شگفت زده شده توسط Joy: The Shape of My Early Life

Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life is a partial autobiography describing Lewis conversion to Christianity. The book overall contains less detail concerning specific events than typical autobiographies. This is because his purpose in writing wasnt primarily historical. His aim was to identify & describe the events surrounding his accidental discovery of & consequent search for the phenomenon he labelled Joy. This word was the best translation he could make of the German idea of Sehnsucht, longing. That isnt to say the book is devoid of information about his life. He recounts his early years with a measure of amusement sometimes mixed with pain. However, while he does describe his life, the principal theme of the book is Joy as he defined it. This Joy was a longing so intense for something so good & so high up it couldnt be explained with words. Hes struck with stabs of joy throughout life. He finally finds what its for at the end. He writes about his experiences at Malvern College in 1913, aged 15. Though he described the school as a very furnace of impure loves he defended the practice as being the only chink left thru which something spontaneous & uncalculating could creep in. The books last two chapters cover the end of his search as he moves from atheism to theism & then from theism to Christianity. He ultimately discovers the true nature & purpose of Joy & its place in his own life. The book isnt connected with his unexpected marriage in later life to Joy Gresham. The marriage occurred long after the period described, though not long after the book was published. His friends were quick to notice the coincidence, remarking hed really been Surprised by Joy. Surprised by Joy is also an allusion to Wordsworths poem, Surprised by Joy-Impatient As The Wind, relating an incident when Wordsworth forgot the death of his beloved daughter.