English Language and Literature Commons^™

The Face Of The Materialist Magician: Lewis, Tolkien, And The Art Of Crossing Perilous Streets, Robert Boenig

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

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.

"It Was Allowed To One": C.S. Lewis On The Practice Of Substitution, Andrew C. Stout

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Examines the way C.S. Lewis adopted Charles Williams’s ideas about coinherence and substitution in Till We Have Faces and, most poignantly, in A Grief Observed and his letters about his wife Joy Davidman’s cancer, miraculous remission, and eventual death.

Notes And Letters, Nancy A. Bunting

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Replies to John Rosegrant’s response (in Mythlore #128) to her article on Tolkien’s traumatic family history in Mythlore #127.

Tolkien Among The Moderns, Edited By Ralph C. Wood. Reviewed By Ryder W. Miller., Ryder W. Miller

Mythprint Book Reviews

Mythprint is the quarterly bulletin of the Mythopoeic Society, a nonprofit educational organization devoted to the study, discussion, and enjoyment of myth and fantasy literature, especially the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams. To promote these interests, the Society publishes three magazines, maintains a World Wide Web site, and sponsors the annual Mythopoeic Conference and awards for fiction and scholarship, as well as local discussion groups.

Pendragon's Heir, By Suzannah Rowntree. Reviewed By Emilee J. Howland-Davis., Emilee J. Howland-Davis

Mythprint Book Reviews

Mythprint is the quarterly bulletin of the Mythopoeic Society, a nonprofit educational organization devoted to the study, discussion, and enjoyment of myth and fantasy literature, especially the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams. To promote these interests, the Society publishes three magazines, maintains a World Wide Web site, and sponsors the annual Mythopoeic Conference and awards for fiction and scholarship, as well as local discussion groups.

Charles Williams: The Third Inkling, By Grevel Lindop. Reviewed By Emily E. Auger., Emily E. Auger

Mythprint Book Reviews

Mythprint is the quarterly bulletin of the Mythopoeic Society, a nonprofit educational organization devoted to the study, discussion, and enjoyment of myth and fantasy literature, especially the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams. To promote these interests, the Society publishes three magazines, maintains a World Wide Web site, and sponsors the annual Mythopoeic Conference and awards for fiction and scholarship, as well as local discussion groups.

The Chapel Of The Thorn: A Dramatic Poem, Edited By Charles Williams And Sørina Higgins. Reviewed By Tiffany Brooke Martin., Tiffany Brooke Martin

Mythprint Book Reviews

Mythprint is the quarterly bulletin of the Mythopoeic Society, a nonprofit educational organization devoted to the study, discussion, and enjoyment of myth and fantasy literature, especially the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams. To promote these interests, the Society publishes three magazines, maintains a World Wide Web site, and sponsors the annual Mythopoeic Conference and awards for fiction and scholarship, as well as local discussion groups.

Mythcon 47 - Faces Of Mythology: Ancient, Medieval, And Modern, The Mythopoeic Society

Mythcon Programs

Inspired by the 60th anniversary of C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces and The Last Battle, this year's theme focuses on the mythology that has shaped and "given faces" to so many of our beloved characters, ranging from the myths of the Ancient Greeks to the legends of the Middle Ages and even to the modern mythology of the American Southwest. Similarly, this mythological influence is also evident in the works of many of our favorite mythopoeic authors, from J.R.R. Tolkien to J.K. Rowling, from Ursula K. Le Guin to Alan Garner, and many, many more.

The Finest Jest, William H. Wandless

The Mythic Circle

*Begin Transmission* The scientist in me could not help but admire the elegance of your plan. It was simple, logical, pitiless. If everything went smoothly, only one of us would die.

After The Black Chrysalis, Marly Youmans

The Mythic Circle

Cracked. Cracked open—praise To that, for that, praise That the black, feathery lint Was washed clean from my face, That the black, feathery lint Came off in wisps and shreds And crinkled threads Like thrums from a loom, Like lines of false poetry, Like cat fur in the mouth On waking.

Editorial, Gwenyth E. Hood

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

Contributors, Gwenyth E. Hood

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

Brackenstead, Myles Buchanan

The Mythic Circle

When the morrith trees started to thin and I no longer had to stoop and crawl, I nearly started weeping with relief. I’d been travelling through the Morrithwood for nearly five days, and all that was left of the rations for the journey there were a few scraps of deer jerky I’d been putting off eating.

Solitude / Sin, Chelsi Robichaud

The Mythic Circle

Reduced to a great nothingness, a lack of a lack, I wonder where my friends have gone. But surely it matters not in this loathsome sea. ///// I have sinned. Though the masses say it is no crime, I know of the dirt that covers me.

