# The Screwtape Letters - this is great literature? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 19, 2008, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925 "2008-12-19T16:54:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925/21 "2008-12-20T04:03:11Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > I know what you mean. When I changed my user name, I was concerned people might think I had drifted left. And how wrong we were, my friend! Except for that whole Obama thing, which I blame on an understandable mancrush. 😉 Y’know, I gave _Screwtape_ a shot in high school, the same time I tried reading _Good News for Modern Man_ (it sucked), fell in with the Campus Life crowd, and even gave a shot at Pentecostal Catholicism a shot (don’t ask), and I STILL thought it was heavy-handed. And theologically suspect (I probably could never be CofE, though my mom–MY OWN MOTHER!–suggested it). ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925/22 "2008-12-20T04:13:09Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > I wouldn’t really call it literature; it’s not a story so much as a device to explain the theological points Lewis is trying to get across. I didn’t see it as “everything’s a plot by Satan to tempt you”, but another take on one of Lewis’s favorite themes: that the ordinary selfish blindness of narcissistic people is in the end as damning as overt acts of great evil. This is how I read it, too; it’s less about what Satan can do, and more about man’s poor choices. (One odd thought I had while reading it was that it was the Christian equivalent of World-War-2-era posters that lectured folks on their behavior on the homefront; “That pretty dame at the canteen? She may be a spy!,” “Loose lips sink ships!,” etc. Hyperbolic, seems to hint at a vast conspiracy designed to lure unsuspecting men into screwing things up, and was designed to point out potentially damaging, yet seemingly mundane personal behavior). I was really underwhelmed by the writing itself, and can only make it through a few pages at a time if I happen to pick it up. It makes me wary of picking up the Narnia books again, which I haven’t tried to read in a quarter century. ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925/23 "2008-12-20T04:42:40Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > (I probably could never be CofE, though my mom–MY OWN MOTHER!–suggested it). Well, if you live near the home of the Unibomber, I would agree, you never could be CofE 😃 – probably not even Anglican, unless you want to drive to Canada. Nitpick aside, I’m a big fan of _The Screwtape Letters_ – Lewis does have some good ideas about what’s wrong with humans, and I’ve always liked (well, aesthetically appreciated – you know what I mean) the air of brutal nastiness that he employs in a work that’s about being good, not avoiding evil, and that ends on what we would consider a high note. I found it incisive, what can I say? -Straight Man, new Anglican ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925/24 "2008-12-20T05:10:51Z")
> [@straight\_man](#): > > Well, if you live near the home of the Unibomber, I would agree, you never could be CofE 😃 – probably not even Anglican, unless you want to drive to Canada. **Nitpick Resolved:** Wrong home. He lived with his mother on the north side of town in the late 60s and early 70s. The Feds found traces of bomb parts in her shed. At that point he had no name, having not bombed anybody, but his earliest with the FBI was [Unabomer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unabomer). Because of that I chose his earliest location. For other reasons I’m “attached” to serial killers. ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925/25 "2008-12-20T06:25:35Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > **Nitpick Resolved:** Wrong home. He lived with his mother on the north side of town in the late 60s and early 70s. The Feds found traces of bomb parts in her shed. At that point he had no name, having not bombed anybody, but his earliest with the FBI was [Unabomer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unabomer). Because of that I chose his earliest location. For other reasons I’m “attached” to serial killers. Ah, fair enough, though my nitpick still works, FTR (unless Wikipedia is missing something.) But I do notice that I misspelled his name. Oops. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925/26 "2008-12-20T06:32:13Z")
Not Lewis’ best work. Preachy and ham-handed and self-congratulatory. Pick up his “Space Trilogy”, especially _Perelandra_ which has some of the best prose poetry ever written. Blows Milton away. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925/27 "2008-12-20T06:37:33Z")
