[devane617]

CS never achieved the success of his friend JRR, and I believe it dogged him until the end.

[peyton randolph]

CS never achieved the success of his friend JRR, and I believe it dogged him until the end.

CS targeted children with his books. JRR (and Rowling who emulated him), targeted both children and adults. In other words, CS succeeded but his target audience was narrower.

[far sider]

You must be projecting how you feel about Lewis and Tolkein. Lewis was more successful than Tolkein in his day. Lewis was even on the cover of Time magazine. I don't believe Tolkein was.

[q_an_a]

I would beg to differ with your view of success - CS Lewis was on the radio and his books sold much faster during his life than The Lord of the Rings. Lewis' books sold in the rang of 2 million a year at his death, but it was not until the late 60s that Lord of the Rings exploded to millions each year.

Two fine writers and devout Christians; which goes to show that fantasy that goes beyond anything Hollywood is doing, can be written because each let faith inspire their writing.

[BigSkyFreeper]

CS never achieved the success of his friend JRR, and I believe it dogged him until the end.

Doubt it. They were good friends and collegues to the end.

[Tennessean4Bush]

CS Lewis was the most influential Christian thinker and writer of the twentieth century. His influence among adults came more directly in that he wrote quite a few books including "Mere Christianity", "The Great Divorce", "The Abolition of Man", "The Problem of Pain", "The Four Loves", and so on. All were very successful in his day and still top Christian bestseller lists.

His "Chronicles of Narnia" series was directly aimed at children and has been enormously successful from the time of their release until now.

Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" series has been successful but not until the latter half of the century. His "Lord of the Rings" books were not just for kids, but also for adults.

Both writers have proven to be extremely successful, but in their day I am sure that Tolkien would say that Lewis was quite a bit more successful.