I know this is an older thread, not sure of the etiquette here as I'm new so apologies in advance if I'm going over old ground. I have just re-read Lewis's space trilogy for the third time and its on my mind, and a few things came to mind while reading through this thread. One is a quote from V for Vendetta, "...artists use lies to tell the truth." If a work of fiction, any work of fiction doesn't accomplish this, it doesn't deserve the title of literature, or art.
brandon said:
P.S. after writing this I was thinking "i probably spend too much energy thinking about fictional things" .. which also made me remember that interestingly, at the start of that series of novels, it is presented as a true story which is being fictionalised because (IIRC) otherwise it wouldn't get published..
True, reading fiction of this quality is no substitute for focusing on the here-and-now. But reading stories of this caliber (Lewis categorizes
That Hideous Strength as "a faerie tale for adults) and taking them
seriously can only help us in discerning the false from the true in this world, our world! Looking for truth in literature is a fools errand nowadays in academic circles, due to the usurpation of "science" in the search for meaning... but I'm preaching to the choir
Knowing how human nature is deceived in works of literature has helped me see, and accept
so much about our world (everything from JFK to 9/11, psychopathy, etc) which I might have ignored or denied without such training, as so many do.
Charles Williams and his novels were a huge influence on Lewis; he himself and his books and poetry are worthy of study. Williams was a member, at least for a time, of the Salvator Mundi Temple of the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross. His contributions to the Inklings can't be underestimated (though Lewis much more so than Tolkien, who took to Williams less, perhaps distrusting his interest in the "occult"). There's numerous books on this intriguing and fruitful circle, but I've only read a few, one that comes to mind is
Tolkien and Lewis: The Gift of Friendship by Colin Duriez, which focuses on the T & L relationship, but delves into their other relationships, notably Williams.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Williams_(UK_writer)
Re: The space trilogy
The operations of the N.I.C.E., as brandon mentioned, resemble the compartmentalized,
ponerized, thoroughly nasty workings of the elite that run our world. Mark Studdock, a sociology professor, comes into contact with representatives of the N.I.C.E. through his college, playing on his ambition and his desire to belong to the "in" group. It is this weakness that ensnares him. If you haven't discovered Lewis's essay, first delivered as a commencement address at, I believe Cambridge, titled "The Inner Ring," check it out! Lewis tells these young graduates, basically, if you haven't been corrupted yet, you will! And here's how. He lays the process of corruption out very well. It's the process that corrupts Mark Studdock in
That Hideous Strength.
There's
a lot to sit up and take note of in this trilogy, but the last thing I'd like to mention is the idea that Earth, "the silent planet" has been quarantined: the result of an ancient conflict between, basically, STS and STO planetary eldila, "the gods" basically. Earth is under the dominion of these dark beings, with everything that entails for human beings and life on earth. What I'd like to know is if there is any congruity, in the C's transcripts, or elswhere, corroborating this idea (the quarantine over earth). I'm referring to sessions where the C's have told us that we, in "going for the gold," fell, lost our connection with spirit, and made the deal with STS 4D. In Lewis's trilogy, the "bent ones," the STS eldila/angels invade other planets, and this is what breaks the quarantine. Is there anything to this "quarantine" idea???
Thanks