Who is the fictional narrator of C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters?

Screwtape is the fictional narrator of C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters.

The 1942 book is presented as a series of letters from Screwtape, an experienced demon, to his inexperienced nephew Wormwood. Screwtape gives advice about tempting and misleading a human referred to only as “the Patient.”

Lewis uses the reversed perspective as a satirical device. The demonic correspondence exposes habits and moral errors by describing them as desirable from Hell’s point of view. The reader is expected to recognize the irony rather than accept the demons’ advice.

Wormwood is therefore an important character but not the narrator. The book’s title refers to the letters written by Screwtape, whose voice organizes the entire work.