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Professor C S Lewis became a Fellow of Magdalene "by adoption and grace" (as he might have put it) in 1953 when he moved from Magdalen College Oxford to become Cambridge's first Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature. For the last ten years of his life Magdalene became his home in every sense, especially after the death of his wife Joy. It is a great pity that the stage play and film Shadowlands has so completely obscured this and created such myths about the marriage: except for the first few months of their meeting, the whole of their seven-year relationship fell within Lewis's time in Cambridge, and was conducted on a weekend and vacation basis, as Joy remained in Oxford.
Lewis was happy here: for one thing his Christian faith fitted in well with the Cambridge ethos. He was unbelievably well read in literature, at least down to Jane Austen, but his formidable intellect combined with a bluff and somewhat intolerant manner made him a dominating personality.
©2012 Magdalene College, Cambridge, CB3 0AG
Registered Charity Number 1137542