Yet One More Spring: A Critical Study of Joy Davidman

by Don W. King

Overview

The first comprehensive study of a gifted but largely overlooked American writer

Joy Davidman (1915-1960) is probably best known today as the woman that C. S. Lewis married in the last decade of his life. But she was also an accomplished writer in her own right -- an award winning poet and a prolific book, theater, and film reviewer during the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Yet One More Spring is the first comprehensive critical study of Joy Davidman's poetry, nonfiction, and fiction. Don King studies her body of work -- including both published and unpublished works -- chronologically, tracing her development as a writer and revealing Davidman's literary influence on C. S. Lewis. King also shows how Davidman's work reflects her religious and intellectual journey from secular Judaism to atheism to Communism to Christianity.

Drawing as it does on a cache of previously unknown manuscripts of Davidman's work, Yet One More Spring brings to light the work of a very gifted but largely overlooked American writer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467443562
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	09/15/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	296
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Don W. King is professor of English at Montreat College and editor of Christian Scholar's Review. He is also the editor of Out of My Bone: The Letters of Joy Davidman, The Collected Poems of C. S. Lewis: A Critical Edition, and A Naked Tree, the first complete collection of Joy Davidman's poetry, including forty-five love sonnets to C. S. Lewis.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction xi

Chronology of Joy Davidman's Life(1915-1960) xvi

1 Early Writings (1929-1938) 1

2 Letter to a Comrade (1938) 21

3 Communist Writer and Reviewer (1938-1945) 49

4 Into the Lion's Den: Joy Davidman and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1939) 71

5 Other Published Poems (1938-1945) 88

6 Anya (1940) 114

7 Disillusionment to Faith: Weeping Bay (1950) and Smoke on the Mountain (1955) 136

8 A Naked Tree: Joy Davidman's Love Sonnets to C. S. Lewis (1952-1956) 162

9 Last Things (1954-1960) 200

Appendix 231

Bibliography 234

Index 248

Editorial Reviews

Christianity Today 2016 Award of Merit for Culture and the Arts

Douglas Gresham
-- son of Joy Davidman Gresham Lewis
"Renowned as a scholar of my stepfather C. S. Lewis's work, Don King has long been fascinated and intrigued by my mother's writings. . . . An amazing portrait of a complex, extremely intelligent, deeply emotional, strong and courageous, yet emotionally fragile woman creeps out of the pages of this book."

Michael Ward
-- author of The Narnia Code
"This important new study of Joy Davidman's writings is knowledgeable, informative, and most welcome. Of particular value is Don King's pioneering discussion of Davidman's recently unearthed sonnet sequence, a series of passionate, self-lacerating poems whose discovery is causing a major reassessment of her literary -- and possibly even her personal -- reputation."

Diana Pavlac Glyer
-- author of The Company They Keep: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien as Writers in Community
"I was intrigued, enlightened, and at times frankly astonished by what I discovered in these pages. Part anthology, part biography, part literary analysis, Yet One More Spring is a comprehensive look at Joy Davidman's literary legacy. Thought-provoking. Challenging. Satisfying. And long, long overdue."

Joe R. Christopher
-- coauthor of C. S. Lewis: An Annotated Checklist of Writings about Him and His Works
"Joy Davidman: secular Jew, then Communist, then married with children, then Christian, then married to C. S. Lewis - all of these metamorphoses Don King traces in this book, evaluating her writing throughout. Davidman was a poet first and near the last, and a poet best. King has built the foundations for any future evaluations of her as writer."

Charlie W. Starr
-- author of Light: C. S. Lewis's First and Final Short Story
"King's best insights into Joy Davidman come from where they ought to -- a careful reading of her works and letters. His analysis of the implications of Davidman's newly discovered sonnet cycle on our biographical understanding of C. S. Lewis is reason alone to buy this book!"

Library Journal
"A vibrant reminder of the times in which she came of age and wrote, this book is designed to reestablish Davidman's place in the canon while showing something of the changes in her work as she moved from 'secular Judaism to atheism to Communism to Christianity.' Recommended for admirers of Davidman's work and for the reader who may want to know more about her years with Lewis."

Brett McCracken
-- Christianity Today
"This literary biography is a fascinating portrait of a woman who deserves to be seen as more than a famous man's wife. King traces Davidman's emotional, political, and spiritual evolution by closely examining her uneven but always interesting literary output. Though Lewis (naturally) has cameos, Davidman is the star: a strong woman and passionate writer whose love sonnets, especially, warrant closer examination."

Choice
"An affectionate tribute to American poet and writer Joy Davidman. . . . The book is well written; the bibliography is great. Recommended."

From the Publisher

10/01/2015
King (literature, Montreat Coll.; editor, Out of My Bone: The Letters of Joy Davidman) revisits the works of Joy Davidman (1915–60), born Helen Joy Davidman, whose contributions to literature have, in more recent times, been overshadowed by her marriage to C.S. Lewis and the film Shadowlands, which depicts their life together. Prior to her marriage to Lewis, Davidman was known primarily as a poet (who also wrote the occasional short story and other forms) and was relatively popular in U.S. literary circles. A vibrant reminder of the times in which she came of age and wrote, this book is designed to help reestablish Davidman's place in the canon while showing something of the changes in her work as she moved from "secular Judaism to atheism to Communism to Christianity." VERDICT Recommended for admirers of Davidman's work (Smoke on the Mountain) and for readers who may want to know more about her years with Lewis.—Pam Kingsbury, Univ. of North Alabama, Florence

Library Journal