Which C.S. Lewis novel was dedicated to J.R.R. Tolkien?

The Screwtape Letters was dedicated to J.R.R. Tolkien by C.S. Lewis. Published in 1942, the book takes the form of letters from Screwtape, a senior demon, to his inexperienced nephew Wormwood.

Through this ironic structure, Lewis examines temptation, pride, distraction, resentment, and self-deception. The demons’ advice is deliberately presented from the wrong moral perspective, requiring readers to infer the Christian critique behind their language.

Lewis and Tolkien were colleagues at Oxford and members of the informal literary group known as the Inklings. Their friendship included discussions of mythology, literature, and Christianity, although they did not agree on every literary or theological matter.

The dedication is sometimes confused with the book’s fictional correspondence, but Tolkien did not inspire the character Screwtape. The dedication identifies a real friend, while the demonic letter writer belongs entirely to Lewis’s satirical design.