Creüsa, Gania Barlow

The Mythic Circle

If Aeneas doesn’t see Creüsa dead or dying, alive or living, what is she?

Siren's Call, Chelsi Robichaud

The Mythic Circle

I cry my grief out to the sky, the grief that Aphrodite would not calm. The Siren's call that lured him now sings me to my death.

A Visit From The Moon, Georgia Ann Banks-Martin

The Mythic Circle

From the beach, you could see the island. My mother said no one lived there anymore and she didn’t know why. I wanted to live there. I wanted to be a goddess and live forever.

The Great Hall Of Ahkurst, Lee Clark Zumpe

The Mythic Circle

Tarak limped along the long corridor, muttering to himself beneath the flickering florescents. The subterranean passage stretched out before and behind him, a serpentine artery curving gently beneath the surface of the planet.

The Ferrens Of Tar Kiln, Charlie W. Starr

The Mythic Circle

I can’t expect you to believe everything I’m going to tell you. The story at least begins truly enough with a caving adventure one October day in Eastern Kentucky.

The Undiplomatic Girl, Ryder W. Miller

The Mythic Circle

The knight Gawain watched as the young lady walked away again. She was fair and slight of form. There was also a wonderful shimmer of silver in the green dress she wore, but Gawain found her perplexing.

Poem For The Lost Library Of La Mancha, Gania Barlow

The Mythic Circle

After the books are burned there is a hush and then a flutter of ashy syllables out into the world

Mythic Circle #38, Gwenyth E. Hood

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

The Helmholtz, The Doctor, The Minotaur, And The Labyrinth, Buket Akgün

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Compares the use and resolution of Minotaur and Labyrinth themes and imagery, and the identification of the Theseus hero-figure with the monster, in Victor Pelevin’s novel The Helmet of Horror and the sixth season Doctor Who episode “The God Complex.”

Notes And Letters, John Rosegrant, Debra Polesiak, Ryder W. Miller

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

• A Comment on "1904: Tolkien, Trauma, and its Anniversaries".

A letter responding to Nancy Bunting’s provocative article on Tolkien’s traumatic family history in Mythlore #127.

By John Rosegrant.

• Jean Louise to the Dark Tower Came.

Explicates a pattern of references to Browning’s “Childe Roland” in Harper Lee’s recently published Go Set a Watchman.

By Debra Polesiak.

• American Survivor: William Faulkner's A Fable.

Draws our attention to American World War I veteran William Faulkner’s A Fable as an example of the fantastic in response to the war’s trauma.

By Ryder W. Miller.

Editorial, Janet Brennan Croft

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

The Use Of The Vertical Plane To Indicate Holiness In C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy, Sarah Eddings

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Examines the contrasting symbolism and imagery of perpendicular structures (mountains, trees, built structures, and so on) and waves in the Space Trilogy as a whole. Eddings finds more than simple gendered symbolism in these clusters of images; verticality indicates reaching for the heavens and waves show submission to the will of Maleldil. These symbols are reconciled in the arches of the temple Tor plans to honor Maleldil in Perelandra.

Seven For Seven: The Voyage Of The "Dawn Treader" And The Literary Tradition, Thomas L. Martin

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Examines the motif of the seven cardinal sins within Voyage, linking each of the seven lost lords of Narnia to a particular vice and showing how the crew of the Dawn Treader resists the vices to which they succumbed. This essay is meant to be read with Schuknecht, Mattison “C.S. Lewis’s Debt to Dante” in the same issue, as each comments on the other.

C.S. Lewis's Debt To Dante: The Voyage Of The "Dawn Trader" And Purgatorio, Mattison Schuknecht

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Compares imagery of sun and water in Voyage and Purgatorio; contrasts the horizontal structure of Voyage with the vertical orientation of Purgatorio. This essay is meant to be read with Martin, Thomas L. “Seven for Seven” in the same issue, as each comments on the other.

Breaking The Dragon's Gaze: Commodity Fetishism In Tolkien's Middle-Earth, Steven Kelly

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Examines Tolkien’s treatment of economics in Middle-earth, using tobacco as an example of a Lukácsian fetishized commodity, and explains why this is important not just as an example of world-building but as an indicator of the power and danger of unexamined economic assumptions.

The Black Speech: The Lord Of The Rings As A Modern Linguistic Critique, Cody Jarman

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Uses the theories of Owen Barfield to analyze the language and rhetoric used in the service of evil in The Lord of the Rings as a critique of modernity and the divorce of true meaning from speech. Ted Sandyman, Saruman, and the Mouth of Sauron are used as particular examples.