Which C.S. Lewis autobiography recounts his intellectual and spiritual journey?

Surprised by Joy is the C.S. Lewis autobiography that recounts his intellectual and spiritual journey.

Published in 1955, the book traces Lewis’s development from childhood in Belfast through his education, service in the First World War, academic career, and return to Christianity. It is not a complete chronological record of every part of his life; instead, it concentrates on experiences that shaped his thinking and religious outlook.

The title refers to Lewis’s idea of “Joy,” a recurring longing or desire that he considered distinct from ordinary happiness. He associated this longing with imaginative experiences, literature, and moments of intense awareness. The book describes how such experiences influenced his eventual conversion from atheism to Christianity.

Surprised by Joy ends before the later public phase of Lewis’s career, including his wartime broadcasts and the Narnia books. Readers sometimes confuse it with A Grief Observed, which focuses on mourning after Joy Davidman’s death, or The Pilgrim’s Regress, an allegorical novel published in 1933.