Yet One More Spring
A Critical Study of Joy Davidman
- History & Biography
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Published: 2015
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Publisher's Description
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 Don King studies her body of work — including both published and unpublished works — chronologically, tracing her development as a writer and revealing Davidman's literary influence on C. S. Lewis.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.
Endorsements (6)
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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!”
“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.”
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