Book Review #20: That Hideous Strength
May. 16th, 2008 02:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pyatPeople are often surprised when I tell them that I first learned about adolescent homosexuality and same-sex erotic sadism via the writings of C.S. Lewis.
More specifically, I learned the word “catamite” from reading his autobiography at the age of 14, and his novel That Hideous Strength (which I first read at the age of 13 or so) contains an erotically-charged bondage / sadism scene between two women.
That Hideous Strength is my 20th novel of the year. I’ve read this one many times before, perhaps a dozen times since the age of 13, but it has been about a decade since I last read it. That Hideous Strength is the final installment in The Cosmic Trilogy, C.S. Lewis’ comparatively little known series of science-fiction/fantasy novels published between 1938 and 1945. I used to consider it by far my favorite book by Lewis, but after reading it again I’m forced to admit that his final novel, Till We Have Faces, is much better.
That Hideous Strength is still very well-written, but is so manifestly a mouthpiece for Lewis’ world views that it becomes rather grating, even when I agree with those views. It is a bit frustrating to read pages and pages of rather saccharine advice about marriage and the spiritual requirement for female submission penned by 47-year-old virginal bachelor who spent all his time in the company of other men. There is also a suggestion that the female protagonist is sinning grievously by making use of a contraceptive.
This theme (the requirement of female submission) is very large part of the book, as it at the root of the unhappiness of the protagonists, a young, childless, intellectual married couple name Mark and Jane Studdock.
Also a bit of a turn-off is the realization that one minor character, Horace Jules, an absurd and unpleasant egotistical man, is very clearly meant to be H.G. Wells. I was raised in a household where C.S. Lewis was considered the greatest theologian, and possibly the greatest writer, of all time. It is something of a surprise even now to realize how he inserted this unrealistic caricature into the book… when H.G. Wells was still alive, at that!
I know people who are utterly turned off by Narnia because of the Christian subtext. The Cosmic Trilogy doesn’t have a subtext, but is rather suffused with a curiously mystical Christianity, a cosmic Christianity that is not limited to the rites and mores of contemporary earthly faith. Reading these novels lets one understand why Jack Chick and certain U.S. evangelical churches are so down on Lewis. He was an intelligent Christian, a converted atheist who dabbled in Spiritism in his youth, and he was not afraid to question his beliefs, or to allow them to evolve. Ten years after he wrote this book he married an intellectual Marxist former atheist/Jewish playwright divorcee… in a civil service.
And, also, there’s a lot of sex in some of his books.
No, really. Out of the Silent Planet is packed with naked seven-foot tall otter men. Perlandra, the second book, has the protagonist cavorting naked with Satan and a green woman. (To those who have read the book, consider how awesome it would be if Captain Kirk was the hero, instead of stodgy old Ransom. Hammer punch for Satan and then he’d be right on to teaching Greenlady about “this thing you humans call Love.”)
That Hideous Strength is packed full of sex, especially deviant sex and animal sex. It has Major Hardcastle, a thick-set lesbian with a buzz-cut and an enormous bosom who dresses in military tunics and leather skirts. At one point in the novel, Miss Hardcastle has the female protagonist stripped topless and held between her ankles, while dreamily burning the heroine’s torso with a cheroot. Later, Miss Hardcastle talks about whiling away some happy hours with a “fluffy girl” prisoner.
And, when the good guys win, everyone has sex.
***Spoiler Alert***
Seriously, the heroes are patting each other on the back and eating a roast goose and then suddenly all the animals in and around the house start having sex. There is even a pair of escaped elephants going at it in the garden. The heroes all retire to separate bedrooms with many a wink and a nod, carrying bottles of wine and shedding clothes as they go.
All save the three unmarried characters. They shift about uncomfortably and try to avoid making eye contact with each other. Finally, they hurry out of the room to (respectively) go to sleep, do taxes, and fly away to Venus in the arms of the Goddess of Erotic Love, there to sleep forever on a secret island in a cave next to King Arthur, Elijah and Melchizedek.
No, really.
Yes, that C.S. Lewis. The “jolly school kids save Narnia” guy.
Of course, what can one expect from the sort of man who writes about talking animals?
Lousy furries.
More specifically, I learned the word “catamite” from reading his autobiography at the age of 14, and his novel That Hideous Strength (which I first read at the age of 13 or so) contains an erotically-charged bondage / sadism scene between two women.
That Hideous Strength is my 20th novel of the year. I’ve read this one many times before, perhaps a dozen times since the age of 13, but it has been about a decade since I last read it. That Hideous Strength is the final installment in The Cosmic Trilogy, C.S. Lewis’ comparatively little known series of science-fiction/fantasy novels published between 1938 and 1945. I used to consider it by far my favorite book by Lewis, but after reading it again I’m forced to admit that his final novel, Till We Have Faces, is much better.
That Hideous Strength is still very well-written, but is so manifestly a mouthpiece for Lewis’ world views that it becomes rather grating, even when I agree with those views. It is a bit frustrating to read pages and pages of rather saccharine advice about marriage and the spiritual requirement for female submission penned by 47-year-old virginal bachelor who spent all his time in the company of other men. There is also a suggestion that the female protagonist is sinning grievously by making use of a contraceptive.
