Which C.S. Lewis book records his autobiography up to his conversion to Christianity?

Surprised by Joy is the C.S. Lewis book that records his autobiography up to his conversion to Christianity. It was published in 1955 and describes important stages in his intellectual and spiritual development.

The book discusses Lewis’s childhood in Belfast, his early reading, his experiences during the First World War, and his movement from atheism toward belief. Its title refers to Lewis’s idea of “Joy,” a recurring experience of intense longing connected with literature, imagination, and glimpses of transcendence.

Surprised by Joy is not a complete life story. It ends before the later decades of Lewis’s career, including the writing of the Narnia books and his marriage to Joy Davidman. The work is therefore best understood as a selective spiritual autobiography rather than a comprehensive biography.

The title can also be confused with The Pilgrim’s Regress, an allegorical novel published earlier. That novel reflects Lewis’s ideas, but Surprised by Joy is the explicitly autobiographical work.