What was the title of C.S. Lewis’s autobiographical account of his conversion to Christianity?

Surprised by Joy is C.S. Lewis’s autobiographical account of his conversion to Christianity.

Published in 1955, Surprised by Joy recounts major stages in Lewis’s intellectual and spiritual development. It describes his childhood, education, service in the First World War, friendships, reading, and gradual movement from atheism toward Christianity.

The title refers to Lewis’s idea of “joy,” a sudden and elusive longing that he associated with experiences of beauty, imagination, and desire. He treated this feeling as important evidence about his inner life, while distinguishing it from ordinary happiness or pleasure.

Lewis became a theist in 1930 and returned to Christian belief in 1931. His conversion was influenced by conversations with J.R.R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson, among others. Surprised by Joy is an intellectual memoir rather than a complete day-by-day spiritual diary, so it should not be confused with A Grief Observed, which concerns bereavement after Joy Davidman’s death.