This theme (the requirement of female submission) is very large part of the book, as it at the root of the unhappiness of the protagonists, a young, childless, intellectual married couple name Mark and Jane Studdock.
Also a bit of a turn-off is the realization that one minor character, Horace Jules, an absurd and unpleasant egotistical man, is very clearly meant to be H.G. Wells. I was raised in a household where C.S. Lewis was considered the greatest theologian, and possibly the greatest writer, of all time. It is something of a surprise even now to realize how he inserted this unrealistic caricature into the book… when H.G. Wells was still alive, at that!
I know people who are utterly turned off by Narnia because of the Christian subtext. The Cosmic Trilogy doesn’t have a subtext, but is rather suffused with a curiously mystical Christianity, a cosmic Christianity that is not limited to the rites and mores of contemporary earthly faith. Reading these novels lets one understand why Jack Chick and certain U.S. evangelical churches are so down on Lewis. He was an intelligent Christian, a converted atheist who dabbled in Spiritism in his youth, and he was not afraid to question his beliefs, or to allow them to evolve. Ten years after he wrote this book he married an intellectual Marxist former atheist/Jewish playwright divorcee… in a civil service.
And, also, there’s a lot of sex in some of his books.
No, really. Out of the Silent Planet is packed with naked seven-foot tall otter men. Perlandra, the second book, has the protagonist cavorting naked with Satan and a green woman. (To those who have read the book, consider how awesome it would be if Captain Kirk was the hero, instead of stodgy old Ransom. Hammer punch for Satan and then he’d be right on to teaching Greenlady about “this thing you humans call Love.”)
That Hideous Strength is packed full of sex, especially deviant sex and animal sex. It has Major Hardcastle, a thick-set lesbian with a buzz-cut and an enormous bosom who dresses in military tunics and leather skirts. At one point in the novel, Miss Hardcastle has the female protagonist stripped topless and held between her ankles, while dreamily burning the heroine’s torso with a cheroot. Later, Miss Hardcastle talks about whiling away some happy hours with a “fluffy girl” prisoner.
And, when the good guys win, everyone has sex.
***Spoiler Alert***
Seriously, the heroes are patting each other on the back and eating a roast goose and then suddenly all the animals in and around the house start having sex. There is even a pair of escaped elephants going at it in the garden. The heroes all retire to separate bedrooms with many a wink and a nod, carrying bottles of wine and shedding clothes as they go.
All save the three unmarried characters. They shift about uncomfortably and try to avoid making eye contact with each other. Finally, they hurry out of the room to (respectively) go to sleep, do taxes, and fly away to Venus in the arms of the Goddess of Erotic Love, there to sleep forever on a secret island in a cave next to King Arthur, Elijah and Melchizedek.
No, really.
Yes, that C.S. Lewis. The “jolly school kids save Narnia” guy.
Of course, what can one expect from the sort of man who writes about talking animals?
Lousy furries.
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no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 06:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 06:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 06:36 pm (UTC)The thing that gets me isn't the Christianity per se - I mean, the religion uses timeless archetypes like you said. It's the way he slams the narrative to a stop for moralizing. So far I've gone through Lion, Witch and Wardrobe - which I found to be sort of a much blander version of the Lloyd Alexander stuff - Voyage of the Dawn Treader - which is a roadtrip with a wannabe-knight character, so I loved it - and Horse and His Boy - which was so incredibly moralizing I couldn't make it through more than the first chunk of the book.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 06:44 pm (UTC)I think The Silver Chair was my favorite, just 'cause I have a thing for underground adventures.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 06:56 pm (UTC)Despite having gone through a huge anti-Christian phase (obviously over a loooong time ago), I have always loved the Narnia books. Yes, the racial stereotypes are sometimes awful, but for it's time it's actually quite decent, and I love The Horse and His Boy.
And Voyage of the Dawntreader
And The Silver Chair.
And The Last Battle.
Man, I think I might go re-read them right now.
Wow
Date: 2008-05-16 07:08 pm (UTC)Re: Wow
Date: 2008-05-16 07:10 pm (UTC)Hey, I have Piers Anthony's phone number from my days as a magazine section editor.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 07:16 pm (UTC)Re: Wow
Date: 2008-05-16 07:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 08:06 pm (UTC)Of course, my favorite C.S. Lewis anecdote was the time when J.R.R. Tolkien tried to tell Lewis why he should become Catholic. Lewis ran from the room as fast as he could. ;-)
Dominus vobiscum
no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 08:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 08:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 11:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-17 12:00 am (UTC)The Lewis scene that's really stayed with me over the years is the one in The Last Battle with the good Calormene man whose good deeds end up counting as having been done to Aslan rather than Tash. (I'm not explaining it very well, but you probably know what I mean.) I still like the theology of that one.
So Lewis married a non-Christian? That makes me feel better about some issues I'm wrestling with right now.
Also, the reason I didn't really like Till We Have Faces was that I felt more sympathy for Orual than for Psyche, and didn't think the way things ended up was really just. I kind of related Orual to me and Psyche to my younger sister.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-17 12:15 am (UTC)She was ethnically Jewish, but I think she was coming from a similar religious situation as Lewis (i.e. atheism->christianity. I recall she disagreed with him on some stuff, though they moved within the same continuum...
no subject
Date: 2008-05-17 12:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-17 06:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-18 02:17 pm (UTC)