That Hideous Strength

[antryg]

That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis is the third book in his Space Trilogy. It is an amazing book that I highly recommend for many reasons.

This book can be read as strictly fiction, viewed as an adult literary fairy tale, seen as a moral and ethical tretise, or seen as a fascinating view of the debate concerning education and the criminal system. This book is all of these things; opening up a view into some of the great scientific and ethical debates taking place in Europe and America after the Second World War. It is not an easy read that you can skim in an afternoon. It raises and takes a stand on issues that were hotly debated at the time but which have been "answered" today.

For instance, today the idea of testing products on animals or vivisection is widely accepted as normal and natural. I can remember in Biology lab having to inject sex hormones into baby chicks and rats and then killing them for dissection. At the time I thought it was horrible doing something like that to an animal, especially since we knew what the results would be before we even started.
"Science must go on. It's part of the educational process. If humans benefit from such research then it is acceptable." Today these attitudes are the accepted norm. Yet 50 years ago the norm was that animals shouldn't be subjected to such research because it was wrong.
This is a book which will make you think. It is a work of fiction but as I read it, the arguements and situations were things which I could see as important for society today. Maybe the answers which we have accepted aren't the correct ones. Maybe we need to address those things that don't work.
Read it for fun, it's just a story. Read it for the literary aspects, those University classes must have been good for something. Read it to join in the intellectual and ethical debates it raises. For whatever reason Read This Book.

[Attalus]

Hi, Antryg. Look, I capitalized your name. I first read That Hideous Strength in college, and enjoyed it immensely. As you say, it is not an easy read, but quite profitable if you want to work out your mental and ethical muscles. I don't think I shall ever forget the last chapter.