The Screwtape Letters

Written by C.S. Lewis and first published in 1942, the book is comprised of a series of 31 letters from a senior demon named Screwtape to his neophyte tempter, his nephew Wormwood. The letters are largely regarding the nature of man, his relationship to God and Wormwood’s new assignment, a Christian man living in WWII era London.

Why bother to post about a book this old? It reads as if written yesterday. The themes are timeless. As a Lewis fan, I cannot believe I missed this book. From Chapter II:

Work hard, then, on the disappointment or anticlimax which is certainly coming to the patient during his first few weeks as a churchman. The Enemy allows this disappointment to occur on the threshold of every human endeavour. It occurs when the boy who has been enchanted in the nursery by Stories from the Odyssey buckles down to really learning Greek. It occurs when lovers have got married and begin the real task of learning to live together. In every department of life it marks the transition from dreaming aspiration to laborious doing. The Enemy takes this risk because He has a curious fantasy of making all these disgusting little human vermin into what He calls His “free” lovers and servants—”sons” is the word He uses, with His inveterate love of degrading the whole spiritual world by unnatural liaisons with the two-legged animals. Desiring their freedom, He therefore refuses to carry them, by their mere affections and habits, to any of the goals which He sets before them: He leaves them to “do it on their own”. And there lies our opportunity. But also, remember, there lies our danger. If once they get through this initial dryness successfully, they become much less dependent on emotion and therefore much harder to tempt.

This is one book that will never be lent out; for one thing, I read the entire work chapter by chapter, each morning… in the bathroom. Sorry to be so blunt, but it’s custom made for this sort of reading; the chapters are very short and there is need for post read digestion and interpretation.
It’s back in the bathroom amongst the Triclear and toothpaste. I’m going to read it again.