C.S. Lewis’s 1961 memoir A Grief Observed was first published under the pen name N.W. Clerk.
Lewis wrote the book after the death of his wife, Joy Davidman, from cancer in 1960. It presents an intensely personal record of grief, anger, doubt and changing faith. The original edition appeared in 1961 under the pseudonym N.W. Clerk, allowing Lewis some privacy while the work dealt with his own bereavement.
The book was later reissued under Lewis’s name, and it is now read as an important document in the literature of mourning. Its directness distinguishes it from his more systematic theological books. Lewis does not offer a simple, settled account of grief; instead, he records how painful loss unsettles familiar ideas about God and love.
A common mix-up is the name Clive Hamilton, which Lewis used for some early poetry. N.W. Clerk is specifically associated with A Grief Observed.