What was C.S. Lewis’s Oxford conversion memoir, published in 1955?

C.S. Lewis’s Oxford conversion memoir, published in 1955, is Surprised by Joy. The book recounts important stages in his intellectual and spiritual development, including his movement from childhood Christianity to atheism and then back to Christian belief.

Lewis uses “joy” in a specialized sense: a sudden, intense longing that he considered different from ordinary pleasure. He connects this experience with literature, mythology, and moments of imagination. The memoir describes influences such as George MacDonald and his friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien.

The book is not a simple day-by-day autobiography. It focuses on the ideas and experiences Lewis believed shaped his conversion. He describes becoming a theist in 1930 and a Christian in the early 1930s, with Tolkien and Hugo Dyson among the figures involved in conversations about Christianity.

The title is sometimes confused with Lewis’s later books about grief or apologetics. A Grief Observed concerns bereavement, while Mere Christianity develops arguments and broadcasts rather than serving as a full personal memoir.