Letters from Hell

LETTERS FROM HELL

C.S. Lewis explores the doctrines and tactics of hell.

The Screwtape Letters

By C.S. Lewis

209 pp. New York

HarperCollins $10.95

"I have no intention of explaining how the correspondence which I now offer the public fell into my hands." With this unequivocal statement C.S. Lewis begins the preface to The Screwtape Letters, a collection of letters written by Screwtape, a demon highly placed in the service of "Our Father Below," to his nephew Wormwood, a novice tempter charged with damning an ordinary young man.

Over the course of 31 letters Screwtape explains, with waning patience and understanding, the proper methods for the temptation of the young Englishman in question. Screwtape's letters cover everything from the usage of language to the death of reason to the use of war.

Through the explanations of the uses of all aspects of a man's life the reader is shown the personality of Screwtape and presumably the general mindset of Hell. Screwtape is a truly vile character worthy of his position in Hell, all of his affectionate words to Wormwood are revealed as nothing more than a lust to consume him, and even his attempts to assist Wormwood are based n his overwhelming desire to consume Wormwood's "patient."

The most intriguing aspect of the Hellish mindset is shown in a contradiction made by Screwtape. He states in one of his early letter the love "The Enemy" (God) is "an appalling truth." He later explains that such a love is "an impossibility' because all selves work for their own benefit. Here it is shown that even the highest administrators of Hell lack an understanding possessed by an infant human, Screwtape, and by extension all of Hell, is shown to be wholly incapable of understanding even something as simple as love.

Screwtape also displays a blatant contempt for the human race. He frequently states that we are "abominations", "a revolting hybrid", "half spirit and half animal". Beyond this he is also frequently pointing out things that to him and Wormwood are painfully obvious and laughs at the fact that humans do not understand them. An example of this trait is seen when Screwtape discusses the concept of the ownership of time and tells Wormwood outright that there is no logical argument for it, but by keeping the man's mind away from the direct topic it is possible to perpetuate the idiocy. The acidity of Screwtape's comments offends so powerfully that the reader then takes the time to evaluate if it could even possibly be true.

The letters also do tell some of the story of the "patient." He is a regular middle class Englishman of about twenty years. The letters chronicle his journey of redemption, stagnation, love, and eventual salvation through the failures of Wormwood. The reader is often found cheering for the patient after a particularly blistering reprimand from Screwtape reveals that the young man has found a deeper place with God.

Lewis' writing often terrified me to the very core with the familiarity of the things he spoke of. One such instance occurred