I have a complicated relationship with my belief in something like demons or angels (as i do with my faith in God) - but the post script at the back by C.S. Lewis reminds us that his belief in real devils does not mean that our belief is a...given. You can read this book as allegory, but there does seem to be something missing from it.

It was funnier than the first time I read it (since I read it a 14 and much of it went over my head), but parts of it were deeply sad. In the end, the “patient’s” escape from Hell is the only move available. What kind of satire would Lewis have written if he let a man, with few moral failings, fall into the clutches of an incompetent tempter? At every moment, we have a chance to do better. At points, it is clear that the patient is Lewis, who has the same weaknesses and a similar disposition. There is at least one joke that is at his own expense. It is startling to see how little the world has changed in the last 40-70 years. In spite of all the philosophers i’ve read in the last 2 years, and in spite of our technological advancements, the post war world is hardly different at all - at least by Lewis’s view. It does make me wish for him now, to help guide me, personally, through the 21st century.

The Screwtape Letters remains a pointed reminder to watch your habits and thoughts. Even the well-intentioned lead you away from God.

His attitude about school is As Per Usual Upsetting, Probably Wrong or Shortsighted, but also, I am very familiar with his biography so it’s not with commenting on besides that.