Work Classification Layer
Compare Works
Pick two or more works to set their attribute fingerprints, dimension-by-dimension passages, and shared school embodiments side by side. Especially useful for author-stage comparisons (Wittgenstein early vs late) and for setting a single tradition's foundational texts against each other.
Surprised by Joy
Lewis's autobiographical account of his conversion — the role of imagination, longing (Joy), and reason in the path from atheism to Christianity
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Surprised by Joy (Late-mature) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Infinite |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Non-Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Infinite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Space · Curvature | Flat |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Local |
| Matter · Extent | Infinite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Local |
| Observer · Time Instance | Single |
| Observer · Space Instance | Single |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Partial |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Both |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Personal |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Experience |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | Infinite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Energy · Conservation | Conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Irreversible |
| Information · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Information · Cosmic Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Personal Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Granularity | Continuous |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
Surprised by Joy
The biographical time of Lewis's life from Belfast childhood through his 1931 Christian conversion.
Space
Surprised by Joy
The specific geographic-cultural spaces — Belfast, Oxford, the Bookhams, the trenches, Magdalen College — of Lewis's formation.
Matter
Surprised by Joy
The embodied young Lewis — his health, his school experiences, his war wound.
Observer
Surprised by Joy
The mature Lewis narrating; the young Lewis being narrated.
Energy
Surprised by Joy
The energies of imagination, longing (Joy), and reason that organise Lewis's spiritual development.
Information
Surprised by Joy
The books read, the friends made, the experiences had — the discrete content of Lewis's formation.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The book has been variously read — as a faithful spiritual autobiography, as a strategic apologetic, as a partial account that omits much (Lewis's relationship with Mrs Moore is conspicuously absent). Subsequent biographical work (Hooper, McGrath, Wilson) has restored much of what Lewis chose to leave out.