A Severe Mercy
Encyclopedia
A Severe Mercy is an autobiographical book by Sheldon Vanauken
Sheldon Vanauken
Sheldon Vanauken is an American author, best known for his autobiographical book A Severe Mercy , which recounts his and his wife's friendship with C. S. Lewis, their conversion to Christianity and dealing with tragedy...

, relating the author's relationship with his wife, their friendship with C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...

, conversion to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

 and subsequent tragedy. It was first published in 1977. The book is strongly influenced, at least stylistically, by the Evelyn Waugh
Evelyn Waugh
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh , known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer...

 novel Brideshead Revisited
Brideshead Revisited
Brideshead Revisited, The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. Waugh wrote that the novel "deals with what is theologically termed 'the operation of Grace', that is to say, the unmerited and unilateral act of love by...

. The book was followed by a sequel, Under the Mercy, first published in 1985.

The book is, in a sense, made up of two distinct parts: the first chronicles the love story of Vanauken and his wife, a love he refers to as pagan. The couple pledged always to put their love before all else, and the intensity of their devotion to one another and their exclusivity makes up the early chapters. However, as Vanauken and his wife, Davy, explore Christianity and are gradually converted, the primacy of their love for one another comes into question for both of them—though Vanauken's conversion is somewhat slower and more reluctant.

His analysis is aided by a correspondence with C.S. Lewis, then an Oxford Don, and some of Lewis's letters are reprinted in the book. Vanauken's circle of Oxford acquaintances includes other recognizable names as well, including Catholic priest Julian Stead, who went on to author books of religious poetry and a noted text on St. Benedict's rule of life.

A Severe Mercy is undoubtedly Vanauken's best known and most successful book, and a movie based on the story is in the works. However, his first published work was a small booklet called "Encounter with Light", written about 1960 and available only from Wheaton College in Illinois today. Vanauken's only novel, Gateway to Heaven, was published by Harper & Row in 1980.

A Severe Mercy won 1980 National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...

in category Religion/Inspiration - Paperback

The 1985 sequel to A Severe Mercy, Under the Mercy, spans many years after the death of Vanauken's wife, years during which he first fell away from "the obedience" and then returned and eventually converted to Catholicism.

In December 2009 Origin Entertainment obtained the rights to begin writing the screenplay of this story, although production has been halted for financial reasons.
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