That Hideous Strength - Ch 6 - Fog

An ever-thickening fog envelopes Belbury (where Mark abides at the NICE), Edgestow, and the surrounding countryside (where the Nice builds new facilities).  In sharp contrast, as we find near the end of this chapter, St. Anne's-on-the-Hill, where Jane heads, stands bathed in sunlight and clear skies, where one can look out above and over the surrounding fog, which covers up the ugly NICE construction site.

Mark brings the employment contract form back to Withers (the Deputy Director of the NICE).  But Withers looks back at Mark with a blank stare - saying he understood Mark refused the job, and that he could not offer it again (shocking Mark).  He belittled Mark by referring to the many quarrels Mark had in his first week.  Only after Mark showed dejection did Withers suggest a probationary appointed at a significantly reduced salary.  Mark accepted immediately.  However, Withers strongly resisted any questions from Mark about whom he should report to.  Instead, Withers emphasizes elasticity.

Pince-nez glasses

Meanwhile, Jane started feeling better about her dreams, viewing them as news reports, as Mr. Denniston suggested.  In one recurring dream, she lied in her bed, with someone sitting next to her bed with a notebook, where he made entries,
sitting perfectly still and patiently attentive.  He had pince-nez (glasses), well chiseled features, and a little pointed beard.  She said nothing about this to the Dennistons' in the hope her silence would result in a visit from them, bringing hope without having to go to St. Anne's with getting drawn into the orbit of the Fisher-King (the head of St. Anne's).

At the same time, Mark went back to the Fairy (the NICE police woman chief), who encouraged him to take up the assignment she originally suggested - the rehabilitation of Alcasan (the man who murdered his wife).  Mark did so, and found success as a journalist, with the thrill of knowing his writing appeared in several newspaper read by millions (instead of the limited audience in academic writing).  He also found relief in discovering that if he needed money, all he need do was inquire of the Steward, and funds would be supplied, since the NICE "make the money," and would be taking over the whole currency.

An inner circle

The NICE rewards Mark's success by admission into an inner circle which meets at the library between 10 and midnight, something Mark greatly desires.  Professor  Frost belongs to this inner circle - a silent man who has pince-nez glasses and a pointed beard.

The inner circle informs Mark they plan to cause a riot (which will appear instigated by others) in Edgestow the next day, so they want him to start writing about it all night long so the articles will be ready to be distributed to the papers quickly after the event.  They planned this in order to gain emergency powers to do what they wish, without government interference, and with ready acceptance by the populace.  Mark reacts astonished.  However, the inner circle treats his astonishment with jocularity and intimacy, and so Mark agrees, thereby never noticing he has agreed to something both immoral and illegal - writing about an event before it occurs, participating in the conspiracy of planning a riot, planning to write a false narrative about it before it occurs, and covering up the true nature and source of the "news item."  Mark, enamored with being intimately included in the inner circle, obscures (fogs) his moral sensibilities.

False newspaper story

Mark writes two articles about the riots: one aimed at an educated (academic) audience, and one aimed at the common people.  Both praise the response of the NICE police to riots (though, in reality, the NICE caused the riots), and urge the granting of immediate emergency power to the NICE police.  Mark, who felt as though he wrote with tongue in cheek (in order to overlook the falsehoods he wrote), feels very satisfied with his writing.  He justifies it as a temporary stage the NICE must go through.

Meanwhile, Jane had a different dream about a very large corpse she couldn't see in the dark, and so she had to feel him to find out anything about him (which she almost recoiled at).  He wore a very coarse, heavily embroidered, robe.  He had a beard.  She felt she should courtesy to him, at which point she woke up.

Jane went down to Edgestow seeking a replacement for Ivy Maggs (her part-time servant).  She saw a man with pince-nez glasses, a pointed beard, and a waxwork face, who passed by her quite closely on his way to a NICE car, which she recognized from her dream.  She made an immediate decision to go to St. Anne's-on-the-Hill, not so much from fear, but from "a total rejection, or revulsion from, this man on all levels of her being at once."

Ch. 5 - Elasticity

Ch. 7 - The Pendragon

Overview of the Book

List of Characters

That Hideous Strength - Ch 5 - Elasticity

Next morning, Mark discovers the report about Cure Hardy is a hobby for Crosser, not part of Mark's job.  This steams him and he goes off to see Withers, the Deputy Director.  But Withers informs Mark he must make an appointment through his secretary.  Mark sets an appointment at 10 the next morning.

