What was C.S. Lewis’s 1955 autobiography about his conversion to Christianity called?

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

The book describes Lewis’s intellectual and spiritual development from childhood through his conversion. It discusses his early imagination, love of Northern mythology, education, service in the First World War, and changing views about God and Christianity.

Lewis became a theist in the late 1920s and returned to Christian belief during the early 1930s. His conversion was shaped by reading, conversations with friends, and his reconsideration of materialism. The book presents the process as an account of intellectual and emotional change rather than a simple sudden event.

The title comes from Lewis’s idea of “joy,” a powerful longing associated with experiences of beauty and imagination. Surprised by Joy is not a complete life story: it ends before many of his best-known books were published.