A Grief Observed (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition)

By C. S. Lewis

Following the death of his wife, Joy Davidman, C. S. Lewis penned the emotionally charged and deeply introspective A Grief Observed. Originally published under a pseudonym due to concerns about the unorthodox views expressed by one of Christianity's most prominent defenders, the book stands as a remarkable chron

• Language: English
• Publisher: Warbler Classics
• Release date: May 8, 2023
• ISBN: 9781959891550

C. S. Lewis

Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) fue uno de los intelectuales más importantes del siglo veinte y podría decirse que fue el escritor cristiano más influyente de su tiempo. Fue profesor particular de Literatura Inglesa y miembro de la junta de gobierno de la Universidad de Oxford hasta 1954, cuando fue nombrado profesor de Literatura Medieval y Renacentista en la Universidad de Cambridge, cargo que desempeñó hasta su jubilación. Sus contribuciones a la crítica literaria, la literatura infantil, la literatura fantástica y la teología popular le trajeron fama y aclamación a nivel internacional. C. S. Lewis escribió más de treinta libros, lo cual le permitió llegar a un público amplísimo, y sus obras aún atraen a miles de nuevos lectores cada año. Entre sus más distinguidas y populares obras están Las crónicas de Narnia, Los cuatro amores, Cartas del diablo a su sobrino y Mero cristianismo.

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A Grief

Observed

First Warbler Classics Edition 2023

First published in the United States in 1961 by The Seabury Press, New York

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher, which may be requested at [e-mail].

isbn

978-1-959891-54-3 (paperback)

isbn

978-1-959891-55-0 (e-book)

warblerpress.com

A Grief

Observed

C. S. LEWIS

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Biographical Timeline

Chapter One

No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid. The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning. I keep on swallowing.

At other times it feels like being mildly drunk, or concussed. There is a sort of invisible blanket between the world and me. I find it hard to take in what anyone says. Or perhaps, hard to want to take it in. It is so uninteresting. Yet I want the others to be about me. I dread the moments when the house is empty. If only they would talk to one another and not to me.

There are moments, most unexpectedly, when something inside me tries to assure me that I don’t really mind so much, not so very much, after all. Love is not the whole of a man’s life. I was happy before I ever met H. I’ve plenty of what are called resources. People get over these things. Come, I shan’t do so badly. One is ashamed to listen to this voice but it seems for a little to be making out a good case. Then comes a sudden jab of red-hot memory and all this commonsense vanishes like an ant in the mouth of a furnace.

On the rebound one passes into tears and pathos. Maudlin tears. I almost prefer the moments of agony. These are at least clean and honest. But the bath of self-pity, the wallow, the loathsome sticky-sweet pleasure of indulging it—that disgusts me. And even while I’m doing it I know it leads me to misrepresent H. herself. Give that mood its head and in a few minutes I shall have substituted for the real woman a mere doll to be blubbered over. Thank God the memory of her is still too strong (will it always be too strong?) to let me get away with it.

For H. wasn’t like that at all. Her mind was lithe and quick and muscular as a leopard. Passion, tenderness, and pain were all equally unable to disarm it. It scented the first whiff of cant or slush; then sprang, and knocked you over before you knew what was happening. How many bubbles of mine she pricked! I soon learned not to talk rot to her unless I did it for the sheer pleasure—and there’s another red-hot jab—of being exposed and laughed at. I was never less silly than as H.’s lover.

And no one ever told me about the laziness of grief. Except at my job—where the machine seems to run on much as usual—I loathe the slightest effort. Not only writing but even reading a letter is too much. Even shaving. What does it matter now whether my cheek is rough or smooth? They say an unhappy man wants distractions—something to take him out of himself. Only as a dog-tired man wants an extra blanket on a cold night; he’d rather lie there shivering than get up and find one. It’s easy to see why the lonely become untidy, finally, dirty and disgusting.

Meanwhile, where is God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms. When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him, so happy that you are tempted to feel His claims upon you as an interruption, if you remember yourself and turn to Him with gratitude and praise, you will be—or so it feels—welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You may as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become. There are no lights in the windows. It might be an empty house. Was it ever inhabited? It seemed

Reviews for A Grief Observed (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition)

[Lourdes Varela · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent book, once again this book is deep and has a lot of analysis; it is one of those books to read more than once and meditate on thoroughly.
This book focuses on the consequences of "Relative morality"; which is true because if we stop to think that if no one has absolute truth and everything is relative, then if I harm someone on purpose, it's good because according to my morals it's correct, or stealing from someone is good because I think so, or as the current term goes "I feel this or that way, then it is correct and okay, therefore others must respect me and accept what I FEEL."
Definitely, this book presents us with a very strong and confrontational reality, demonstrating our sinful nature and that if we remove God from the equation, things go from bad to worse and the perversions of human beings know no bounds.
These are topics on which we must sit down to reflect and truly meditate on the truth. 100% Recommended. (Translated from Spanish)

[diegogt0 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I didn't expect much from this book, which arrived in my hands by chance, as the writer is not normally present in my library, but the way he shares his pain and grief so directly and naturally with the reader taught me that sometimes we unfairly punish certain stereotypes. Moreover, the way he tries to find that emptiness left by his flesh and blood, as he puts it, philosophizing on time and space, wanting to find answers in religious laws and other norms and paradigms speaks volumes about him and left me with his best possible version. Do you want to know what it feels like for a book to generate a feeling? Read this one. (Translated from Spanish)

[juanf1974 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

C.S. Lewis's novel talks about life and death. After the death of a wife, her beloved tells us about his days, his nights, his meals, his thoughts, his habits, and even his breath without the presence of the one who until that moment was, is, and will be the love of his life. The author goes around and around the same topic, seeing the same thing from all possible points of view, which in my opinion is a bit pretentious. Good intentions but a lengthy exposition. (Translated from Spanish)

[✨Jan Rguez ✨ · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

- "It's very easy to say that you trust the solidity and strength of a rope when you are simply using it to tie a box. But imagine you are forced to hold onto that rope suspended over a precipice. The first thing you will discover is that you trusted it too much."

- What is wrong with the world that it has become so flat, so petty, that it seems so worn out?

- Feelings, feelings, feelings. Let's see if instead of feeling so much, I can think a little. (Translated from Spanish)

[Zairaelejalde · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A Grief Observed (1961), written by Clive Staples Lewis, better known as C.S. Lewis (yes, the writer of The Chronicles of Narnia, he didn't only write fantasy; he is also one of the most recognized Christian apologists in the world). It is written in the form of that philosophical tool known as Socratic questioning, asking oneself to find the truth, although in reality, almost all of his books are similar, but this one is special; it is a love story told by the lover when he has lost his beloved. His story is like a movie (although there is already one called Shadowlands starring none other than Anthony Hopkins); they embark on unconventional circumstances, in a relationship that begins out of convenience between two opposing poles that end up complementing each other and forming a perfect whole. He even expresses it in his book; their marriage was so wonderful that now they had to continue, they had fulfilled the task entrusted by God when He said, "A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh," then came the end. (Translated from Spanish)

[paula1970 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another one of my pending reviews from 2019. I came to this book through a movie called Shadowlands, but this is not a biography, nor is it a fictional story; it is a reflection, an essay or a collection of essays about life, death, loss, and faith in God. C.S. Lewis loses his wife, and this is the starting point. For those who are believers and have lost someone close, this book allows them to contrast the ideas that may be swirling in their heads with the profound reflection of this author. For non-believers, it is also interesting, as it is written by an intelligent, cultured man. (Translated from Spanish)