Science Portraits in Magical Frames: The Construction of Preternatural Narrative in the Work of E. T. A. Hoffmann and Arthur Machen

Willis, Martin T. "Science Portraits in Magical Frames: The Construction of Preternatural Narrative in the Work of E. T. A. Hoffmann and Arthur Machen." Extrapolation 35.3 (Fall 1994): [186]-200.

On Hoffmann's Der Automate (1814) and Machen's The Three Imposters (0000). Argues that Hoffmann's automaton "presents a figure built on the principles of science but reflecting the composite world of magic and alchemy that governs it. The spirit of the metals that comprise the inner workings of the Turk has been mystified by the narratives sorcery to create an inimized puppet . . . " (190), and that ". . . the entire structure of Der Automate is construed along the oppositions between science and magic, the explainable and the impossible" (192). (RDE, 01/11/94)