As Mark came out of Withers' office, he ran into Fairy Hardcastle.  He tells her he must find out exactly what his position is or leave the NICE.  The Fairy took him by the arm, intimately and authoritatively, said they needed to talk, took him to her office, and had drinks brought in.

Unclarity

The Fairy advises Mark not to bother the D.D. (Deputy Director).  His position is secure as long as the D.D. is on his side, which he is, but might not be if Mark bothers him.  Mark replies he just wants to make everything clear.  The Fairy responds the D.D. hates to make anything clear, and he runs the place well by not making anything clear.

Mark says he just wants to know what he is suppose to do.  The Fairy offers him work writing articles and pen name letters for the local newspaper to rehabilitate the image of Alcasan (the Arabian radiologist executed by beheading for poisoning his wife, as we saw back in Ch. 1).  Mark complains he is a sociologist, not a journalist - but the Fairy sees this as the perfect work for the kind of sociology they practice at the NICE, especially through their police department.  Mark also views this sort of work as dishonest propaganda which the public would never swallow.  The Fairy thinks otherwise, but she can see Mark will not participate, so she sends him on his way (which makes Mark feel once again that on the outside).

While wandering around with nothing to do, feeling on the outside, he discovers the NICE has a considerable zoo for vivisection.

Mark sees Withers (the D.D.) at his appointment the next day.  He finds, as the Fairy said, Withers hates to make anything clear - he constantly speaks in double-speak, in effusive praise, and in hedging language.  He again reassures Mark has a position at the NICE, though he says he doesn't have the authority to offer him a position.  When Mark asks what his salary will be, Withers replies that is not a matter for him to decide, but that members in his position usually draw 1500 a year (which Mark considers generous), but it will adjust itself, it could be higher.  When Mark mentions a contract, Withers stares at him blankly.  Then he pulls a form out of his drawer, but says he's never actually used it.  He then ends the meeting without answering any other issue Mark has raised.

Mark receives a letter from Curry (the Sub-Warden at Bracton), saying they are sad to hear about his resignation as a fellow, as they heard about from Lord Feverstone (Dick Devine), but glad to hear he has settled in with the NICE.  Mark still does not feel settled in with the NICE, and wants to maintain his fellowship at Bracton as a fall-back position.  He writes a reply letter saying Feverstone must have misunderstood him, he is still not sure he will take the position with the NICE, and may well return to Bracton.

Mark later sees Feverstone and asks him to sort out everything with Bracton, since he started the mess.  Basically Feverstone refuses to do so, and warns Mark not to be mean to him or others at the NICE.  Knowing Feverstone's influence at Bracton, Mark now worries if he losses his job at the NICE, he will have no job to return to at Bracton.

The Fisher King

Meanwhile, Jane ran into Camilla Deniston in town who invited her to join with her husband in taking a drive out of town to have some lunch.  Jane accepts knowing Mr. Denniston and Mark used to be friends.  During lunch, they reveal they live at St. Anne's, where Jane met Grace Ironwood.  They all belong to a society run by a Mr. Fisher-King, a recent name he took, who received an injury to his foot, on his last journey, which won't heal.  (When Lewis, the medieval scholar, brings up the name of the Fisher King, he immediately ties us to the Arthurian legends.  There, the Fisher King carries on the charge to keep the Holy Grail.  However, because of a wound he received to his groin or leg, he cannot move, and so finds it difficult to do so.  More about this later.)

[Mr. Denniston also refers to Mr. Fisher-King as the Pendragon, another Arthurian reference.  More about that later.]

The Dennistons urge Jane to join their society and use her gift of visions to help them for the good of all.  They warn otherwise she will fall into the hands of their enemies who will use her gift to promote evil.  Jane doesn't know what to make of all this, though she likes the Dennistons.  She finds it disturbing that they say she will have to submit to this Mr. Fisher-King, but especially that she must obtain Mark's permission before she comes.  This all goes against her sense to remain independent. Jane says for now - she won't join, but she will inform them of any more dreams she has.  They are pleased with this for now.

Ch. 4 - The Liquidation of Anachronisms

Ch. 6 - Fog

Overview of the Book

List of Characters

That Hideous Strength - Ch 4 - The Liquidation of Anachronisms

The title gives away where this chapter heads.  The death (liquidation) of the old, or at least what is viewed as old-fashioned, out of place, and awkward.

