A Progressive Dystopia Realized

C. S. Lewis's "That Hideous Strength"

For insight into the methods and reach of the woke, one could hardly do better than read C. S. Lewis's That Hideous Strength. First published 77 years ago, this third novel in Lewis's Space Trilogy explores the machinations of individuals in politics, science, business, and the academy who seek to impose their materialism and transhumanism on England and, ultimately, the world. Published the same year World War II ended, the novel displays Lewis's prescience regarding the dangers posed by scientists with no moral compass and politicians with no aim other than amassing power, both of whom follow a philosophy of "progressivism" in the worst sense of the word.

"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 who live not only with but for each other. In fact, the Studdocks spend very little time together. While Mark expends his energy seeking status at Bracton, Jane delays not only doing research for her doctoral thesis but also having a family. Both 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 given a job there, Mark initially can't find out what work he is to do, since he receives 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 an inner circle, this time that of the N.I.C.E. Each member of that circle, recognizing Mark's ambition, exploits it to seduce Mark into sinking ever deeper into their world of deception, a process that will culminate in Mark's introduction to the N.I.C.E.'s mysterious "head."

The N.I.C.E.

The nefarious realm of the N.I.C.E. is dominated by bleak characters, each of whom exhibits an aspect of the demonic power behind the whole organization. Lord Feverstone, a businessman turned self-centered politician, 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." Professor 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 her 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 N.I.C.E.'s Deputy Director, is a quintessential bureaucrat who rarely gives a direct answer. He often talks interminably in meaningless jargon, though he is, in fact, the actual leader of the organization.

These characters' names, for the most part, reflect the malevolent disorders that the N.I.C.E. promotes: Feverstone, sickness; Frost, coldness; Hardcastle, cheerlessness; and Wither, death.

St. Anne's Manor

In counterpoint to these figures, the residents of St. Anne's Manor form an enclave of faith in an England succumbing to the designs of the N.I.C.E. Seeking solace, Jane goes to St. Anne's, where she first meets Grace Ironwood, a kind psychologist who offers to help her understand her disturbing dreams. Jane also encounters Margaret Dimble, someone she first regards as old-fashioned but later comes to admire as a model of the rightly ordered woman. Margaret's husband, Cecil, an Arthurian scholar, was formerly Jane's instructor. Ivy Maggs, once Jane's housekeeper, is there too, having, like the Dimbles, lost her home to the N.I.C.E. Ivy's simplicity and devotion contrast markedly with the complex cult of the N.I.C.E.

Another married couple, Arthur and Camilla Denniston, tell Jane that the group at St. Anne's has been expecting the arrival of a seer. They believe Jane to be this seer, but Arthur refuses to coerce Jane into accepting the role. Jane eventually recognizes in the Dennistons the ­ideal of marriage in a younger couple, as the Dimbles do in an older one. Andrew MacPhee, a skeptical scientist who is nevertheless loyal to his host at St. Anne's, 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 earlier in the trilogy in a conflict with evil). The theme of devotion to God's will at the cost of personal sacrifice emerges as Ransom, the recently revivified Merlin, together with the more ordinary denizens of St. Anne's, resists 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 figure of Jesus, the One who ransomed our souls by his voluntary sacrifice on the Cross.

The Clash

In the conflict between the two groups, the members of the N.I.C.E. and the residents of St. Anne's live out Lewis's themes. Mark's ambition to join each inner circle and the N.I.C.E.'s ambition to take over England and the world stand in stark contrast to Jane's personal humility and the Christian fellowship of St. Anne's. Frost's and Filostrato's scientism falls 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. At first no less shallow than her husband, Jane comes to St. Anne's with doubt, condescension, and affliction, but she gains insights into her role as a Christian wife, garners the courage to put herself at risk for the good of others, and humbly accepts her own responsibility for her emotional distance from her husband. While Jane receives the guidance of Ransom and the residents of St. Anne's, Mark eventually realizes the same truths himself by reflecting on the stark face of evil that is the N.I.C.E.

In addition to its diverse themes, Lewis's novel, which he dubbed "theological science fiction," incorporates elements of several genres, 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 government and business institutions, and its corruption of religious teachings. In creating this nightmare world, Lewis told an engrossing adventure story with a profoundly Christian core. Remarkably, it reads like an account of people and events in our contemporary world.