to be the subject of the upcoming SouthFirst Bank Lecture Series.
SYLACAUGA, Ala. – On Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019 at the Comer Library, author Patti Callahan will tell the fascinating story of the unlikely friendship, romance, and eventual marriage of C. S. Lewis and Joy Davidman Lewis.
Callahan will discuss the relationship between two intellectuals who lived an ocean apart—the brilliant Narnia author and the fiercely independent mother and passionate woman who changed his life. The story will give a glimpse into the writers’ life and another time in history!
The two writers met in 1952 after an exchange of letters. Lewis, a confirmed bachelor, was by then a well-known scholar who had taught medieval literature for decades at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Davidman—a lesser known poet/writer with a degree in English literature from Columbia University—was a married woman with two young sons and an alcoholic husband.
Lewis had experienced religious doubt but had converted to Christianity in his thirties, becoming a leading defender of the faith. When Davidman, who had once embraced Communism and atheism, wrote to C. S. Lewis, she was looking for spiritual guidance and answers rather than love.
When Joy set sail for England to meet Lewis, she made the trip of a lifetime. Come hear Patti Callahan tell how the unlikely couple developed and cemented a relationship that C. S. Lewis later called “my whole world.”
Patti Callahan—New York Times bestselling author; graduate of Auburn University; and mother of three children lives in Mountain Brook, Ala. and Bluffton, S.C. with her husband. She is a much sought after speaker.
The “Celebrating Alabama’s Storied Past” adult lecture series is sponsored by the SouthFirst Bank. Refreshments are at 11:00 a.m. with the program at noon in Harry I. Brown Auditorium. Drinks and desserts provided by the library. For more information call 256-249-0961 or visit bbcomerlibrary.net.
Posted on January 22, 2019
by Kim Ellison
SYLACAUGA, Ala.