Article Title

The Face of the Materialist Magician: Lewis, Tolkien, and the Art of Crossing Perilous Streets

Authors

Robert Boenig, Texas A&M University in College Station, TXFollow

Abstract

Plenary address, Mythcon 47. Concerns the character of the “Materialist Magician” (Screwtape’s term) in Tolkien and Lewis—the Janus-like figure who looks backward to magic and forward to scientism, without the moral core to reconcile his liminality. Tolkien’s Saruman and Lewis’s Uncle Andrew and Devine are key specimens of this trope, with Merlin standing as a counter-example.