A Shrewdness of Screwtapes

I wonder if C.S. Lewis had an inkling that his Screwtape Letters would spawn a small mob of literary imitators. Every time something fishy goes on in the world, you can count on somebody writing a letter from the old Mentor-Tempter (or from a non-copyright infringing parody) to his ne'er-do-well nephew. Many of these have been published as books. Many more have appeared online in blogs and whatnot.

Since today is Michaelmas, I thought it would be fun to poke some fun at his enemy, the "prowde spirite [who] cannot endure to be mocked," by rounding up a list of the many Screwtape imitations in publication. I offer no commentary on the quality to be found therein, so read at your own peril:

Lord Foulgrin's Letters, by Randy Alcorn
Screwtape's Master Plan, by Charles H. Anderton
Operation Screwtape, by Andrew Farley
The Screwtape Letters: Marvel Comics, adapted by Charles Hall
The Snakebite Letters, by Peter Kreeft
The Gargoyle Code, by Dwight Longenecker
Slubgrip Instructs, by Dwight Longenecker
Screwtape Writes Again, by Walter Martin
As One Devil to Another, by Richard Platt
Screwtape Teaches the Faith: A Guide for Catechists, Marlon De La Torre

Unfortunately, there are far too many out there for me to create an exhaustive list. I can definitely recommend the Marvel Comics adaptation, as well as the audiobook adaptation read by John Cleese.

Jonathan McDonald

Jonathan McDonald studied literature at the University of Dallas, where he was the founding Editor-in-Chief of Ramify, the Journal of the Braniff Graduate School.

Previous
Previous

The Catholicity of Monsters

Next
Next

A Farewell to Shouts and Whispers