What is the title of C.S. Lewis’s 1955 autobiography about his journey toward Christianity?

C.S. Lewis’s 1955 autobiography about his journey toward Christianity is Surprised by Joy.

The book describes Lewis’s intellectual and spiritual development from childhood through his conversion. It discusses his early religious upbringing, loss of belief, interest in mythology and literature, service in the First World War, academic friendships, and eventual return to Christianity. Lewis became a theist in 1930 and a Christian in 1931, though he presents the process as gradual rather than a single simple moment.

The title refers to an experience Lewis called “joy,” a sudden longing or desire connected with beauty, imagination, and transcendence. He distinguishes this joy from ordinary happiness because it is often strongest when it is unexpected and cannot be deliberately produced.

Surprised by Joy is not a complete chronological record of every event in Lewis’s life. It emphasizes the experiences and ideas he considered significant in his conversion. It also ends before some major later events, including his marriage to Joy Davidman. The book is therefore best read as an intellectual and spiritual autobiography, not as a comprehensive biography.