What was C.S. Lewis’s first completed novel, published in 1933?

C.S. Lewis’s first completed novel, The Pilgrim’s Regress, was published in 1933. Its subtitle describes it as an allegorical apology for Christianity, reason, and romanticism, and its structure echoes John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress.

The protagonist, John, travels through a landscape of ideas and encounters characters representing philosophical, cultural, and religious positions. Lewis wrote the book after his return to Christian belief, but he later acknowledged that its symbolic method could be difficult for readers who did not recognize the references.

The novel is important in Lewis’s development because it combines imaginative storytelling with argument. It predates his better-known fictional works, including the Space Trilogy and the Chronicles of Narnia. Its early date also places it before his BBC broadcasts and before his major wartime apologetic books.

The title is sometimes confused with Bunyan’s classic, which inspired its form but was not written by Lewis. The Pilgrim’s Regress is Lewis’s own twentieth-century allegory, and 1933 is its publication year.