What was the name of C.S. Lewis’s 1955 autobiography?

Surprised by Joy was C.S. Lewis’s 1955 autobiography. The book recounts his childhood, education, intellectual development, movement away from Christianity, and eventual return to Christian belief.

Its title refers to Lewis’s use of the German concept Sehnsucht, a powerful longing or desire that he associated with experiences of beauty, literature, and imagination. The autobiography does not provide a complete account of every event in his life; instead, it focuses on the experiences he considered important to his intellectual and spiritual development.

A Grief Observed is sometimes mistaken for his autobiography because it is also personal, but it is a meditation on grief after Joy Davidman’s death. The Pilgrim’s Regress, meanwhile, is an allegorical novel published in 1933.