A Fairy Tale Now Realized: That Hideous Strength

If you want to gain insight into the methods and the reach of the Woke, you should read C. S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength. First published 77 years ago, the third novel in his Space Trilogy exposes the machinations of individuals in politics, science, business, and the academy working to impose their materialism and transhumanism on England and, ultimately, the world. The same year World War II ended, Lewis foresaw the dangers emanating from science with no moral compass and politicians with no aim other than amassing power while following a philosophy of “progressivism” in the worst sense of the word.

That Hideous Strength follows two shallow academics. Mark Studdock is an ambitious young sociology fellow of Bracton College who has just entered the inner circle of the “Progressive element” there. Jane Studdock, his wife, a specialist in English literature, is troubled by vivid dreams. In the opening paragraph, her recollection of their church wedding sets up one of several important themes:

‘Matrimony was ordained, thirdly,’ said Jane Studdock to herself, ‘for the mutual society, help, and comfort that the one ought to have of the other.’ She had not been to church since her schooldays . . . and the words of the service had stuck in her mind.

Absent from church for years, Jane is astonished by the Christian notion of marriage involving two people living not only with but for each other. In fact, the Studdocks spend very little time together. While Mark expends his energy seeing status at Bracton, Jane delays not only researching for her doctoral thesis but also having a family. Both Mark and Jane neglect their marriage.

After Mark realizes his ambition to join Bracton’s “Inner Circle,” he is swept up in the idea of working for the National Institute of Coordinated Experiments, consistently referred to as the N.I.C.E. Though offered a job there, Mark finds it initially impossible to discover the work he is to do, receiving only vague or evasive answers to his repeated questions about his responsibilities and compensation. When he does finally start work, his motivations turn again to entering the “Inner Circle,” the upper echelon of the N.I.C.E., each member of which plays a role in the seduction of Mark to enter fully into their world of deception before they will introduce him to the “head.”

The N.I.C.E.

The nefarious realm of the N.I.C.E. is dominated by bleak characters who each exhibit an aspect of the demonic power behind the whole organization. Lord Feverstone, a businessman turned self-centered politician who thinks of himself as a man who “had never slandered another man except to get his job, never cheated except because he wanted money, never really disliked people unless they bored him.” Prof. Augustus Frost, an absolute materialist, regards emotions and morality as of no real consequence, insisting that “Our reactions to one another are chemical phenomena. Social relations are chemical relations.” He admonishes Mark to “observe these feelings in [himself] in an objective manner.” Dr. Filostrato, a transhumanist physiologist, asks Mark “What are the things that most offend the dignity of man? Birth and breeding and death. How if we are about to discover that man can live without any of the three?” Reverend Straik, denies the afterlife and, at one point, tells Mark he will see “the real God. It is a man – or a being made by man.” Major Hardcastle, the female head of the N.I.C.E.’s security force, is a lesbian sadist, most of whose work involves committing crimes and arranging atrocities rather than preventing them. An authoritarian, she informs Mark, “Your line is to do whatever you’re told.” Finally, John Wither, the Deputy Director of the N.I.C.E., is a quintessential bureaucrat who rarely gives a direct answer though he often talks interminably in meaningless jargon though he is, in fact, the actual leader of the organization. Their names, for the most part, reflect the sickness (Feverstone), coldness (Frost), cheerlessness (Hardcastle), and death (Wither) that the N.I.C.E. promotes. Those characteristics should sound familiar.

St. Anne’s Manor

In counterpoint to these figures, the residents at St. Anne’s Manor form an enclave of faith in an England succumbing to the designs of the N.I.C.E. As Mark spends his time within its headquarters, Jane comes to seek solace among refugees from the town of Edgestow. She first meets Grace Ironwood, the kind psychologist, who offers to help Jane understand her disturbing dreams. She also encounters Margaret Dimble, whom Jane first regards as old-fashioned but comes to admire as a model of the rightly ordered woman. Margaret’s husband Cecil, an Arthurian scholar was formerly Jane’s instructor. Like the Dimbles, Ivy Maggs, once Jane’s housekeeper, has also lost her home to the N.I.C.E. Her simplicity and devotion contrast markedly with the complex cult of the N.I.C.E. Another married couple, Arthur and Camilla Denniston, tell Jane their group has been expecting the arrival of a seer whom they believe Jane to be, but Arthur refuses to coerce Jane into accepting that role. Jane eventually recognizes in them the ideals of marriage in a younger couple as the Dimbles do in an older one. Andrew MacPhee, a skeptical scientist loyal to his host, contrasts with the materialist Filostrato. The denizens of St. Anne’s share an appreciation for nature, a willingness to serve one another, and a profound respect for their host, Elwin Ransom.

Ransom plays a pivotal role. He goes by the name of Mr. Fisher-King, a clear reference to the Grail King in Arthurian lore, an idea reinforced by his wound that will not heal (suffered in a conflict with evil in Perelandra). In That Hideous Strength the theme of devotion to God’s will at the cost of personal sacrifice emerges as Ransom, the recently revivified Merlin, and all the ordinary denizens of St. Anne’s resist the iniquitous N.I.C.E. which becomes more clearly a cult opposed to the Christian perspective of St. Anne’s Manor. Because Professor Ransom is willing to sacrifice himself in these efforts, he further evokes the role of Jesus as the One who ransomed our souls by his voluntary sacrifice on the cross.

In contrast to one another and through interaction, these characters live out Lewis’s themes. Mark’s ambition to join each “inner circle” and the N.I.C.E.’s ambition to take power over England and the world operate in stark contrast to Jane’s personal humility and the Christian fellowship of St. Anne’s. Frost’s and Filostrato’s scientism fall apart in the face of the faith that grows within Jane and the power of God in which Ransom participates. Having come to the N.I.C.E with its values already growing within himself, Mark is led to the brink of the abyss. No less shallow than her husband, Jane comes to St. Anne’s with doubt, condescension, and affliction but gains insights into her role as a Christian wife, realizes the courage to put herself at risk for the good of others, and humbly accepts her own responsibility for her distance from her husband. While Jane has the guidance of Prof. Ransom and the residents of St. Anne’s, Mark realizes the same truths by reflecting on the stark face of evil that is the N.I.C.E.

In addition to diverse themes, Lewis incorporates elements of a variety of genres in a work he dubbed “theological science fiction,” including horror, dystopia, and Arthurian legend. Of particular interest to today’s reader, however, must be Lewis’s prescience. That Hideous Strength foresaw progressivism’s manipulation of the academy, its absorption of the media, its infiltration of both government and business institutions, and its corruption of religious teachings. In creating this nightmare world, Lewis told an engaging adventure story with a profoundly Christian core. Remarkably, it reads like an account of people and events in our contemporary world.