What is the title of C.S. Lewis’s 1942 book presenting a series of fictional letters from a demon?

C.S. Lewis’s 1942 book of fictional letters from a demon is titled The Screwtape Letters.

The book consists of letters from Screwtape, an experienced demon, to his junior tempter, Wormwood. Screwtape advises Wormwood on how to undermine the faith and moral life of a human being known as “the Patient.” By presenting temptation from the demons’ viewpoint, Lewis creates an indirect satire of human weakness and spiritual self-deception.

The epistolary form is important to the book’s effect. Readers are not given a conventional narrator explaining correct behavior; instead, they must recognize the distortions in Screwtape’s advice. Lewis uses this reversal to examine pride, distraction, resentment, social pressure, and the misuse of religious language.

The Screwtape Letters first appeared in serialized form in the Anglican newspaper The Guardian before being published as a book. Lewis later added a preface explaining that he found the demonic voice unpleasant to write. The work is often classified as Christian apologetics, satire, and imaginative fiction at the same time.