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C.S. Lewis’s celebrated non-Narnia work is a sharp and insightful examination of human flaws. Explore 12 lesser-known details about The Screwtape Letters, its creation, and its lasting significance.
1. Lewis Completed All 31 Letters in Just Over Six Months.
In July 1940, Lewis conceived the idea of a seasoned demon, Screwtape, sharing cunning advice with his inexperienced nephew, Wormwood, tasked with leading a human soul astray. Fueled by inspiration, the author wrote rapidly, often finishing entire letters in a single sitting.
2. The Letters Were Initially Published as a Serial.
Lewis, who had previously contributed to the now-defunct Anglican publication The Guardian, was on good terms with its editor. The first “Screwtape Letter” debuted on May 2, 1941. Each week, a new infernal installment was released, culminating in the final letter on November 28. Readers eagerly consumed them, and soon after, publisher Geoffrey Bles compiled the series into a book.
3. The Newspaper Earnings Supported a Charitable Initiative.
The Guardian offered Lewis two pounds per letter. Declining the payment, he requested that the funds be directed to a charity supporting widows of Church of England clergy.
4. A Key Human Character May Have Been Inspired by a Woman Lewis Lived With.
Lewis was a man of his word, even to a fallen comrade. During WWI, he and Paddy Moore pledged that if either died, the survivor would care for the other’s remaining parent (Lewis had lost his mother to cancer in 1908). When Paddy died in France, Lewis lived with and cared for Janie King Moore, honoring his promise.
Mrs. Moore was a demanding and challenging presence. Warren Lewis, C.S. Lewis’s brother, found her manipulative and insincere, noting how she disrupted Lewis’s work and burdened him with household chores. In The Screwtape Letters, Lewis drew from his own life, portraying Wormwood’s human target as having a domineering mother, described as “a terror to hostesses and servants.” Most biographers agree this character was inspired by Mrs. Moore.
5. Some Readers Misinterpreted the Letters as Serious.
While the letters were serialized in The Guardian, one clergyman, misunderstanding the satire, canceled his subscription. He believed Screwtape was a real theologian offering genuine, albeit harmful, spiritual advice. In a letter to the editor, he protested that “much of the advice… [appeared] not only wrong but outright evil.”
6. Lewis Found Writing the Letters Unpleasant.
“Among all my works,” Lewis confessed in a 1963 interview, “there was only one I found joyless to write.” He described The Screwtape Letters as “tedious and laborious. I was addressing objections to the Christian faith, framing them as if spoken by the devil. However, constantly reversing moral perspectives became exhausting.”
7. The Book’s Popularity Led Lewis to Employ His Brother as an Assistant.
The serialization of Screwtape sparked a flood of fan mail. Overwhelmed, Lewis enlisted his brother Warren as a paid aide. Warren excelled in the role, crafting responses so witty and polished they could easily be mistaken for Lewis’s own.
8. The Book Edition Is Dedicated to J.R.R. Tolkien, Who Wasn’t Fond of the Tribute.
Released in 1942, the book became an instant bestseller, requiring eight reprints by year’s end. Inside every copy, you’ll find the dedication “To J.R.R. Tolkien.” However, Tolkien found the story unsettling and was aware of Lewis’s own dissatisfaction with it. Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t particularly pleased with the acknowledgment.
9. Lewis Contemplated Crafting a Companion Book from an Angel’s Viewpoint.
Initially, the idea of composing letters offering “archangelic guidance to a human’s guardian angel” excited Lewis. However, his perfectionism halted the project. “Simple advice wouldn’t suffice,” Lewis reflected, “every word would need to radiate the essence of Heaven.”
10. A Short Sequel Was Published in The Saturday Evening Post.
Though Lewis never wrote another demonic letter, he agreed to a request from the Post and produced a speech for his infamous character. In 1959’s “Screwtape Proposes a Toast,” the demon delivers a banquet address at the Tempter's Training College for Young Devils in Hell, touching on democracy, education, and religion.
11. Several Writers Have Created Unofficial Continuations.
In Screwtape Writes Again (1975) by Martin Walter, a demon shares thoughts on topics ranging from gossip to pornography. Arthur H. Williams Jr. offers a modern twist with The Screwtape Email (2006), while Peter Kreeft’s The Snakebite Letters: Devilishly Devious Secrets for Subverting Society as Taught in Tempter’s Training School (1998) stands out as a highly regarded follow-up. Kreeft’s introduction states, “I’m certain Lewis would have welcomed such ‘imitations.’ The Screwtape Letters created a new genre, a new species; I’m merely adding another specimen.”
12. Calvin and Hobbes Featured a Character Named After Screwtape’s Nephew.
Bill Watterson confirmed that Miss Wormwood, Calvin’s beleaguered teacher, was named after the inexperienced tempter, “as some readers have deduced.” Lewis likely drew the name from a celestial reference in Revelations 8:11.
