Which C.S. Lewis autobiography describes his search for joy and was published in 1955?

Surprised by Joy is C.S. Lewis’s 1955 autobiography about his search for joy.

Published in 1955, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life describes Lewis’s childhood, schooling, intellectual development, and movement from atheism toward Christianity. The “joy” in the title is not ordinary happiness. Lewis uses the word for sudden experiences of intense longing or desire that he regarded as clues to a reality beyond themselves.

The autobiography ends before some of the most important later events in Lewis’s life, including his marriage to Joy Davidman. It is therefore a history of his early intellectual and spiritual formation rather than a complete life story.

Readers sometimes confuse the book with A Grief Observed, which concerns the death of Davidman and appeared under a pseudonym. Surprised by Joy instead focuses on the experiences that shaped Lewis before his public success.