C.S. Lewis used the pseudonym N.W. Clerk for the first edition of A Grief Observed.
A Grief Observed was published in 1961 under the name N.W. Clerk. Lewis used the pseudonym because the book was intensely personal and dealt directly with his response to the death of his wife, Joy Davidman, in 1960. The disguise did not remain permanent: later editions were published under Lewis’s own name.
The work is structured as a series of reflections rather than a conventional memoir. Lewis records anger, doubt, loneliness and changing thoughts about faith. Its candid tone distinguishes it from his more systematic apologetic works such as Mere Christianity.
The title and pseudonym can both be misremembered. N.W. Clerk is the publication name associated with the original edition, while C.S. Lewis is the author readers now see on standard editions and bibliographic listings.