When Ms. Dimble arrives at Jane's, she relates how a construction crew (under directions from the NICE - the National Institute for Co-Ordinated Experiments) arrived, who cut down all the trees around their house, and began to rip up their yard (the old).  They told the Dimbles they had no objection if they stayed in the house until 8 o'clock the next morning.  Meanwhile big trucks arrived along with tractor engines and a huge crane.  The Dimbles don't know what to do.  Ivy Maggs, Jane's part-time servant was also turned out of her home.  Jane assures Mother Dimble she can stay as long as she likes.

At night, Jane awakes Mother Dimble with shouting while dreaming.  Jane saw a man being killed by three others who beat him to death in a cool manner.  She found it horrid.

A mad parson?

At Belbury, Mark meets a minister, Reverand Straik (whom Bill the Blizzard had called the Mad Parson). Straik believes the NICE program must be carried out with violence, a shocker for Mark.  Straik repudiates the after-life, as well as all organized religion.  Instead, he interprets the gospel to mean Jesus wants us to bring about the Kingdom of God in the here and now, through the instrument of science, by ensuring that"every knee shall bow," which the NICE will carry out.  Straik believes himself a prophet (and in a way, he is revealing what the NICE is about).  Straik says Mark has no choice about being used by the NICE, for "no one goes out of the NICE.  Those who try to turn back will perish in the wilderness."

Mark notices his wallet has gone missing, and wonders what could have happened to it.

At a NICE Committee meeting, the Deputy Director, Withers announces that William Hingest (Bill the Blizzard) {old & old-fashioned} had been murdered, beaten by a blunt instrument, and found lying near his car about 4 in the morning, dead for several hours.  The good news was that the NICE police, led by Miss Hardcastle, were the first on the scene, and the local police and Scotland Yard were allowing them to take the lead in the case, and cooperating wonderfully.  A subdued round of applause followed.  After expressing regrets about Hingest's resolution to withdraw from the NICE, Withers delivered an obituary about his life, and then they observed a moment of silence (during which Mark heard a lot of odd creakings and breathings).

Jane enjoyed her morning with Mrs. Dimble.  She felt that since she "had it all out" with Miss Ironwood, the dreams would stop.  She wondered aloud why Ivy Maggs, her part-time servant hadn't showed up yet.  Mrs. Dimble said that since they took Ivy Maggs' home, and she no longer had a place to live in Edgestow, she would no longer be working for Jane, and she moved to St. Anne's, and had some sort of work there.

Murder by beating

Later in the day, Jane ran into Mr. Curry (the Sub-Warden at Bracton).  He informed her of the news of the murder of Mr. Hingest (Bill the Blizzard) in the middle of the night (small hours of the morning), with his body found badly beaten about the head.  Jane escaped into Blackie's for a cup of coffee.  The news shattered and sickened her.  It confirmed that her vision dreams had not ended - instead, she now believed she actually saw the murder of Hingest in her dream.  She felt powerless to stop these visions. They would drive her mad.  She didn't want to go back to Miss Ironwood and and the company at St. Anne's.  She felt they were somehow mixed up in this.  It was all so unfair - she simply wanted to be left alone.

Meanwhile, at the NICE in Belbury, a man named Crosser tells Mark they have a job to do - prepare a report on a village, Cure Hardy.  The NICE needs to redirect the Wynd river, which presently goes through Edgetow, through the village of Cure Hardy.  This will wipe out the village, which the NICE will rebuild as a new model village four miles away.  The report must list all the reasons this beauty spot must be got rid of.  It's unsanitary.  It has undesirables, small rentiers and agricultural labourers.  They will write the report first, and then go see the village {backwards, of course}.

A small British village

As they go the next day to Cure Hardy, he notices it's especially beautiful, something his love for Jane has awakened in him.  It made Mark feel like he was on holiday, since that was the only time he wandered English villages, which gave him pleasure.  Though he tried to look at it as a sociologist, he couldn't help but like the village. As they have lunch in a pub, Mark tries to express his finding that the village is pleasant.  Crosser dismisses this by saying that is the concern of someone else at the NICE.

