February 2, 1942: C.S. Lewis Publishes "The Screwtape Letters"

February 2, 1942: C.S. Lewis publishes The Screwtape Letters, playing "Devil's advocate" -- more literally than most authors ever do.

Clive Staples Lewis was born on November 29, 1898 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He taught at Oxford University, where he became close friends with his colleague J.R.R. Tolkien, to whom The Screwtape Letters was dedicated. In 1937, Tolkein published The Hobbit, establishing himself as a prominent fantasy writer, and would write sequels in the 1950s, which became the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Tolkien was a Catholic. Lewis had been raised in largely-Catholic, but Protestant-controlled, Ireland as an atheist, but Tolkien's influence led him to Christianity. Except it was to the Protestant Church of England, so, from a certain point of view, Tolkien's efforts backfired somewhat.

Lewis' writings would be heavy with Christian imagery, including his own 1950s fantasy stories that would be collected under the title The Chronicles of Narnia. But before writing those, he wrote The Screwtape Letters.

The book consists of 31 letters by Screwtape, a senior demon, to his nephew, Wormwood, whose job it is to attain for Hell the soul of a British man identified in the text only as "The Patient." In these letters, Screwtape gives his opinions -- apparently, the official positions of Hell on these things -- of Christianity, the Bible, and God Himself. As employees of the Devil, whom Screwtape calls "Our Father Below," it seems neither uncle nor nephew understands how God can love humans.

In the 3rd letter, Screwtape reacts poorly to Wormwood having told him that The Patient has accepted Christ as his Savior. He also doesn't like Wormwood's ideas of how to tempt the man, telling his nephew, "the safest road to hell is the gradual one – the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."

In this telling of religion, for demons, human souls are food, as Screwtape explains in the 6th letter: "We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons." During the course of the letters, World War II breaks out, and Wormwood is delighted. Screwtape also is, except that the possibility that The Patient could be killed as a result means that, for the moment, he's headed up, not down, and warns Wormwood that he must provide food, or he will, himself, become food.

In the 31st and last letter, the reader learns that The Patient has been killed in the London Blitz, and, from Screwtape's perspective, The Patient wins, and God wins; but the demons also win, since they're about to get a feast. The loser is the feast: Wormwood.

C.S. Lewis died on the same day as another renowned British writer, Aldous Huxley. Hardly anybody noticed, because that day was November 22, 1963, the day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Tolkien lived another 10 years. Tributes and parodies to Screwtape have abounded, with such titles as From One Devil to Another, The Devil's Inbox, and E-mails from Hell.

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February 2, 1942 was a Monday. This was also the day the film King’s Row premiered. It's often regarded as Ronald Reagan's finest film role. His character loses his legs in an accident halfway through, and his reaction became the title of Reagan's 1st memoir: Where's the Rest of Me?

He was not nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, which went to James Cagney for Yankee Doodle Dandy. Maybe if Reagan had gotten that Oscar, would have gotten so many big roles, he never would've gone into politics.

Baseball and football were out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And no NHL games were scheduled. So there were no scores on this historic day.