The fantastical fictional land of Narnia, famously reached via a magical wardrobe, has many connections to the world in which its creator C.S. Lewis lived. The influence of Oxford can be seen not only in medieval buildings and towers but also in the literature which Lewis encountered there, through a lifetime’s reading and teaching of classical, medieval and renaissance literature. Simon Horobin’s new book C.S. Lewis’s Oxford, examines the role Oxford, its colleges, libraries, chapels, clubs, common rooms and pubs, played in fostering the work of one of the twentieth century’s most influential writers and thinkers. It also takes a fresh look at his extensive involvement in Oxford’s various clubs and societies, including the Coalbiters, the Socratic Club and, of course, the Inklings, whose distinguished members coalesced around him and his great friend, J.R.R. Tolkien.
Prof Simon Horobin is Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Magdalen College. His recent works include: How English Became English: A Short History of a Global Language (2016); Bagels, Bumf, and Buses: A Day in the Life of the English Language, (2019).