Suddenly, Mark discovers that he thinks Curry is a bore, and he feels sick about the NICE.  He thinks he might chuck it and return to Bracton.  As they return, Curry drops Mark off in Edgetow, and he returns home to see Jane.  There is much they do not tell each other, and Jane feels that Mark isn't telling her everything about the NICE and Belbury, though he speaks confidently about them.  She worries whether he gave up his fellowship at Bracton, and he reassures he hasn't. (They are both young.)

Meanwhile, the Fellows at Bracton meet that evening over wine and desert.  They can hear the very noisy work by the NICE at Bragdon Woods, so that its difficult to carry on a conversation.  Lord Feverstone attends and informs Curry (the Sub-Warden) that Mark is not returning to Bracton, but he's not sure when he'll send a formal resignation. Feverstone regards this as good, since it means they can have someone lined up when the formal resignation comes through, and Feverstone already has someone in mind.  Curry is not so sure, but agrees to meet him once his calendar clears up after the Hingest funeral.

The noise outside gets louder, the floor starts shaking, they wonder if someone is being murdered, and finally, a splintering of the large glass window fell as a shower of stones fell on the floor.

Ch. 3 - Belbury and St. Anne's-on-the-Hill

Ch. 5 - Elasticity

Overview of That Hideous Strength

List of Characters

That Hideous Strength - Ch 3 - Belbury and St Anne's-on-the-Hill

Belbury - "a florid Edwardian mansion"

Feverstone takes Mark at Belbury to meet John Withers, the Deputy Director of the NICE (National Institute of Co-Ordinated Experiments). Withers (the names of the characters in this story are delicious and informs us) exemplifies the mastery of double-talk.  He says a lot without saying anything at all - or he says one thing while meaning something else.  He effusively praises Mark and repeatedly reassures him he has nothing to worry about at all.  Mark simply wants to know what he would do if he came to the NICE, but can never get a direct answer out of Withers, and he kept asking himself during the interview "What are we talking about?"

Afterward, Mark is unclear whether he got a job or not.  He tries to ask Feverstone, who escapes to greet a friend.  It's time to eat at Belbury, and Mark is unsure if he should stay or not - but does.  He feels like an outsider, which Mark hates.  He spots William Hingest, a prominent chemist at Bracton, also known as Bill the Blizzard.  When Mark talks to him, Hingest says he is leaving the NICE right away, and advises Mark to do the same.  Mark is unsure.  A famous physiologist, Professor Filostrato, recognizes Mark.  He advises Mark to stay and not worry about a job description - it will become apparent - the work of the NICE is what's important - too important to pass up.

Fairy Hardcastle

Filastro introduces Mark to "Fairy" Hardcastle - the head of the internal NICE police.  The "Fairy" is "a big woman in a black, short-skirted uniform."  "... she was rather thickly built
 than fat and her iron-grey hair was cropped short."  She fixed Mark "with a gaze of cold intimacy."

Meanwhile, Jane meets Miss (Grace) Ironwood at St. Anne's-on-the-hill, the person the Dimble's recommended she go see about her dream.  Miss Ironwood dresses all in black with her hands folded on her knees (Jane saw her like this in a dream the night before).  Jane tells Miss Ironwood her dreams.  Jane worries if anything is wrong with her.  Ironwood reassures her nothing is wrong with her because Jane is a visionary - she sees things in her dreams as they happen or before they happen.  Jane's maiden name was Tudor.  Apparently, one of her ancestors had the same gift.  Ironwood determined this based on a rare book he wrote.  Ironwood believes Jane received this gift on a hereditary basis.  Ironwood urges Jane to use her gift in service for the organization at St. Anne's, as the Dimble's intended by referring her there.  She warns there are others who want to use her gift for subversive purposes, or squash her.  She advises if she goes to a psychotherapist, they would likely begin treatment, with serious results, which would not stop the dreams.

Jane almost believed her, but then became repugnant, wounded, resentful, with a general dislike of the situation she finds herself in.  She announced she had to go home, didn't know what Ironwood talked about, and didn't want anything to do with it.

Meanwhile, Mark stayed the night at Belbury, spending time with the Fairy.  He didn't exactly like her.  He found her rankly, insolently sexed, and wholly unattractive.  Yet somehow she knew this and found it amusing.  However, though he found her discussion about police work disagreeable, yet he found it esoteric.  Somehow, around her, he felt like an insider, especially as she openly shared about her varied work history.  She suggested they work hand in hand, since she viewed police work as largely the work of a sociologist (which Mark is).  Like Filastro, she urged Mark to consider himself to have the job, and not worry about the job description.

