Ex Libris Kirkland

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Subtitle A Modern Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups
First Written 1945
Genre Scifi
Origin UK
My Copy paperback, boxed set of Space Trilogy
First Read July 06, 2012

That Hideous Strength



And re-reading it again with the benefit of knowing so much about Charles Williams, I absolutely understand why people think this one is so CW-influenced. It really is! Thematically and tonally it does read like a CW / CSL mashup, and there's a bunch of CW references. A bird is named favorite author with the good team calling themselves 'Logres', and at one point they even literally quote from CW's Taliessin thru Logres.

Noted on March 26, 2023

Also there's a lot more about Numinor here; when Merlin shows up (!) he's the last vestige of an era where magic was, IDK, real? They mention Numinor and Middle Earth, which I assume JRRT would both appreciate and be driven bonkers by.

Noted on March 28, 2023

This weekend I was standing out in a very cold rain watching a soccer game - and loving it - and was reminded of the part where the Dennistons invite Jane out to have a picnic in the fog. They are fans of weather, they say - not nice weather, but just all kinds of weather. So I picked it up to reread over this weekend, and am really enjoying it so far.

Noted on March 26, 2023

That Hideous Strength is not as good as the first two books in the Space Trilogy. But it's a fundamentally different kind of book, and I think Lewis did himself a disservice by making it part of the trilogy. If you loved 'Silent Planet' and "Perelandra,' you won't get far with THS if you're looking for more of the same. I definitely started it and abandoned it several times before I finally got the hang of it.

I think if you approach it as a totally different book. It's not a space adventure, it's a morality novel that's about a married couple who live their entire lives on the surface. In the book, they finally confront a situation that requires serious changes and decisions in their lives.

Which is really maybe appropriate for the Space Trilogy after all. Maybe on Mars or Venus the morally correct action is to beat the shit out of a Satan-possessed asshole scientist in an epic fistfight. But on Earth, our battles are more pedestrian: learn how to live in peace with your wife, or choose not to be a snob, or pass up the job promotion with Slightly Sinister Science Corporation.

There are also fighting bears, and living severed heads and Merlin and planetary space angels. But those all really come in at the end.

Noted on July 6, 2012

Then, quite sharply, it occurred to her that the Director never talked about Religion; nor did the Dimbles nor Camilla. They talked about God. They had no picture in their minds of some mist steaming upward; rather of strong, skillful hands thrust down to make, and mend, perhaps even to destroy. Supposing one were a thing after all— a thing designed and invented by Someone Else and valued for qualities quite different from what one had decided to regard as one’s true self?

Quoted on March 28, 2023

"As well," he continued. "don't you love a rather foggy day in a wood in autumn? You'll find we shall be perfectly warm sitting in the car." Jane said she'd never heard of anyone liking fogs before but she didn't mind trying. All three got in. "That's why Camilla and I got married," said Denniston as they drove off. "We both like Weather. Not this or that kind of weather, but just Weather. It's a useful taste if one lives in England."

"How ever did you learn to do that, Mr. Denniston?" said Jane. "I don't think I should ever learn to like rain and snow."

"It's the other way round," said Denniston. "Everyone begins as a child by liking Weather. You learn the art of disliking it as you grow up. Haven't you ever noticed it on a snowy day? The grown-ups are all going about with long faces, but look at the children and the dogs? They know what snow's made for."

"Im sure I hated wet days as a child," said Jane.

"That's because the grown-ups kept you in," said Camilla. "Any child loves rain if it's allowed to go out and paddle about in it."

Quoted on March 26, 2023


Ex Libris Kirkland is a super-self-absorbed reading journal made by Matt Kirkland. Copyright © 2001 - .
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