The War for Middle-Earth: How WWII Shaped the Imagination of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis – The mechanized slaughter of WWI created a storm of doubt and disillusionment. Democracy, capitalism, individual freedom; all of it was beginning to unravel by the 1930s as the ideologies of modernism, communism, Nazism, and totalitarianism threatened the foundations of Western civilization. Yet, two extraordinary authors and friends used their imagination to fight back: J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Their most beloved works—The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity, and The Chronicles of Narnia—were conceived in the shadow of the Second World War. Both men drew inspiration from the classical-Christian inheritance of the West. Like no other authors of their age, Tolkien and Lewis helped rekindle, for their generation and ours, the enduring ideals of valor, virtue, and love that keep a lamp burning even in the deepest darkness.
Joe Loconte is the C.S. Lewis Scholar for Public Life at Grove City College and is a Senior Fellow with Founding Forward.
This program will be hosted in-person at the League House. Signed books will be sold at the reception. Registration is required.
Reception: 6:00pm
Program: 6:30pm
End of Program: 7:30pm
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Speaker:
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