Meanwhile, Jane left St. Anne's, determined not to get mixed up in all this nonsense, as she called it.  At 23, she determined to live her own life, as she did when she married Mark.  She carried some resentment against love, and thus against Mark, for invading her life.  She thought about how much a woman gives up in getting married.  She also thought Mark seemed insufficiently aware of this.  All this grounded her determination not to have a child, at least for a long time.

At home, she received a call from Margaret Dimble (Mrs. Dimble, Mother Dimble) who experienced a dreadful thing and wants to come over to talk about it, which Jane agrees to.

Ch. 2 - Dinner with the Sub-Warden

Ch. 4 - The Liquidation of Anachronisms

Overview of That Hideous Strength

List of Characters

That Hideous Strength - Ch. 2 - Dinner with the Sub-Warden

After the meeting, Mark goes to dine at the house of Curry, the sub-Warden of Bracton, with Lord Feverstone and James Busby, the Bursar, joining in the dinner party.  Mark begins to warm to Feverstone.  The discussion turns to the NICE (National Institute of Co-ordinated Experiments).  Busby thinks the NICE is "the first attempt to take applied science seriously from a national point of view."  Curry thinks the NICE "marks the beginning of a new era - the really scientific era."

Both Curry and Busby have to leave the dinner party for other commitments, leaving Feverstone and Mark alone.  As soon as they leave, Feverstone bursts out laughing louder and louder, which Mark soon joins in infectiously.  Feverstone, who works in the NICE, though mostly at a distance, thinks Curry and Busby have silly ideas about the intentions of the NICE.  Much to Mark's surprise, Feverstone thinks Curry and Busby are not very intelligent, but useful, since they usually carry out at Bracton what is suggested to them.  Thus they led the charge to bring the NICE to Edgestow, as was suggested to them.

However, Feverstone congratulates Mark for understanding the point of the NICE at once, and invites him

The plaque says Lord Feverstone

to come with him to visit the organization to consider joining and being considered as a member.  Feverstone expresses disdain for Bracton, and says Mark would be wasted there.  Mark, who felt he joined one inner circle when appointed at Bracton, and who now feels he entered another inner circle as part of the Progressive Elements - now feels part of another inner circle with Feverstone, understanding he can be part of a further inner circle with the NICE.

Feverstone presents the NICE as on the side of Order - the opportunity to take control of our destiny - the chance to take over the human race and recondition it - to make man a really efficient animal, if only "Science is really given a free hand."

Feverstone presents three problems: first the interplanetary problem (readers of the trilogy will understand this as the battles presented in the first two parts of the trilogy, where the battle took place on Mars and Venus - Dick Divine had been part of the battle on Mars).  He refers to the murder of Weston (his partner in crime on Mars, who later tried to corrupt Venus, and killed by Ransom, whom we will meet later in the story).

The second problem Feverstone presents is life itself.  There is far too much of it of every-kind on the planet and it needs to cleaned up (to promote order).  The details have to be gone into.

The third problem is Man himself.  At first this means sterilization of the unfit, liquidating the backward races, and then selective breeding (eugenics).  Eventually it means a real education by stages which eventually leads to the direct manipulation of the brain - which leads to a new type of man.

Feverstone says they want Mark because he can write in such a manner as to camouflage their purpose for now (propaganda) until they can say it openly.  Mark, eager to enter another inner circle, agrees to go with Feverstone and visit John Wither at the NICE for the weekend.

When Mark finally arrives home, Jane surprises him with an overwhelming, teary embrace, absent of any defensiveness.  When Jane returned home alone from the Dimbles, fear upon fear built up, especially as reflected in her dream, so she was quite besides when Mark came home.

The next day, Jane was angry at herself for being the fluttering, tearful "little woman."  This anger spilled over as anger against Mark, who announced he was leaving for a couple days to visit the NICE at Belbury with Lord Feverstone who first visited them before whisking Mark away in his sports car.  After they left, Jane thought Feverstone had a "loud, unnatural laugh and the mouth of a shark, and no manners."  She thought him a perfect fool, shifty, and distrusted his face.  She worried he would make a fool of Mark, who could be so easily taken in.

