I am re-reading the marvelous Space Trilogy of C. S. Lewis for the third time, and at present just over halfway through That Hideous Strength. I’ve always considered Perelandra to be the crowning work of this set, but now I’m almost convinced THS should hold that honor. This time through, I am taking the time to research thoroughly the many quotes and allusions, and it is as though the blinds in a dim room have been drawn, allowing the brilliance of the sun to illuminate and color the exquisite details, and to provide better perspective on the overall depth and breadth of Lewis’s genius in this masterpiece. In particular, I have noticed how much of the book deals with the beauty of love, especially married love. Lewis explicitly mentions in his letters that he was influenced by the poetry of Coventry Patmore, which is readily apparent from even a cursory reading of that amorous poet.
While researching some of these quotes, I was quite surprised to find how many of his critics consider Lewis to be a chauvinist, or sexist, or both. Sometimes I wondered whether they were even reading the same book! For example, in his epiphany at the end of the book, Mark has finally realized how shabbily he had treated his own gift:
He was discovering the hedge after he had plucked the rose, and not only plucked it but torn it all to pieces and crumpled it with hot, thumb-like, greedy fingers. How had he dared? And who that understood could forgive him? He knew now what he must look like in the eyes of her friends and equals. Seeing that picture, he grew hot to the forehead, alone there in the mist.
The word Lady had made no part of his vocabulary save as a pure form or else in mockery. He had laughed too soon.
It seems incredible that someone who wrote such effusive descriptions of the sanctity of marital love could be accused of chauvinism. Upon further reflection, however, it started to make sense in a world where that Hideous Strength still holds sway.
