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The Screwtape Letters, Anniversary Edition | 
 enlarge | Author: C. S. Lewis
Creator: John Cleese
Publisher: Audio Literature
Category: Book
Buy New: $100.00
New (1) Used (7) from $45.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  369 reviews
Sales Rank: 1139340
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged
Media: Audio Cassette
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 3
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.5 x 1.3
ISBN: 1574532618
Dewey Decimal Number: 248.4
EAN: 9781574532616
ASIN: 1574532618
Publication Date: January 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
This adaptation of C.S. Lewis's biting satire received a 1999 Grammy nomination for best spoken-word performance, and it's easy to see why--the story fits the format perfectly. It's relatively brief (the unabridged reading takes a mere four hours), and contains only one character--the demon Screwtape, who writes letters to his novice nephew Wormwood, instructing him on how to best tempt his "patient" (a wayward soul on earth) into the bosom of "our Lord below." Obviously, the book wasn't written with former Monty Python John Cleese in mind, but it's hard to imagine a better Screwtape. Cleese's voice provides the perfect vehicle for Lewis's dry, razor-edged wit. His uncanny comic timing and ability to milk each phrase for maximum effect betray an infectious enthusiasm for the story. It's clear that he's having a great time reading, and it's impossible not to laugh along with him. This inspired pairing of two of the 20th century's greatest wits makes for a meditation on the dark side of spiritual guidance that's as relevant and funny today as it was in Lewis's war-torn England. (Running time: 4 hours, 3 cassettes) --Andrew Neiland
Product Description
Amasterpiece of satire, this classic has entertained and enlightened readers the world over with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life and foibles, seen from the vantage point of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to "Our Father Below". Those who know and love the book will no doubt agree that the casting of John Cleese as Lewis' sardonic and apoplectic middle-management devil is, in a word, inspired. Features an interview with narrator John Cleese and philosopher Jacob Needleman.
Book Description
His letters are signed, save one, "Your affectionate uncle", yet Uncle Screwtape's purposes in writing to his young nephew are hardly innocent. Penned in a brisk, businesslike style, old Screwtape offers the gullible Tempter Wormword fiendishly clever advice on his most pressing concern: the winning of young lives to the devil.First published in 1941, The Screwtape Letters, a perennial best seller, has earned a place in the library of classics. The truths contained in C. S. Lewis's treatise on human nature are as old as the world, but his witty observations continue to confront and challenge believers and nonbelievers alike. The outcome of Screwtape's correspondence is not known. But judging from his final signoff -- "Your increasingly and ravenously affectionate uncle" -- his appetite for evil has not lessened.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 364 more reviews...
 Screwtape Letters November 1, 2008
An excellent book which shows how the "other side" thinks. Great writing! One of my favorites!
 Agree with Most Helpful Critical Review October 27, 2008
I was hoping this version could replace my paperback copy; however, without the C.S. Lewis preface to the 1961 edition it is incomplete.
Funny (and Serious) as Hell ! September 25, 2008
Like all Lewis' works, this book is full of insights into human life - into those aspects which are often too big and obvious for us to notice. These insights are given us directly from the enemy through the writings of a devil named Screwtape. He writes to his nephew (a novice tempter devil) about his nephew's "patient," a human struggling with faith, who is a representation of us. This book bettered my attitudes about people and life and faith by orders of magnitude! I recommend it to everyone!!
Enlightening read for committed (and thinking) Christians August 20, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I don't know how well this great book translates to agnostic readers, but for me it was a very enlightening and concrete way to understand what it means to try to be a good man in a world of temptation.
In keeping with the time period, I believe it was Winston Churchill who said "All evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing". In the Screwtape Letters the senior tempter, tells his apprentice, it is just as affective to get a man to stare into a fire until it turns to ash, as to get him to commit some great sin, because either keeps him from doing what he should. I wonder what Mr. Lewis would have thought of digital cable television? I am as guilty as anyone of staring at that box instead of doing good.
So here's the deal.
This is an excellent book for any believer from High School on up, that wants to be good and avoid evil.
But that's just me.
Insights on The Operation of the Realm of Darkness August 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Though seemingly humorous in style, there is an intense sense of sobriety behind every scene that C.S. Lewis depicts to illustrate how the devil operates to tempt us. The background is World War II England. The object that the devil preys on is a young Christian. The circumstances of temptation; all of which are something we can relate to everyday, vary from personal devotional time, personal relationships, romance, and vocation to culture, worldviews and the war itself which the readers would discover to be the means to a happy ending for the young Christian, not a usual one, however. The appendix entitled, "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" deals with a more general strategy that the realm of evil formulates in their quest to ruin mankind by pushing them to the deepest abyss their depravity is capable of, "to harden these choices of the Hell-ward roads into a habit by steady repetition, ... to turn habit into a principle." Another interesting strategy is to wreck havoc in the culture by twisting the meaning of the word "democracy" from a narrow strict sense to a broad one.
The reason why Lewis does an excellent job in giving us the insights on the operation of the realm of the devil is because he understands human beings and culture well, which makes this book deeply personal, worth reading and learning from.
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