What is the name of C.S. Lewis’s Christian autobiography published in 1955?

Surprised by Joy is C.S. Lewis’s Christian autobiography, published in 1955. The book recounts key stages in his intellectual and spiritual development, including his movement from childhood belief to atheism and then back to Christianity.

The title uses “joy” in Lewis’s distinctive sense: an intense, elusive longing that points beyond ordinary pleasure. He connected this experience with reading, imagination, nature, and the feeling of desire awakened by particular stories or landscapes.

Lewis describes important influences on his return to Christianity, including conversations with fellow Oxford academics. His friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien and discussions with other Christians helped shape the period in which Lewis abandoned atheism and became a Christian.

Surprised by Joy is not a complete diary or a conventional day-by-day memoir. Lewis selected episodes to explain his changing outlook, and he acknowledged that memory and interpretation shaped the narrative. A Grief Observed, by contrast, is his later reflection on bereavement after his wife’s death.