Doesn’t matter. I hate to pull any sort of authority I have built here, but the fuckin’ book sucks and is a poor demonstration how one should view his Christianity. OTOH, _I’m_ a Godless, semi-Catholic–Heathen, whose beleifs may be disregarded And THAT, my brothers, shpuld be ignored to the extent as it is theology. Good God, as we talk of FOOKIN ASSES! they are fucked. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925/28 "2008-12-20T14:05:30Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I saw this for a dollar yesterday and since I’ve heard nothing but gushing praise for it for years, I couldn’t pass it up. > > I’ve only read about 4 or 5 letters so far but by god is it awful. It’s the most condescending, self-righteous glurge I’ve read since I quit opening emails from half the senior citizens I know. > > Even though I am an atheist, I like to think of myself as mature and able to handle a good book / movie / album, etc., even when I don’t agree with the message. I knew this was a Christian work going into it, and that it’s Christian isn’t what bothers me. It’s just so damn _ham-handed_. Who was his audience? If it was Christians, congratulations for preaching to the choir. If it was the non-converted, congratulations for talking down to us and turning this one off to your ideas. You win, big guy. > > On the off chance . . . is it building towards something? Am I being whooshed so far? Yes, it IS written for Christians. That’s not quite the same thing as preaching to the choir. What did you think, that it was intended to persuade non-believing you to become a Christian? Not at all. It was intended to remind Christians that conversion is just the beginning of a lifelong process. Every letter is intended to make Christians think about the small ways in which their faith can be undermined, and in which they themselves might be undermining the faith of others. Lewis would have approved of Albert Brooks’ rant in “Broadcast News,” in which he says that the Devil is not a scary guy with horns and a pitchfork, but a pleasant, smiling guy who’ll try to persuade you to lower your standards… JUST a little. A Christian who reads “Screwtape” is supposed to recognize his own weaknesses and his own failings. Very, very few people (religious or not) lead lives of utter depravity, cruelty and evil. On the other hand, MANY of us (religious or not) get stuck in a rut, in which we go through the motions, acting as if our ideals mattered to us, when an objective observer might suggest we must NOT take our ideals very seriously. Screwtape’s letters to his nephew are a constant reminder that we don’t HAVE to commit truly heinous sins to be bad Christians or to miss out on Heaven. Our own weakness, pettiness and selfishness can easily turn us into half-hearted Christians who feel no genuine love for other people, and who rationalize away their failures to live according to their supposed beliefs. The Devil might LIKE us all to be utterly wicked people who are utterly deserving of Hell, but he’ll settle for us being mediocre people who are utterly undeserving of Heaven. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925/29 "2008-12-20T23:37:28Z")
The first thing you should know is that _The Screwtape Letters_ is a work of fiction. It’s not primarily intended to be an exposition of ideas. This is one of the main things that both people who like and those who dislike Lewis’s works misunderstand. Even his nonfiction books aren’t intended to be a detailed explanation of all his thoughts about a subject (except for some of his scholarly books, which you probably haven’t read anyway). I’m tired of hearing Lewis fans treat _Mere Christianity_ as if Lewis intended it to be the _Summa Theologica_. It’s a essay on some basic ideas about Christianity. Since it’s an epistolary novel, the most important thing is that it should have interesting characters. (The most important element of some novels is the plot, but _The Screwtape Letters_ isn’t that kind of novel.) If you don’t find Screwtape (and perhaps Wormwood and the young man being tempted) to be interesting characters, the novel fails. The book is also somewhat like an extended comedy monologue with the speaker gradually revealing things about himself and his view of the world. Like any other book that some people consider a classic, other people just don’t get it. It’s not a big deal. Not every book is for everybody. Move on and read something else. You might as well finish it first though. It’s only something like 30,000 to 35,000 words long. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925/30 "2008-12-21T03:18:07Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > The first thing you should know is that _The Screwtape Letters_ is a work of fiction. It’s not primarily intended to be an exposition of ideas. This is one of the main things that both people who like and those who dislike Lewis’s works misunderstand. Even his nonfiction books aren’t intended to be a detailed explanation of all his thoughts about a subject (except for some of his scholarly books, which you probably haven’t read anyway). I’m tired of hearing Lewis fans treat _Mere Christianity_ as if Lewis intended it to be the _Summa Theologica_. It’s a essay on some basic ideas about Christianity. And for that matter, Mere Christianity was intended also to help encourage people in the middle of England in _World War effin’ II_. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925/31 "2008-12-21T03:50:02Z")
I would largely agree with what **Astorian** and **Wendell** have said. It’s a good book, not a great book, not intended to convert anyone, but rather to make certain points. The one thing I’d add is that the central idea would seem a lot more original when Lewis first published it. These days all of pop culture is suffused with the type of postmodern ethos that we incorrectly call “irony”, and half the things you see and read are supposed to express the exact opposite of their literal meaning–see Stephen Colbert, The Onion, etc… Seventy years ago, the idea of writing in that manner was rare, though certainly not unheard of. And offering a series of lectures by a minion of Hell would certainly be a bit risque. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925/32 "2008-12-21T08:50:35Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Not Lewis’ best work. Preachy and ham-handed and self-congratulatory. Pick up his “Space Trilogy”, especially _Perelandra_ which has some of the best prose poetry ever written. Blows Milton away. Perelandra is one of my favorite books. And I’m an atheist. Lewis finds the holes in Christian theology and finds a perfectly reasonable explanation. All while tearing your guts out with the emotion of the thing. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925/33 "2008-12-21T12:00:41Z")
