Out of the Fundamentalist Planet - C.S. Lewis' "Space Trilogy"

So, A year or two after reading the Narnia series, an elderly neighbour moved out of their home and gave my parents a cardboard of dusty paperbacks. Sitting on top of the pile of books was a copy of C.S. Lewis' That Hideous Strength. It had a trippy, psychedelic cover and was supposedly set in space (just like Star Wars!). Best yet, the back cover blurb described it as an "adult novel" or some such wording. Well, being a worldly sorta of boy on the cusp of full on puberty, "adult" meant sex! I was expecting a sexy space adventure - something like the movies they showed on Cinemax late weekend nights staring Laura Gemser. Star Wars with lesbian orgies! Hotcha! Well, I was in for a shock. What I discovered was an at times perverse and bizarre anti-secularist screed disguised as a Nigel Kneale-esque science fiction thriller.

Old paperback covers were the best.

I didn't get it but I did see that it was the final book of a trilogy and decided that Return of the Jedi was not to be fully appreciated without the previous two Star Wars movies and sought out the first two instalments: Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra.

You really needed to see the first two to get this. Really.

Out of the Silent Planet introduces the series' protagonist, Cambridge philology professor Elwin Ransom, who is kidnapped by dedicated humanist scientist Dr. Weston and his sidekick, the materialist Dick Devine. The pair drag the traditionalist Professor Ransom with them to the planet Malacandra (Mars) in a homemade space ship to work as their interpreter (due to his skill as a philologist) and slave. Weston is working to discover new lands for humanity to expand to while Devine is only interested in laying claim to the copious amounts of gold that litter the Martian soil.

Hiya?

Once on the planet, Ransom escapes and is taken in by the anthropomorphic beaver people, the hrossa (on whom The Martian Invasion of Mars' Hiya Duwin is based on). Also residing on the planet are the tall, slender race of scientifically advanced people known as the Seroni. The two races live in harmony under the guidance of Oyarsa - an eldila, a race of cosmic angels that rule over every planet. Turns out Earth (AKA Thulcandra was under the rule of a fallen eldila (AKA Lucifer) and, to prevent the contamination from spreading to the other planets, Earth was isolated from the rest of the cosmos.  Eventually, Weston and Devine (and secular humanism in general) are put on trial by Oyarsa and expelled from the planet.

Ugh! He lumps secularism in with greedy, unchecked materialism and associates it with the "bent" nature of the human race because of Earth's fallen status. This view that humans are corrupted and can only be straightened out by becoming Christians is one of the most dangerous fundamentalist views Lewis expresses - since it paints those not Christian as being of lesser worth than the faithful. This is the kind of thinking that allows Fundamentalist Christians to rationalize bombing abortion clinics or preventing same-sex couples from getting married.

Venus infers?

This bigoted strain of Christian thought continues in the second instalment of the trilogy - Perelandra. This time, Oyarsa sends Ransom on a mission to Venus (Perelandra) to prevent Satan causing that planet's version of Adam and Eve from falling out of grace. The Venusians are green-skinned humans - that being the form of choice in the cosmos since Jesus showed up on Earth. The facilitate his aid in the plot is Satan, who has possessed Weston and goes about promoting a vague kind of "spirituality". Of course, Ransom stops The Devil from causing a second "original sin" from taking place and the pleased Oyarsa sends him back to Earth to carry on the battle against Satan.

Lewis is again banging on the original sin drum and by doing so endorses the basic misogyny inherent in the premise. Venus' Eve, Tinidril, is who Satan intends manipulate to create the "fall" of her race. The possibility of Tor, the Venusian Adam, succumbing to The Devil's scheme is never really considered. Once again we see Lewis presenting women as inferior as their male counterparts and reinforcing the notion that Eve, and by extension all women, are responsible for the "bent" nature of humanity. This is the kind of logic used by fundamentalist groups like the loathsome Quiverfull movement  to justify diminishing women.

Mr Bulitude, no!

Things get even more bizarre on Earth during the events of That Hideous Strength. Richard Devine has gotten to work under an alias to set up a scientific research organization that is a front for a Satanic secular humanist revolution. A young professor with a troubled marriage to an independent minded doctoral student is offered a position with the organization - National Institute for Co-ordinated Experiments (NICE). Meanwhile, the institute is attempting to buy land from a local university on which is supposed to reside Merlin's grave. The wife, Jane, has nightmares about the institute and in her attempts in seeking help is brought to the home of Ransom - now The Pendragon (King) of Logres (Britain), heir to King Arthur. How this happens is never really explained.

Ransom is in constant contact with Oyarsa and his people in order to prevent the evil NICE from overthrowing Christianity. Things get weirder from there. The husband, Mark, is framed for a murder by the NICE secret police, headed up by a butch sadist named Miss Hardcastle - who derives sexual gratification from torturing women prisoners. The murder charge is used to blackmail Mark into participating in a series of bizarre rituals designed to make him "truly objective". Meanwhile, we learn the head of NICE is literally the disembodied head of a French scientist and hang out at Ransom's house with his band of disciples, including a bear the Pendragon tamed named Mr. Bulitude.  Eventually, Jane converts to Christianity and becomes a good, obedient wife. Merlin rises from the grave and feeds the NICE staff to the institute's lab animals. With that out of the way, Jane and Mark live happily ever after in a Christian marriage and Ransom is shipped off to Venus. The end.

Weird stuff and actually kind of fun if you can look past the vileness of the underlying message. Science is portrayed as evil. Independent women are either vicious dykes or sad, unfulfilled harpies. There is also the old school nationalism on display, with Britain being the defender of the Faith when it comes time to battle Satan. This one has it all - attacks on science, attacks on humanism, homophobia, the justification of killing for one's faith, misogyny and nationalism. If Lewis could have put in a bit about the right to bear arms, it would be a perfect depiction of the Republican Party's world view.

The American Pendragons?