we can read so much of what he thought, felt, loved, feared, and hoped—it seems unlikely the craze will cool anytime soon. This makes it all the more delightful to find a book of Lewis-alia that is readable, erudite, well researched, and uniquely framed. Lewis would probably be mystified by all the attention, but as he often wrote, what brings people joy is a mysterious thing.