Surprised by Joy is C.S. Lewis’s 1956 autobiographical book about his conversion and early life.
In Surprised by Joy, Lewis describes important stages of his intellectual and spiritual development, including childhood imagination, education, military service, academic life, and movement from atheism toward Christianity. The book’s title refers to a powerful experience of longing or desire that Lewis associated with moments of imaginative “joy,” rather than to simple happiness or pleasure.
Lewis’s conversion was gradual and involved several influences, including philosophical reflection, reading, and conversations with other Christians. The autobiography is not a complete chronological record of every event in his life. It is selective and organized around the development of his ideas and religious understanding.
The book is often confused with A Grief Observed, which concerns Lewis’s mourning after Joy Davidman’s death. It is also distinct from The Pilgrim’s Regress, Lewis’s 1933 allegorical novel, although both works reflect his religious and intellectual concerns.