The old rugged interplanetary cross
I'm approaching the halfway point in That Hideous Strength, the third book in C. S. Lewis's "Cosmic Trilogy". My capsule summary of the trilogy: "It's certainly evil to destroy the entire upland ecosystem of a world; and, yes, it is quite evil indeed to engineer a second and more devastating Fall from Eden on an as-yet-innocent planet. But interfering with academic politics? That is beyond the pale!"
To be fair, it isn't quite that simple; this is the most complex book of the trilogy, with a richer cast of characters (including a rather nicely rendered woman in a leading role). As usual, Lewis's greatest strength is in description; his portrayal of the sleepy English college town of Edgestow made me want to move there, and the passages concerning Mark's Kafkaesque wanderings through the political labyrinth of N.I.C.E. had my stomach clenched with sympathetic anxiety.
I'll do a more complete review when I finish the book. For the moment, I will only add that my stupid brain insists periodically on parsing the title of the book with the emphasis on the middle word, in parallel structure with the sitcom title "That 70s Show". I wish my brain were still under warranty at times like this.
To be fair, it isn't quite that simple; this is the most complex book of the trilogy, with a richer cast of characters (including a rather nicely rendered woman in a leading role). As usual, Lewis's greatest strength is in description; his portrayal of the sleepy English college town of Edgestow made me want to move there, and the passages concerning Mark's Kafkaesque wanderings through the political labyrinth of N.I.C.E. had my stomach clenched with sympathetic anxiety.
I'll do a more complete review when I finish the book. For the moment, I will only add that my stupid brain insists periodically on parsing the title of the book with the emphasis on the middle word, in parallel structure with the sitcom title "That 70s Show". I wish my brain were still under warranty at times like this.