What is the title of C.S. Lewis’s autobiography about his early life and conversion?

C.S. Lewis’s autobiography about his early life and conversion is Surprised by Joy. Published in 1955, the book traces Lewis’s childhood, education, intellectual development, wartime experiences, and movement from atheism toward Christianity.

The title refers to Lewis’s idea of “joy,” a distinctive longing or intense desire that he associated with moments of imaginative and spiritual experience. He describes encounters with literature, mythology, and philosophical ideas that helped shape his inner life. The narrative is selective rather than a complete day-by-day record.

Surprised by Joy ends before the later stages of Lewis’s public career and does not cover his marriage to Joy Davidman. It is also different from A Grief Observed, which deals with bereavement after Davidman’s death. Readers sometimes interpret the title as referring simply to happiness, but Lewis used “joy” as a more specific and elusive form of longing.