One hint that is often missed is the subtitle to That Hideous Strength: “A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups.” That Lewis has to include a preface defending the subtitle makes the reader wonder why he even bothered. My chapter in the book is going to work out that link (if I am successful!).īut Williams and Tolkien are not Lewis’ only influence. Read Williams’ Descent Into Hell (1937) and some of his Arthuriana, then read That Hideous Strength.

It is certainly in the stream of Charles William’s work. It is dark, eerie, peculiar, a clear precursor to Orwell’s 1984 (1948), and for some reason includes the great wizard Merlin. THS really sets itself apart from the other books as a supernatural thriller. Wells space fantasy-what he and Tolkien called a Romance-and Perelandra (1943) became a new myth like what Milton did in Paradise Lost. Lewis.” While the first Ransom book, Out of the Silent Planet (1938), was an H.G.

Lewis scholars it was from Sørina that I first heard That Hideous Strength ( THS) called “The Charles Williams novel by C.S. This claim won’t shock readers of the Inklings or C.S. They influence the way that Lewis shaped his science fiction writing during WWII. Tolkien.” Williams and Tolkien, both writers struggling with Arthurian stories and both close friends of Lewis-they are the reason that Merlin appears. Part of the ultimate answer is this: “ Charles Williams and J.R.R. As I trawl through the materials one common theme keeps coming back: How do we explain the sudden appearance of Merlin in That Hideous Strength (1945)?

Lewis and the Arthurian tradition for Sørina Higgins’ collection, The Inklings and King Arthur.

Phantastes a faerie romance