What was C.S. Lewis’s autobiography, published in 1955, called?

C.S. Lewis’s 1955 autobiography was called Surprised by Joy.

The book recounts Lewis’s intellectual and spiritual development, including his childhood, education, service in the First World War, movement away from atheism, and eventual return to Christianity. It is not a complete chronological record of every event in his life; instead, it emphasizes the experiences and ideas that shaped his religious journey.

The title refers to Lewis’s idea of “joy,” a sudden and intense longing that he associated with moments of imaginative or spiritual desire. He connected this experience with books, mythology, nature, and the search for transcendent meaning.

Surprised by Joy ends before many of Lewis’s best-known later achievements, including the publication of The Chronicles of Narnia. Readers seeking a fuller account of his adult friendships, marriage, or final years generally turn to biographies rather than this focused autobiography.