Even after he achieved world-wide fame through books such as The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and The Screwtape Letters, the Belfast-born author C.S. Lewis – often regarded as uncomplicatedly English by critics and the general public – proudly and regularly described himself as Irish. What’s more, he frequently incorporated Irish elements into his work. This includes, for example, numerous allusions to Irish mythology, the repeated employment of Hiberno-English and Ulster Scots words and expressions, and a preference for tropes frequently found in Irish (and sometimes specifically Ulster Protestant) writing.
