In this, the final book in C.S. Lewis's acclaimed Space Trilogy, which includes Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra, That Hideous Strength concludes the adventures of the matchless Dr. Ransom. Finding himself in a world of superior alien beings and scientific experiments run amok, Dr. Ransom struggles with questions of ethics and morality, applying age-old wisdom to a brave new universe dominated by science. His quest for truth is a journey filled with intrigue and suspense.
That Hideous StrengthA Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups
C. S. Lewis
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Great Read, Great Psychology
Mark and Jane are a newly married couple in mid-20th century England. They're young, and figuring themselves out. The crisis that moves them through this process is the disintegration of their little university hamlet by dark powers of technology. C.S. Lewis was a bachelor at the time he wrote this, and a man's man and academic to boot, yet he portrays a sympathetic and believable Jane, the young new wife. His portrayal of Mark, her academic don husband, is less sympathetic and more caricature like. But however realistic they are, the story is a page turner. Lewis pens fantastic dialogue, while slowly racheting up the suspense, and unraveling the complicated tale. The story brings together several threads of Lewis' work: the space travels of Harry Ransom, the protagonist of Perelandra and Out of the Silent Planet; his piercing focus on the workings of human conscience and rationlization; and British legend and mythology. Well worth the read.