I read it as a fairly conservative Christian and liked it, but found it challenged a few of my dearly-held notions. I’ve read it again since becoming a rather liberal Christian prone to entertaining heresy and I still enjoy it, and find it challenges a number of my comfort zones. I don’t think it’s a _great_ book, but it’s a good one - cleverly constructed and achieves exactly what it intends. I could well imagine that some non-Christian folks might find it all kinds of annoying, but that’s not necessarily indicative of something wrong with either the book, or the reader, beyond a simple mismatch of the two. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925/34 "2008-12-21T12:28:41Z")
As is apparent from the thread **Thudlow Boink** linked to, this atheist loved the book. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925/35 "2008-12-21T16:31:22Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Pick up his “Space Trilogy”, especially _Perelandra_ which has some of the best prose poetry ever written. Blows Milton away. Where in _Perelandra_ is there prose poetry, unless you mean the story itself? I would welcome anything that might show that Lewis’s poetry in _The Pilgrim’s Regress_ was simply juvenilia. My impression so far is that Lewis had a profound appreciation for classical poetry, which he had vanishingly little talent to emulate. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925/36 "2008-12-21T18:50:43Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Where in _Perelandra_ is there prose poetry, unless you mean the story itself? I would welcome anything that might show that Lewis’s poetry in _The Pilgrim’s Regress_ was simply juvenilia. My impression so far is that Lewis had a profound appreciation for classical poetry, which he had vanishingly little talent to emulate. I haven’t read _The Pilgrim’s Regress_ so I cannot say. I am referring to his description of riding the waves in Perelandra, which is in the form of prose, but written evocatively so that it has the effect of a poem in calling images to the mind. I remember how stunned I was as a teenager on these passages, and over he years I’ve seen others comment on the same passages. I’ll pick up TPR on your recommendation. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925/37 "2008-12-22T19:49:53Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > I haven’t read _The Pilgrim’s Regress_ so I cannot say. I am referring to his description of riding the waves in Perelandra, which is in the form of prose, but written evocatively so that it has the effect of a poem in calling images to the mind. I remember how stunned I was as a teenager on these passages, and over he years I’ve seen others comment on the same passages. > > I’ll pick up TPR on your recommendation. Thanks. Be warned that **The Screwtape Letters** is subtle and understated compared to **The Pilgrim’s Regress**. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925/38 "2008-12-22T20:06:44Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > … A step up from Jack Chick, at least. Ouch! Talk about damning something with faint praise. \ - “Jack” ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925/39 "2008-12-22T20:33:09Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Yes, it IS written for Christians. That’s not quite the same thing as preaching to the choir. > > What did you think, that it was intended to persuade non-believing you to become a Christian? Not at all. It was intended to remind Christians that conversion is just the beginning of a lifelong process. Well, I don’t know offhand whether Lewis himself doubted it would have any effect on “non-believers.” But even if he did, his opinion _wasn’t_ universally shared among Evangelicals. I clearly recall an Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship promotional tract that tried to persuade those among the atheists to read some of their literaure. The slant was that if they read lit from “the other side” they would better be able to make points debating with “believers.” (Heh, heh heh.) And Screwtape Letters was prominent among the books they wanted to _tempt_ (hmmm…) their hostile audience to read. There was also one fellow from my high school who acted like he was getting a percentage from every sale. He urgently recommended it to all his friends and acquaintances, converted or not. I’m sure that he thought it would knock everybody for a loop and lead to conversions. - “Jack” ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925/40 "2008-12-22T20:41:32Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Be warned that **The Screwtape Letters** is subtle and understated compared to **The Pilgrim’s Regress**. Seeing that “Pilgrim’s Progress” is about as subtle as a sledgehammer, how could it not be. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-screwtape-letters-this-is-great-literature/477925.md?page=3)