How Did C.S. Lewis Die?

Lewis technically died of pneumonia, but it was more an overall breakdown of his health. He'd been rather sickly all his life, and was a smoker (most men were at that time), and had had heart troubles. He'd also been severely weakened by caring for his wife Joy.

Trivia: his death would have garnered more attention but for the fact that it occurred on Nov 22, 1963 - the day John Kennedy was shot.
 
PrinceOfTheWest said:
Lewis technically died of pneumonia, but it was more an overall breakdown of his health. He'd been rather sickly all his life, and was a smoker (most men were at that time), and had had heart troubles. He'd also been severely weakened by caring for his wife Joy.

Trivia: his death would have garnered more attention but for the fact that it occurred on Nov 22, 1963 - the day John Kennedy was shot.
Click to expand...

In a sense I think it was better that another event happened on this day. I think he would've disliked it if people began elevating him to a "hero" status or giving him honors in anyway. He spoke of the need to be humble and of the dangers of the "greatest sin" which was pride. I think he is glad that his death was kept "low profile" so to speak.
 
BarbarianKing said:
In a sense I think it was better that another event happened on this day. I think he would've disliked it if people began elevating him to a "hero" status or giving him honors in anyway. He spoke of the need to be humble and of the dangers of the "greatest sin" which was pride. I think he is glad that his death was kept "low profile" so to speak.
Click to expand...

yeah, good point
 
Keep in mind that all those points about self-exultation and the danger of pride are only an issue for those of us still here on earth. Lewis was hardly in danger of being distracted by earthly glory after his death - his attention was fixed on things greater than any offered here. But for all that, I think that things played out as God intended. Perhaps if his death had been more noted, his works would have received a flare-up of interest as a "media event", and then died down. As it was, his effect on the world has been slow but growing - a "stealth" attack on the idolatry of the West.
 
I wish he were still alive, too. As a kid, I didn't think about it so much, but when I read the Space Trilogy I was in college, and I felt like I wanted to ring him up on the phone and discuss it; it seemed like he would have really had interesting stuff to tell me...of course, he was a bit of a grump and might not have wanted me ringing him up, even if he had been alive!

The humanist author Alduous Huxley also died on that day JFK and CSL died, and Lewis expert Peter Creeft (Kreeft?! I forget) has written a play about their simultaneous arrival in the afterlife which is quite insightful about the views of all three, as they discuss what happened to them and where they might be.

Seems like they are in utter darkness for most of the play as they discuss their lives and philosophies, then comes a moment when CS Lewis calls out for the others to look at the bright, beautiful light which is dawning -- the corrupted Catholic JFK says he believes he can see some sort of light barely flickering in the shadows, but sadly, atheist Huxley can see nothing but the darkness...

It reminds you of the dwarfs at the end of TLB who cannot see they are in Aslan's country, so it's a nice tribute to Lewis.
 
PrinceOfTheWest said:
Did Kreeft really write such a play? I'll have to look that up!
Click to expand...
I don't know that it was meant for performance, because, as I remember it, most of it happens in the dark. It is called "Between Heaven and Hell." It was really very interesting and insightful. Also, when I said "corrupted Catholic" above, I meant that JFK in this version of the play had sort of forgotten/neglected his faith, not that the faith itself is corrupt; clearly had the character in the play been more in tune with his faith, he would have seen, as Jack did, the wonderful light of Christ dawning -- but even with such familiarity with his faith as he had, he saw something and with time, would see more.

Yah, Miss Freckles, I was forgetting that I would be able to meet him some day! Also, I pray to him sometimes, that he would get Jesus to help me with my writing ... so maybe he already knows me a little.
 
Last edited:
PrinceOfTheWest said:
Keep in mind that all those points about self-exultation and the danger of pride are only an issue for those of us still here on earth. Lewis was hardly in danger of being distracted by earthly glory after his death - his attention was fixed on things greater than any offered here. But for all that, I think that things played out as God intended. Perhaps if his death had been more noted, his works would have received a flare-up of interest as a "media event", and then died down. As it was, his effect on the world has been slow but growing - a "stealth" attack on the idolatry of the West.
Click to expand...

Good point. I agree with you.
 
Maxie_Baby<3 said:
what are you guys talking about??? C.S. Lewis isnt dead, he is in Narnia :)
Click to expand...

Well, he's in "Aslan's Country" which is even better. But, actually, that's what I was going to say. I was going to say that he is no doubt quite happy to have departed "The Shadowlands" and to be, finally, at home where he belongs ... where we ALL belong.

“The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.” - Aslan at the end of "The Last Battle".

"He is caught up into that world where pain and pleasure take on transfinite values and all our arithmetic is dismayed." - Screwtape Letters. The Last Chapter.


Eärendil the Mariner said:
I always thought the date of his death seemed familiar, like something else important happened that day....
Click to expand...

And then, the very next day something else of world-shaking importance happened in the U.K. The first ever episode of Doctor Who aired for the first time!!
 
When I think of how JFK and RFK treated Marilyn Monroe like a blow up doll and not as a human woman worthy of respect, I only hope that Aslan showed both men just what it is like to be vulnerable, femininely exploited and terrified. For all that I disagree with Reg Dwight, he got it right with his original version of Candle in the Wind.
 
Back
Top