"Screwtape Proposes a Toast"
The short sequel "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" (1959), first published as an article in The Saturday Evening Post, is an addendum to The Screwtape Letters; the two works are often published together as one book.[9] The sequel takes the form of an after-dinner speech given by Screwtape at the Tempters' Training College for young demons. In stage adaptations it is sometimes added as a prelude, making the work a prequel.[10] "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" is Lewis' criticism of leveling and featherbedding trends in public education; more specifically, as he reveals in the foreword to the American edition, public education in America (though in the text, it is English education that is held up as the purportedly awful example).[11]
The Cold War opposition between the West and the Communist World is explicitly discussed as a backdrop to the educational issues. Screwtape and other demons are portrayed as consciously using the subversion of education and intellectual thought in the West to bring about its overthrow by the communist enemy from without and within. In this sense "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" is more strongly political than The Screwtape Letters, wherein no strong stand is made on political issues of the day, such as World War II.[12]
Other literary sequels
Though C. S. Lewis had resolved not to write another letter, and only revisited the character of Screwtape once, in "Screwtape Proposes a Toast", the format, referred to by Lewis himself as a kind of "demonic ventriloquism", has inspired other authors to prepare sequels or similar works, such as:
- Breig, Joseph A. (1952). The Devil You Say.
- Martin, Walter R. (1975). Screwtape Writes Again. Vision House. ISBN 978-0-88449-033-3.[13]
- Kreeft, Peter (1998). The Snakebite Letters: Devilishly Devious Secrets for Subverting Society as Taught in Tempter's Training School. Ignatius Press. ISBN 978-0-89870-721-2.
- Alcorn, Randy (2001). Lord Foulgrin's Letters. Crown Publishing. ISBN 978-1-57673-861-0.
- Bryan Miles (2003). The Wormwood Letters. iUniverse. ISBN 978-0-595-28392-7. Wormwood, who has somehow survived, now finds himself in a new era writing to his own nephew, Soulsniper.
- Fejfar, Antony J. (2004). The Screwtape Emails: An Allegory.
- Forest, Jim (2004). The Wormwood File: E-mail From Hell. Orbis Books. ISBN 978-1-57075-554-5. Another Wormwood series of instructions.
- Laymon, Barbara (2004). The Devil's Inbox. Augsburg Books. ISBN 978-0-8066-4945-0.
- Williams, Arthur H. Jr. (2006). The Screwtape Email. Trafford. ISBN 978-1-4120-0067-3.
- Longenecker, Dwight (2009). The Gargoyle Code: Lenten Letters between a Master Tempter and his diabolical Trainee. ISBN 978-0-615-67385-1. Master Tempter Slubgrip advises Dogwart how to corrupt a young Catholic, while struggling to control his own 'patient.'
- Peschke, Jim (2010). The Michael Letters: Heaven's answer to Screwtape. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 978-1-4536-6027-0. The Archangel Michael provides advice to Jacob, a guardian angel.
- Platt, Richard (2012). As One Devil to Another: A Fiendish Correspondence in the Tradition of C. S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters. Tyndale House Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4143-7166-5.
- Andrews, Pat. (2014). E-mails from Hell: An Homage and Update to C.S. Lewis.
- Deace, Steve. (2016). A Nefarious Plot. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-61868-823-1.[14]
- Aldridge, R.J. (2019). The Wormwood Emails: Inside Tips on Avoiding Hell.
- Cyprus, J.B. (2022). Letters to Bentrock: A Demon's Guide To Trapping Prey. Wolfpack Publishing LLC. ISBN 978-1-63977-278-0.[15] The tempters are working in a Texas prison to keep The Inmate on the wide and easy road to their home below.
