That Hideous Strength is a very strange novel, and at first I had to force myself to read every single line with the knowledge that many people rate the book and it is held up as a classic, so I must persist. I put the thing down many times out of boredom and yet knew I had to get through it for the sake of my own knowledge. There were no shortcuts for me in the way of TV or movie adaptations, so the slog of reading boring chapter after boring chapter was real. By the end of it though the opposite had occurred, and I could not put it down to sleep and stayed up late to finish it. So that’s quite a turnaround!
That Hideous Strength is the third in the Space trilogy by CS Lewis, following on from Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra, which both were mid planet hopping adventures. The title refers to the strength of evil itself and its persistence despite failures, and it comes from a poem by Sir David Lyndsay called “Ane Dialog”. This book is radically different in tone and purpose to its predecessors, and reads like Clive had a dramatic awakening himself to the machinations of the British establishment.
It is stunning how he portrays British institutions and the very character of the British people themselves, like he’s been through some specific experience of his own that woke him up to things previously hidden by his scholarly past. And this idea mirrors the plot of the book for the Protagonist Mark Studduck, it is as if Clive is Mark documenting his own journey for humanity to learn from, and I can’t help but think that Clive must have had the same or similar conditioning as Mark in the story.
In short the book describes the British as two tribes, one good and honest, and the other cunning and evil. I can attest to this being a thing from my own experiences in UK businesses and thus the story struck a deep chord in me, confirming that my experiences are cultural and go way back in British history, perhaps they have always been the definition of Britain/Logres back to the 500’s and before; two sides at odds with each other and forever swinging the country from one side to another. This is the core of the story, a battle of good versus evil, and in the Christian tradition good wins through.
I’m not really interested in reviewing the book itself, but rather I want to explore the themes and the revelation within the book that others seem to overlook.
Firstly we have the N.I.C.E. (National Institute for Coordinated Experiments) organisation. This is the metaphor for evil British progressive establishment. This is an organisation much like Today’s WEF (World Economic Forum) and it presents as a force for good and change through science. It is lead by a director (Jules) who is simply a figurehead himself, and in this lovely British tradition of the leader being a dupe, the real power behind the throne is lower down with Frost, Wither, Hardcastle, and Filostrato. They are not public or accountable and the show is run by their hidden hand. Given the time period of the book a period composite might be the OSS (Office of Stratigic Services) from the US.
NICE is esoteric in nature and uses social engineering to control it’s people (The British conquer through deception) but it waves science around like a cloak of invisibility, it is transhuman in outlook and seeks ultimate alien (Maleldil) power for itself at the expense of the British public. It has infiltrated society authority and education, and recruits naive people into its ranks through con-artist/or subversive means and then keeps them there through the use of blackmail. It is a thoroughly corrupt arm of the elite and in typically British style it is all well dressed smiles and respectable conversation, well mannered and full of bureaucratic procedure, while hiding a dark underbelly that is boiling with hatred and wickedness just out of sight. Hence it’s name as an acronym NICE being a pun on the way the British do things. It wouldn’t be very British to have a Ministry Of Attack, now would it!
Secondly we have the The Manor at St. Anne’s. This serves as the David organisation to the Goliath establishment of N.I.C.E. and is a rag tag group of nobodies lead by a mysterious space travelling professor who now does not age due to his off-world activities, but has an injury from another planet that will not heal. St. Annes is like an old world scholarly club from a time when Logres was in power in the country, it is good and honest and harps back to earlier times in England and characters from those era’s. It represents the best of us, with it’s politeness, educated outlook, and historical traditions. It also considers the esoteric as central to it’s identity but places this in the context of Christianity rather than pure science as it’s opponents do. It has an air of a cult secret society about it, but this is likely necessary under the watchful eye of NICE and may not be secretive otherwise. It has this respect for esotericism through old fashioned druidic magic and god’s wrath, rather than a human pride in being very clever with scientific advancements, and its members know old languages and have an interest in legends. Interestingly when I read St. Annes it reminds me of a nearby Mental Hospital and I read mention of the organisation in this light, but I’m sure that is not what is intended. More intentional is the link between St. Anne and Jane Studduck in the story, as both could not have children until later in life.
On that front, Jane Studdock is the wife of Mark and is a second protagonist in this story. Her journey is a mirror of Mark’s and she is his is opposite in many ways other than just their sex. Jane is known to NICE before she is aware of them and the institute want to get to her through Mark. This is because she has prophetic visions that are key to the unfolding of events in the book. Jane doesn’t want anything to do with either organisation and only runs to St. Annes after the NICE capture and torture her. Unlike her husband she is smart and stands in the truth, she doesn’t want to indulge in her visions either and tries to live a normal life despite them. Ultimately it is her visions that are key to St. Annes being triumphant and her becoming a Christian. Her strength is shown in the interrogation and torture she undergoes yet will not give up any information to Fairy Hardcastle, and she ultimately escapes capture.
