My goal was to use the search database Literature Online to find is to ways in which the Screwtape letters can be looked at as a viable option for Reader Response Criticism. Literature Online otherwise known as LION is an online database that indexes full text literature on topics such as, English poetry and drama, 18th century literature, Shakespeare, among others.
I actually started my research looking in JSTOR another literary database under the title, The Screwtape Letters. I found useful background information but nothing that stuck out as reader response criticism. There were many reviews on the topic that could be helpful in other areas of study so I used Diigo, a social bookmarking site, to save that search so that I could come back to it later. I then entered the Literature Online database to see if there was other results that I could produce. I searched "The Screwtape Letters" and had a couple pages of results. I tried to narrow my search by using key words like "Reader Response" and "Criticism", but they produced no search results. So I went back to the generic search and came a book that was along the line of what I was looking for. Walsh, Chad. C. S. Lewis Apostle to the Skeptic. [Folcroft Pa.]: Folcroft Library Editions, 1970. Print.
The premise of the book is that C.S. Lewis' literature lead people to become Christians. This is a perfect example of anyalsying reader response. In more informal ways I have been able to gauge the effect of the Screwtape Letters by contacting those who have written reviews to share their opinion, but it is good to have scholarly research on how Lewis' work has influenced people on a broad scale.
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