**The Devil's Tactics**

Thirty-one letters from an old demon to his nephew, tasked with corrupting the soul of an ordinary young Englishman. Witty, cruel, and disarmingly insightful about our petty weaknesses: the book that made Lewis famous.

Screwtape is a high-ranking civil servant in Hell. His nephew Wormwood, an apprentice tempter, has just received his first "patient," a young man of no particular background who lives with his mother in England at the start of the war. Letter after letter, the uncle advises: don't look for grand crimes, but encourage distraction, domestic irritation, spiritual vanity, and procrastination. He is dismayed when the patient converts, worried when he falls in love with a young Christian, and pleased when he mixes with brilliant and cynical people. Everything is seen upside down: God is "the Enemy," Satan is "Our Father Below." It is this reversal that makes the book's comedy and strength: the reader recognizes themselves in every trick. We won't reveal the ending, which does not turn out in Wormwood's favor.

• Original title — The Screwtape Letters
• First published — 1942
• Genre — Satirical epistolary novel
• First English edition — Geoffrey Bles, London, February 1942 (serialized in the Anglican weekly The Guardian in 1941)
• Available in bookstores — Available (Empreinte temps présent).
• Reading level — Easy — but worth rereading
• For whom — The best first step out of Narnia for an adult or older teenager. One letter per day, that's a month's reading. Non-believers also appreciate it for its psychology.
• Year — 1942

Other French titles

• Subtitle: Letters from a veteran tempter to a novice

[{title, publisher, year, translator?, note?, source?}]

• Tactics of the Devil — Delachaux et Niestlé — Neuchâtel — 1943 — B. V. Barbey — first French translation of Lewis; republished notably in 1954 and 1967
• Tactics of the Devil: Letters from a Veteran Tempter to a Novice — EBV (Brunnen Editions) — Basel — 1982 — Étienne Huser — new translation
• Tactics of the Devil: Letters from a Veteran Tempter to a Novice — Empreinte temps présent — 2010 — Étienne Huser — preface by Irène Fernandez

Themes

• Ordinary evil: petty cowardices rather than grand crimes.
• Attention to the present moment, which the demons want us to flee.
• Humility, pride, and humor.
• The war as seen from the inside of everyday life.
• The bureaucracy of Hell, a satire of modern administrations.

Short quotes with source

• There are two equal and opposite errors about demons: one is to disbelieve in their existence, and the other is to believe, and to have an unhealthy interest in them. — Tactics of the Devil, preface — very close paraphrase, translation from the website

Family

Novels and stories

## How to Approach It **Level:** Easy — but worth rereading. The best first step out of Narnia for an adult or older teenager. One letter per day makes a month of reading. Non-believers also appreciate it for its psychology. ## The Book in a Few Words **In brief** Screwtape is a senior official of hell. His nephew Wormwood, a junior tempter, has just been assigned his first "patient," a mild-mannered young man living with his mother in England at the start of the war. Letter by letter, the uncle advises: don’t look for grand crimes, but encourage distraction, domestic irritation, spiritual vanity, and procrastination. He despairs when the patient converts, worries when the patient falls in love with a young Christian, and rejoices when he mixes with clever, cynical people. Everything is seen upside down: God is "the Enemy," Satan is "Our Father Below." It’s this reversal that makes the book both funny and powerful: the reader recognizes each trick. We won’t reveal the ending, which doesn’t turn out in Wormwood’s favor. ## In the Workshop of Lewis **Did you know** Lewis got the idea in July 1940, just after leaving a church service, having just heard a speech by Hitler on the radio. The letters were published weekly in *The Guardian*, an Anglican newspaper now defunct (nothing to do with the daily), before being collected into a book dedicated to Tolkien. Lewis would say that the exercise, which consisted in putting himself in the shoes of a demon, had dried up his soul, and that he did not want to repeat it. ## What Foreshadows Narnia **Trivia** The tone of the narrator, mischievous and complicit, is already that of the Chronicles. The way evil sneaks in through small concessions foreshadows Edmund and his Turkish Delight. ## What a Reader Today Will Find **Going further** Screwtape’s tricks have found new ground: constant distraction, domestic irritation, the desire to appear sophisticated. Many modern readers, whether believers or not, see in it a fine study of our petty weaknesses. The book was also, in 1943, Lewis’s first to be published in French, in Neuchâtel. ## Its Legacy **Trivia** Immediate and lasting success in Great Britain and then in the United States: it’s this book that earned Lewis the cover of *Time* magazine in 1947. It has inspired countless imitations and stage adaptations. In French, it’s the first Lewis book translated, as early as 1943, by a Swiss publisher in Neuchâtel. ## Key Takeaways **Trivia** - The ordinary evil: small cowardices rather than grand crimes. - Paying attention to the present moment, which the demons want us to avoid. - Humility, pride, and humor. - War seen from the inside of everyday life. - The infernal bureaucracy, a satire of modern administrations. ## To Quote > « There are two equal and opposite errors about devils: one is to believe that they exist, the other is to believe that they exist and to have an unhealthy interest in them. » > — *The Screwtape Letters*, preface — very close paraphrase, translation from the site ## Read in French - *Tactique du diable*, Delachaux et Niestlé, Neuchâtel, 1943, trans. B. V. Barbey — Lewis’s first French translation; republished notably in 1954 and 1967 - *Tactique du diable: Letters from a Senior Devil to a Junior Devil*, EBV (Éditions Brunnen), Basel, 1982, trans. Étienne Huser — new translation - *Tactique du diable: Letters from a Senior Devil to a Junior Devil*, Empreinte Temps Présent, 2010, trans. Étienne Huser — preface by Irène Fernandez ## On Stage and Screen **Trivia** Numerous stage adaptations, including a Max McLean production played in New York and on tour since 2006. Radio adaptation (Focus on the Family, 2009) with Andy Serkis playing Screwtape. ## See Also **Trivia** - [Demons and Democracy](https://www.editions-empreinte.com/tous-nos-ouvrages/tactique-du-diable-) - [The Great Divorce](https://www.pintswithjack.com/csl-in-france/) - [What to Read from Lewis After Narnia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Screwtape_Letters) ## Sources - [https://www.editions-empreinte.com/tous-nos-ouvrages/tactique-du-diable-](https://www.editions-empreinte.com/tous-nos-ouvrages/tactique-du-diable-) - [https://www.pintswithjack.com/csl-in-france/](https://www.pintswithjack.com/csl-in-france/) - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Screwtape_Letters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Screwtape_Letters)