Mark on the other hand is naive, weak, and prideful, and also a bit stupid, not in an IQ sense but in a streetwise sense. He cares for his fellowship at Edgestow University more than his life, and his story arc is the most interesting and revealing one in the book. For it is Mark’s journey that is the revelation of the method of deception that is used by the British to control it’s own people. What we see in the plot is that Mark is invited to see a prestigious institute from the inside and thus begins the fishing of him by the NICE organisation, who actually want his wife and think they may get her through him. It is this fishing method that CS Lewis may have had first hand experience of and led him to drastically change the direction of the third installment of his trilogy.
Once Mark is on site with NICE he has been hooked and will not be let off the line. His belief that he is visiting is quickly turned into a long stay, and his interest quickly turns to fright as threats start. Initially he finds that he doesn’t know what to do and no-one will tell him what he is doing there, this is followed by a job he doesn’t’ want to do and a complaint revealing that NICE has written a letter to Bracton College on his behalf in which he has resigned his fellowship. Mark is trapped and must now work for NICE, but things get much worse and he is put through a series of contradictory experiences of praise and being outcast; designed to break him and give him an “objective” state of mind.
NICE want Jane and in refusing them Mark causes more upset to his own sanity, this is orchestrated by the Deputy Director and the Chief of the NICE Police. Through just being a normal human being with feelings Mark is betrayed by his own humanity into believing his only course off action is to do as he is told. While the brainwashing method is largely verbal there are some physical aspects too. NICE tell him to fetch his wife for them and when he instead tries to escape they set him up for a murder. They offer to keep him safe from the law as long as he does their bidding. Mark then leaves on the task of fetching his wife to NICE, but through no fault of his own he cannot and then is arrested for the murder he was setup for, and put in jail. Mark believes his predicament to be so bad that he will hang for this murder he knew nothing of, and thus the final trial begins. He is introduced to the real head of the institute and is put in a mad puzzle room with a madman he has to look after.
All of this treatment of Mark is called in the story an “initiation”, and it is designed to stop him from reacting to horrible stimulus such that he becomes a blank person who exists only to follow orders, no matter how horrid. And this is the method of social engineering of the British; to lie, hook, blackmail, and condition their prey, then for those prey to recruit more using the same techniques. With that done they become a member of the inner society and are “trustworthy”. It is despicable and I pity my fellow countrymen who have gone through it in real life, for if they try to leave then they are either locked away or killed for their now revealed crimes.
I of course had direct experience of part of this deception but saw early on what it was and avoided it before I became trapped by it.
Merlinus Ambrosius is an odd inclusion in the story. I mean it works but it is still very odd to identify the man directly when a substitute or look-a-like would have stopped people scoffing. It reminds me of the revelation of Al Capone and Fletcher Christian in Hamilton’s Night’s Dawn series. Maybe CS Lewis saw this story as a genuine modern continuation of Arthurian legend and thus it was right and correct! I noticed from my own understanding of the character that Merlin here was far more war-like than I believed his character could be, a man of action in a Schwarzenegger like role was a surprise to me, when I had thought he was less able and more scholarly himself. All the leaping onto horses and riding off bareback was shocking to me, as was his aggressive presence. Thankfully that was countered by the mind tricks and clever playing at a being a Basque priest so the old Merlin I knew came through as well.
The overall arc of the story gives me pause for thought, as if it itself is trying to tell me something. I notice Lewis used various easter eggs throughout the book, and it led me to think that it’s structure may also mean something. So the shape of the book is very odd, and is as follows:
- An introduction to the life of a fellow at a university
- Politics of a university and the trouble of dealing with other organisations
- The acquiring of sacred land by subtle means
- The fishing of the University’s staff by another institute
- An induction and conditioning of a simple man into evil company, without him becoming aware
- The search for an esoteric relic
- The rise of opposition like it is an equal and opposite effect
- An unexpected turn of events reframing the centre of the story on a second protagonist
- The revelation of the method of initiation into a wicked organisation
- A scramble for control over key people by both sides
- An unexpected twist in the shape of an anticipated ancient ally going to the other side
- a horror movie sequence of death and killing
- A win for the honest underdog over the mighty evil corp.
- A restoration of Logres in the land of the UK, pushing out the evil British state of mind.
- An alien encounter and the disappearing of the professor
I’m not sure what to make of it! It took me personally from bored and uninterested to intrigued, recognizing the truth, then horrified, followed by a little cringe, and finally excited to see it to the end. So is that a pattern of the structure of deception? It kind of reminds me of the structure of the Thin Red Line movie and how that was supposed to show structurally the long boredom of war which is interspersed with brief moments of intense action!
Finally, certain Druidic elements of the story seemed forced to me, with all the coloured robe nonsense. However I wonder if there was a nod here to Kundalini through the staff with the snake carving representing The Rod of Asclepius, and thus Kundalini Shakti? I’ll have to find out if this is just a Merlin thing or if it is something that Clive knew about with reference to Hinduism.