However, she worried about spending days and nights alone.  She eventually decides to see Miss Ironwood at St. Anne's as the Dimbles recommended.

As this chapter ends, we see Mark and Jane going in different directions - an analogy of their marriage.  Mark rides with Lord Feverstone in his sports car, at wild speeds, towards the NICE in Belbury (lowlands).  Jane rides in a steady train in the opposite direction towards St. Anne's (on a hill with a prominent view of the surrounding countryside) to meet with Miss Ironwood as the Dimbles recommended.

Ch. 1 - The Sale of College Property

Ch. 3 - Belbury and St. Anne's-on-the-Hill

Overview of book

List of Characters

That Hideous Strength - Ch 1 - Sale of College Property

Jane married Mark Studdock six months ago.  Before they married, they had endless talks.  Now she feels like she is in solitary confinement.  He claims either sleepiness or tends to intellectual preoccupation, since Mark works as a fellow at Bracton College (which has no students - a sort of think tank). She wonders what happened to the mutual society, help, and comfort the minister at their marriage spoke about.  They have no children so Jane can remain independent and pursue her work, though she left the job she enjoyed.

After marriage, Jane wants to work on her doctoral thesis about Donne (John Donne, the 17th Century poet and cleric who focused on metaphysics and love), or at least intends to, but seems to make no progress.  She is stuck on a verse from his poem Love's Alchemie (also called Love's Alchemy):
Hope not for mind in women; at their best
Sweetnese and wit, they are but Mummy possesed

While puzzled by the meaning of this line, and just how she should try to understand it for her doctrinal thesis, she glances at a picture she sees in the paper, which immediately reminds her of a recent dream she had, which seemed more like a nightmare which terrorized her. The newspaper reported about the execution of Alcasan, an Arabian radiologist who poisoned his wife who was executed by beheading for his crime.  In her dream, Jane saw a man with this face beheaded by twisting his head off.  Then Jane saw a different head of an ancient British, druidical man being dug up in a churchyard.  Jane thought he was dead, but she then saw him come to life and begin talking in something that sounded vaguely like Spanish to her.  Then Jane woke up she was so frightened.

Meanwhile, Mark, now a fellow for 5 years at Bracton College at Edgestow, talks with sub-Warden Curry.

Mark Studdock

Mark delights to find that he is now part of the inner circle, the Progressive Element - something he's desired for quite some time.  However, Mark also discovers that his appointment as a fellow at the college had to do with the considerable influence of Lord Feverstone, someone who spends most of his time in London.  Apparently, Mark learns, without Feverstone's influence, many favored another scholar named Denniston.  Until now, Mark imagined he was selected on his own merits, and it disturbs him to discover otherwise. (Feverstone's name is Dick Divine, a name from the first book in the trilogy where he appears as a villainy character.)

Sub-Warden Curry wanted to talk with Mark about the upcoming meeting of the fellows that day, and specifically about a motion for the College to sell Bragdon Wood, a secluded, walled in, peaceful area of well-tended grass (by sheep) and trees, with an ancient well in the middle, smack in the middle of the College.  The old well by reported legend is the burial site for Merlin (and so called Merlin's well).  An organization named the National Institute of Co-ordinated Experiments (N.I.C.E.) made a generous offer to purchase Bradgon Wood to construct a new building to house their operations.  The NICE presents a new organization which fuses the state and laboratory where thoughtful people could make a better world free from the constraints of red tape and with an unlimited, state supported budget.

At the meeting, the Busar announced that the College's budget looked so woeful, the meager stipend for the Junior Fellows might have to be cut from the amounts already paid.  Thus when the question of the sale of Bradgon Wood to the NICE for a generous amount arose, only the old guard wanted to hang on to this part of the college that had belonged to it since its founding back in 1300.  The rest clearly saw the advantage of the sale and the motion easily carried.  During the meeting, we begin to see the doublespeak which tends to dominate some circles which we will examine in the upcoming chapters.

Jane can't focus on her work, being troubled by her dream.  She goes out for a walk and to do some shopping.  She runs into Mrs. Dimble, who invites her home to lunch with Cecil Dimble, her husband.  Dr. Dimble was Jane's tutor at Northumberland where he serves as a fellow.  Mrs. Dimble acted as an unofficial aunt to all of his pupils.  They live in a cottage by a river next to the wall of Bragdon Wood.  While alone with Mrs. Dimble, Jane begins to cry and confesses that she is not going to have a baby, that she's depressed about being alone, and about her nightmare.

