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Loading... The Screwtape Letters (1942)by C.S. Lewis (Author)
None.  MarieAlt | Mar 31, 2013 |  I was introduced to this famous book by an experienced man of letters, whom I will decline to name here without his permission. He said that it was one of the few overtly Christian works which he (a non-observant Jew) considered to be plausible, even persuasive, in its argument. This man was, for what it's worth, also the man who introduced me to the delights of Edward Gorey and Stendhal. Anyway, at the time, the praise of Lewis seemed most impressive, particularly as I was at the time exsperiencing the first stirrings of serious religious curiosity. With all due respect to my informant, the bloom was off long before I finished the book, and subsequent efforts to discover the wonder of it have merely left me wondering what all the flap is about. There doubtless are people who seriously believe that they have been brought closer to God by this book, but they are -- to borrow a phrase from a much superior writer, WC Brann -- the sort of person who could acquire a case of delirium tremens from the froth in a pop-bottle. (  ) HarryMacDonald | Mar 3, 2013 | There are some good points in this book, but the letters format seems rather strained and contrived. And it's a rather of its time with lots of references to the second world war, which was at its height when this book was written. There are some timeless truths in this book, but I think I would have got more out of it if it had been presented in a different format, and with less focus on the 1940s. (  ) Pondlife | Nov 10, 2012 | My 1979 edition (bought in Oxford, UK) is illustrated by a cartoonist called Pappas. The illustrations are clever enough, but not always in step with the text. The book itself is in my opinion the best thing Lewis ever did (even allowing for the way he turns some of his prejudices into eternal verities, straight from Enemy HQ). I've found that I still often reflect on some of Lewis's insights from this book, e.g.: God wants people to be concerned with what they do; the devil wants them to worry about what may happen to them. Tell it, Brother Clive! However you understand the concept of evil, there is wisdom in that insight. 1  Muscogulus | Jul 29, 2012 | Screwtape is definitely a Christian classic (and I would add a literature classic as well). As most know, the title character is a is a senior demon whose letters to his nephew, Wormwood, provide instructions in leading a person astray. It is amazing that Lewis's insights into human nature are just as timely now as they were when the book was first published over sixty years ago (1941). This is one of those books you can read again and again over a lifetime and pull something new from it each time it is read. (  ) Bill.Bradford | Jun 9, 2012 |
 "The devil," said Thomas More, "cannot endure to be mocked," and which, if correct, means that somewhere in the inferno there must be considerable annoyance.
Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0060652934, Paperback)Who among us has never wondered if there might not really be a tempter sitting on our shoulders or dogging our steps? C.S. Lewis dispels all doubts. In The Screwtape Letters, one of his bestselling works, we are made privy to the instructional correspondence between a senior demon, Screwtape, and his wannabe diabolical nephew Wormwood. As mentor, Screwtape coaches Wormwood in the finer points, tempting his "patient" away from God.Each letter is a masterpiece of reverse theology, giving the reader an inside look at the thinking and means of temptation. Tempters, according to Lewis, have two motives: the first is fear of punishment, the second a hunger to consume or dominate other beings. On the other hand, the goal of the Creator is to woo us unto himself or to transform us through his love from "tools into servants and servants into sons." It is the dichotomy between being consumed and subsumed completely into another's identity or being liberated to be utterly ourselves that Lewis explores with his razor-sharp insight and wit. The most brilliant feature of The Screwtape Letters may be likening hell to a bureaucracy in which "everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives the deadly serious passions of envy, self-importance, and resentment." We all understand bureaucracies, be it the Department of Motor Vehicles, the IRS, or one of our own making. So we each understand the temptations that slowly lure us into hell. If you've never read Lewis, The Screwtape Letters is a great place to start. And if you know Lewis, but haven't read this, you've missed one of his core writings. --Patricia Klein (retrieved from Amazon Sun, 31 Oct 2010 17:41:53 -0400) A series of congenial letters from Screwtape, an elderly devil, advising his nephew Wormwood, an apprentice devil, how to corrupt his earthly "patient." |
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Wikipedia in English (1)
You may not agree with his conclusions, but I think Lewis does demonstrate a remarkable handle on human psychology (though he is talking of 'man'kind), and it's fun to read about regardless. If you can read it like that without agreeing with him, you might enjoy it too. Again, mostly fun in terms of the criticisms. What can I say, I'm a cynic.
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