The Polish and British philosopher, author of works dedicated to Bergson, Husserl, and the revision of Marxism (initiated in socialist Poland), Leszek Kołakowski (1927–2009) was also a witty interpreter of the moral concepts of Christianity, primarily "God" and "the devil."

Defined as "conversations," the eight texts that make up this book, published in 1965, are monologues. Even if its characters (Orpheus, Heloise, Luther, Schopenhauer, and others) converse with the devil (or the devil with them and for them), they address their own temptations, fears, and traumas. As Kołakowski said, "The devil is part of our immediate experience."