Dr. Dimble knows Bracton will likely sell Bradgon Woods to the NICE, as well as their home.  He also

knows about the legend of Merlin's burial under the well.  He begins talking about Arthur, distinguishing between the 5th Century Arthur from the later 12th Century additions from the French which added the tales about the affair between Guinevere and Lancelot.  He also talks about Merlin - not evil, yet a magician; a druid who knows about the Grail; something now lost, in between.  He adds that the stories say Merlin is buried, but not dead.

When Dimble notices Jane does not look well, he takes her into the drawing room where she tells him about her dream.  The Dimbles suggests someone for Jane to see about her dream.

Overview of book

Ch. 2 - Dinner with the Sub-Warden

List of Characters

That Hideous Strength - Overview

C. S. Lewis wrote the final book in his space trilogy, That Hideous Strength, in 1945, as World War II winded down.  (I later plan to write a post about his space trilogy.)  He saw the terrible and hideous abuse of power by the Nazis, who rejected Christianity.  He also saw England, especially in academia, rejecting not only Christianity, but also almost any type of spirituality, as material naturalism tended to dominate the elites.  Lewis sought to push back against this and show what materialist naturalism tended to lead towards.  He also wanted to show how mankind tended to abuse authority and power to manipulate others.  He understood stories better conveyed a message than academic books.

Lewis, a medieval scholar at both Oxford, and then Cambridge, who wanted to draw from the best of the medieval world and weave it into his story.  So we find Merlin and references to King Arthur in his story.  We also find a medieval cosmology built into the story.  He also loved myths - and so - we find references to the Greek and Roman gods.

C. S. Lewis

But most importantly, C.S. Lewis converted from atheism, or at least an agnostic, to Christianity, under the influence of his friend, J.R.R. Tolkien.  So this book shows us a battle between forces under the direction of Satan, and the forces under the direction of Christ as mediated through angels.  In a way it prefigures the final battle of these forces foretold in the Book of Revelation, but more so in the present time Lewis lived in.

Lewis subtitled the book, An Adult Fairy Tale.  Both Lewis and Tolkien wanted to rescue fairy tales from the nursery room and reinvigorate the genre for modern times.  Tolkien began with The Hobbit (1937).  Lewis followed with his space trilogy beginning with Out of the Silent Planet (1938), and followed by Perelandra (1943).  Though Lewis wrote it as a follow-up, it stands on its own as a complete story.

Usually, I summarize a book in one blog post.  However, I find this book difficult to so summarize, and too important to treat this way.  Instead, I will post something, a chapter at a time, since there is so much going on within it. I am also going to reread it as I do so.  I found it somewhat difficult to follow the first time through, as others have commented.  Part of the reason has to do with this book reflects a dystopia.  That means its the opposite of a utopia, where everything is perfect and happy.  In a dystopia (like 1984), everything is upside down and disturbing.  Writers usually use dystopias as a warning of what will come if action doesn't change things.  In addition, Lewis writes a somewhat complex novel to convey a certain level of distress as what he sees as the wrong direction his society in England heads in near the end of World War II.  It's meant as a warning.

The Lewis-Tolkien Friendship

Out of the Silent Planet (Part 1 of the Space Trilogy)

Perelandra (Part 2 of the Space Trilogy)

Chapter Summaries in That Hideous Strength
Ch. 1 - Sale of College Property
Ch. 2 - Dinner with the Sub-Warden
Ch. 3 - Belbury and St. Anne's-on-the-Hill
Ch. 4 - The Liquidation of Anachronisms
Ch. 5 - Elasticity
Ch. 6 - Fog
Ch. 7 - The Pendragon
Ch. 8 - Midnight at Belbury
Ch. 9 - The Saracen's Head
Ch. 10 - The Conquered City
Ch. 11 - Battle Begun
Ch. 12 - A Wet and Windy Night
Ch. 13 - They Have Pulled Down Deep Heavens on their Heads
Ch 14 - Real Life is Meeting
Ch 15 - The Descent of the Gods
Ch 16 - Banquet at Belbury
Ch 17 - Venus at St. Anne's

That Hideous Strength - Conclusion

That Hideous Strength - Character List

Mere Christianity - Overview