Which 1936 scholarly book made C.S. Lewis’s reputation as a medieval and Renaissance literary scholar?

The Allegory of Love made C.S. Lewis’s reputation as a medieval and Renaissance literary scholar. Published in 1936, the book examines allegorical traditions and changing ideas about love in medieval literature, with particular attention to works such as the Roman de la Rose and poetry by Edmund Spenser.

Lewis was already an Oxford academic, but this study established him as a major literary historian. It demonstrated his characteristic combination of close reading, broad historical knowledge, and clear argument. The book is a work of scholarship rather than a novel or a Christian apologetic title.

Later academic books expanded his standing. A Preface to Paradise Lost, published in 1942, addressed John Milton’s epic, while English Literature in the Sixteenth Century appeared in 1954. Those works are sometimes named when readers are asked about Lewis’s scholarly importance, but The Allegory of Love is the earlier 1936 book associated with the breakthrough in his academic reputation.