C. S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength

Peter Schakel (Hope College)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Birmingham Newman University), Louise McDonald (Birmingham Newman University), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1945

Places

Northern Ireland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel
Science Fiction/ Speculative

Resources

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That Hideous Strength: A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups

(1945) is a sequel to two earlier novels by C. S. Lewis,

Out of the Silent Planet

(1938) and

Perelandra

(1943). Like the earlier two stories, its central character is Elwin Ransom, though he has a smaller role in the overall action of this book. In

Perelandra

Ransom traveled to Venus and defeated Edward Rolles Weston, one of the two villains who kidnapped him and took him to Mars in

Out of the Silent Planet

. In

That Hideous Strength

Ransom returns to Earth to do battle with the other villain, Richard Devine.

That Hideous Strength describes the attempt to seize control of the earth by a large, powerful, supremely evil socio-scientific organization (the National Institute for Coordinated Experiments – known mostly by its acronym,

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1284 words

Citation: Schakel, Peter. "That Hideous Strength". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 June 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12308, accessed 23 November 2024.]

C. S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength

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