Under what pen name was C.S. Lewis’s A Grief Observed first published?

C.S. Lewis’s A Grief Observed was first published under the pen name N.W. Clerk.

The book appeared in 1961 as a series of reflections on grief following the death of Lewis’s wife, Joy Davidman. Lewis used a pseudonym because he wanted readers to confront the emotional and spiritual questions in the book without approaching it primarily as the testimony of a famous author.

The work is direct and unsettled rather than conventionally consoling. Lewis questions his own assumptions about suffering, prayer, and divine goodness. The author’s identity became known later, and modern editions generally identify Lewis openly. N.W. Clerk is not the same as Clive Hamilton, a pseudonym Lewis used for some of his earlier poetry.