Старый бес Баламут, очень важная персона в бюрократическом аппарате ада, пишет письма своему юному племяннику бесу Гнусику, в которых наставляет своего неискушенного в неправедной жизни родственника, как легче и эффективней сбивать с пути праведного род человеческий.
Письма сразу же по выходе в свет вызвали среди читателей настоящую бурю - как полного неприятия, так и абсолютного одобрения. Посвященные знаменитому создателю "Властелина колец" Дж.Р.Р.Толкину, "Письма Баламута" по сию пору воспринимаются в читательском мире как образец парадоксального мышления одного из самых знаменитых и "странных" писателей XX века.
Clive Staples Lewis was born in Ireland, in Belfast on 29 November 1898. His mother was a devout Christian and made efforts to influence his beliefs. When she died in his early youth her influence waned and Lewis was subject to the musings and mutterings of his friends who were decidedly agnostic and atheistic. It would not be until later, in a moment of clear rationality that he first came to a belief in God and later became a Christian.
C. S. Lewis volunteered for the army in 1917 and was wounded in the trenches in World War I. After the war, he attended university at Oxford. Soon, he found himself on the faculty of Magdalen College where he taught Mediaeval and Renaissance English.
Throughout his academic career he wrote clearly on the topic of religion. His most famous works include the Screwtape Letters and the Chronicles of Narnia. The atmosphere at Oxford and Cambridge tended to skepticism. Lewis used this skepticism as a foil. He intelligently saw Christianity as a necessary fact that could be seen clearly in science.
"Surprised by Joy" is Lewis's autobiography chronicling his reluctant conversion from atheism to Christianity in 1931.
... Show more