While at the event for "A Christmas with C.S. Lewis," I picked this up from part of the performance and on my mother's recommendation. It's a 'wickedly' delightful collection of letters from an older demon to a younger member of his family, giving continual advice on how to achieve his seduction of the soul of a good person to getting off the primrose path. ( )

The Screwtape Letters is a series of diabolical letters on the moral life of an individual. The writer of the letters, Screwtape, is an eminent demon in service of Satan. He is addressing his nephew, Wormwood, a lower level minion responsible for corrupting an individual. It appears to be set in the early stages of World War II, quite possibly 1940 during the London Blitz. Published in 1942, this epistolary novel comments on the nature of sin and temptation.

The version I read also contains Screwtape Proposes a Toast, published in 1962. Set in Hell, Screwtape is toasting a group of minions that will soon be unleashed into the world to wreak havoc on the consciences of individuals. In this short story, Screwtape criticizes society’s trends toward democracy and equality.

This book is a satire from a Christian perspective. It examines human behavior in an “upside down” manner. It is clever and witty. It provides food for thought on the nature of humanity and the inner battles between good and evil.
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A masterpiece of satire, this classic has entertained and enlightened readers the world over with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life and foibles from the vantage point of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to "Our Father Below". At once wildly comic, deadly serious, and strikingly original, C.S. Lewis gives us the correspondence of the worldly-wise old Devil to his nephew, Wormwood, a novice demon in charge of securing the damnation of an ordinary young man.
The Screwtape Letters is the most engaging account of temptation, and triumph over it, ever written. ( )

"Cartas del Diablo a su Sobrino" consiste en una serie de 31 cartas en la que un demonio llamado Escrutopo –el asistente del “Padre de las profundidades”– le enseña a su inexperto sobrino Orugario a tentar a un joven que se acaba de convertir al cristianismo. La misión principal de estos demonios es evitar a toda costa que el joven cristiano rinda su vida a quien ellos llaman “El enemigo” (Cristo). En este libro podemos ver el desarrollo de la vida espiritual del joven cristiano: sus luchas, sus tentaciones, su vida de iglesia, sus caídas, los momentos de arrepentimiento, su vida devocional, entre otras. En la vida del joven todo creyente puede identificarse.
Las cartas tocan entonces diversos temas, desde los hábitos y la familia, pasando por el orgullo y las relaciones amorosas, y hasta la diversión y la muerte.
Una característica interesante de este libro es cómo nos muestra aquellas ideas y pensamientos que a nuestro entender no son pecaminosos y que no nos alejan de Dios pero que a la larga su fin es camino de muerte.
Es un libro que a pesar de no utilizar versículos bíblicos (debido al estilo en que fue escrito) posee un gran contenido teológico. Cartas del diablo a su sobrino es una historia sobre las tentaciones, pero más importante, es una historia sobre el triunfo final. ( )

Lewis could be devilishly clever when he wanted, and that may be apparent no more clearly than in this book. I marathon-read this book in two days, but I'd recommend taking it a bit slower than I did. Unfortunately, Mr Screwtape's tongue drips with honey and the way Mr Lewis writes him is joyous to read; but it is all the same exhausting to read, and, apparently, exhausting to write, if CSL's words on the matter are taken seriously. I did not read the "short story" which follows, "Screwtape Proposes a Toast," although I did start it; I was simply too tired of Mr Screwtape to continue. His wickedness had worn me thin.

C.S. Lewis's writing and wit, however, shall never wear thin. At least, not for me. ( )