That Hideous Strength - Ch 9 - The Saracen's Head

Medieval Europeans used the word Saracen to describe a Muslim.  (If you recall from Ch. 1, Alcasan, beheaded for poisoning his wife, was an Arabian radiologist - and could be referred to as a Saracen.)

Jane tells her latest dream to Grace Ironwood and the Director.  She saw a head floating before her - a face with a beard, nose, and eyes with colored glasses on.  The top of its removed skull boiled over with a great mass as though something inside had boiled over.  Then she realized the head did not actually float.  It was fixed on something with rubber tubes, bulbs, and little metal things hanging below it - with the tubes going into a wall.  It began an imitation of breathing, in a rhythmic - huff, huff, huff - and it dribbled at the mouth, but had no hands to wipe it.  It worked its mouth and licked its lips.  It seemed to Jane like a machine someone was getting into working order.

Then Jane saw three persons enter the room all dressed in white with masks on - walking extremely carefully.  She recognized the third person as her husband, Mark.  They bowed to it and it spoke to them in French, so that Jane didn't understand it well.  One of the three seemed to introduce Mark to it.  It said something to Mark, and Mark replied something about trying to do it in a few days if possible.  She could tell Mark couldn't stand it and was going to fall sick, but the others got him out of the room before that could happen.

A Council

Jane felt horror about the dream, to the point of nausea, as she realized Mark's real surroundings as associates.  The Director confirms Mark suffers, and they will try to rescue him.  He calls for a council, but says he must exclude Jane since some believe too much information could affect her dream abilities which they rely upon as a news source.

Meanwhile, Mark resolved he must bring Jane to Belbury, but not for whatever purpose NICE had in mind, but to save his life, which he now worries about after seeing the head artificially kept alive with air and saliva pumped from the next door room.  With his "modern" education, he has nothing else to fall back on.  But then he worried if she comes there - would they bring her before the Head?

Suddenly, Fairy Hardcastle appears.  She tries to convince Mark to sign a form which would allow the Fairy to bring Jane immediately to him at Belbury.  She argues otherwise she might be sent to an Asylum for accusing the Fairy of burning her with cigarettes.  Mark responds he must go home at once to talk with Jane about this.  He tries to see the Deputy Director to report his decision, but can't at first, and then later finds him in a trance-like mostly unresponsive state.  Mark leaves, but then finds the D.D. blocks his path outside, and walks back to Belbury, tired, with his eyes tear filled.

Back at St. Anne's, MacPhee (the resident skeptic) invites Jane into "his little room" - his office.  He mentions the Director is actually Ransom, a philologist.  Jane recognizes the name as the author of " Dialect and Semantics."  MacPhee relates skeptically the Director's story that he had been to Mars (Book 1 of the Space Trilogy - Out of the Silent Planet).  Jane believes it.

A depiction of Eldils

MacPhee relates, skeptically, the Director says he met eldils on Mars, not exactly Martians, who live in empty space and don't breathe, as he has been told - they alight on planets like birds on trees, except those on earth are hostile.  Again, MacPhee skeptically relates the Director claims to continuously receive communications from the eldils, those not on earth, who sent him to Venus (Book 2 of the Space Trilogy - Perelandra).  They informed the Director about a conspiracy against the human race.

Later, Jane talks with Camilla Denniston.  She asks why the Director looks so young.  Camilla replies that's because he returned from Perelandra (Venus), where Paradise still goes on, and those who return from there never age, never die - they eventually move onto the Deep Heaven.  She reveals him as the Pendragon of Logres.  (In the last chapter, I explained about the title of Pendragon.  As for Logres, it's an ancient name for England associated with the Arthurian legends.)

One map depicting ancient Logres

Later, the Director holds Council with those at St. Anne's.  He finds that Jane's dream reveals the NICE have "discovered a way of making themselves immortal," which they will call the next step in evolution.  MacPhee wants to know what the Director plans to do about it.  However, the Director says he never brought the company together, nor selected them.  Instead, he says he acts under the directions of the eldils, who somehow brought them all together, and will reveal their plan in their good time.

The Company tries to figure out why the NICE wanted Bragdon Woods.  They come to some conclusions.  It has something to do with the Arthurian legends where Merlin was buried, or at least fell asleep.  They wanted to join his ancient powers to their modern powers.  His ancient powers were not exactly magical, but somehow more profound than the powers we possess in the modern world.  It belonged to Numinor (which ties Lewis' world to Tolkien's, as well as to the Atlantis' legends).  Their combined powers would seek to subjugate Tellus (the ancient word for Earth).

Ch. 8 - Midnight at Belbury

Ch. 10 - The Conquered City

Overview of "That Hideous Strength"

Character List