"That Hideous Strength" by C. S. Lewis: Bragdon Wood and the NICE

Bragdon Wood

We will continue studying chapter 1 of the novel "That Hideous Strength" by starting with Bragdon Wood and how it is represented in chapter 1. After re-reading the description of Bragdon Wood, discuss and take notes on these questions:

1. How does Lewis create the impression of age in the description of how to get into the Wood?
2. Fine three examples of Lewis' description of the Wood itself. What do they suggest?
3. What people does Lewis associate with the Wood? Why does he do this?
4. What do we learn about Merlin and Merlin's Well from the description?
5. How could this be linked to Jane's dream earlier in the chapter?

The NICE

In the next section of chapter 1 we find Mark Studdock attending a meeting of Bracton College at which, after many other items, the "Sale of College Property" is discussed. This is the title of the chapter itself so is important. Consider these questions:

1. How dot he Progressive Element ensure that the sale of Bragdon Wood to the NICE is passed by the College?
2. Who opposes them, if at all? How is this described and dealt with by the narrator?
3. What do we learn, at this point about the mysterious NICE from this section?

The Dimbles

In this section, we meet Dr Dimble and Mrs or Mother Dimble.

1. What do we learn about Dr and Mrs Dimble in this section?
2. What does their first meeting with Jane reveal about Jane herself?
3. What are Dr. Dimble's views on the past and how are these presented?

C. S. Lewis

I would like us to create a display about C. S. Lewis for my room. We will use some of this afternoon to work on this if we can get access to computers in the library etc. The display could focus on:

• Biography
• Lewis' other fiction
• Lewis as a lay theologian
• The Cosmic or Space Trilogy
• That Hideous Strength itself
• Photos and pictures are always good
• Quotations from Lewis' work including That Hideous Strength

Homework

1. Find out about the story of the Tower of Babel. Check here for starting points (Wikipedia).
2. Research the legend of Merlin and King Arthur. You can try these links:

• Merlin at Wikipedia
• Merlin at Kingarthursknights.com
• Merlin at Legends of Camelot

3. Who was the Fisher King?

Image: Merlin by Alan Lee.

Unit 4 coursework: The Miserific Vision

The Opening of That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis

Today we will begin studying That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis. I will supply you with the opening sections of the first chapter if you don't have a text yet. The opening of the novel introduces the reader to Jane Studdock, wife of Mark Studdock. Both are the main characters in the novel.

Jane and Mark are recently married; Jane is working on a doctoral thesis about John Donne and Mark is a sociologist who belongs to Bracton College in Edgestow where they live. We also meet Mark in conversation with a colleague Curry on the way to the college and then are introduced by the narrator to Bragdon Wood, a mysterious and ancient woodland located next to Bracton College.

After reading, discuss and answer these questions:

1. How is Jane Studdock presented to the reader in the first section?
2. What is her attitude towards marriage and being married?
3. What is Jane's dream about and how is it presented?
4. Why does Jane abandon her thesis and go out?
5. What does Mark's conversation with Curry tell us about them both?
6. What is the 'inner ring' Mark seems so keen on?
7. Who is Lord Feverstone?
8. How is Bragdon Wood introduced to the reader by the narrator?
9. What people and events seem to be associated with Bragdon Wood?
10. What kind of atmosphere does the narrator create through his description of the Wood?

I will also be giving out two secondary sources: One by Walter Hooper about the novel from the monumental C. S. Lewis Companion and Guide that he edited and the other by Thomas Howard. Hooper is Lewis' main editor and probably the world's foremost authority on Lewis's work; Thomas Howard lectures in English Literature in the USA and has written widely on Lewis and his contemporaries.

Essay Planning

How does Lewis introduce the reader to his two main characters in the opening of That Hideous Strength? Consider how the opening establishes them in relation to each other and to their interest, work and environments (800 words).

Work together to plan ideas you could include in your writing.

Coursework Information

For unit 4 Reflections in Literary Studies you will be expected to produce a coursework folder of between 2500 and 3000 words maximum that meets the four assessment objectives:

1. Articulate creative, informed and relevant responses to literary texts, using appropriate terminology and concepts, and coherent, accurate written expression.


2. Demonstrate detailed critical understanding in analysing the ways in which structure, form and language shape meaning in literary texts.


3. Explore connections and comparisons between different literary texts, informed by interpretations of other readers.


4. Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received.

Your folder will consist of two studies, each referring to more than one text studied in the unit. We will base these on That Hideous Strength as the main text. The folder is marked out of 80 and is worth 40% of the A2 marks.

You should read all the texts, including secondary sources I give you to prepare properly for this coursework.

I will also be taking you for part of Unit 3 Interpretations of Prose and Poetry to help you prepare for the Unseen part of the examination which is worth 60% of the A2 marks.

Homework

1. Get your texts!
2. Essay writing about the opening of That Hideous Strength.

Image: Ancient English Woodland (Bragdon Wood).

Year 13 Studies: Reflections in Literary Studies (Unit 4)

Unit 4 Title: The Miserific Vision

Unit 4 is a coursework unit that requires students to study three texts, one of which can be literary criticism. The texts we will study are given below and I have placed the Lewis and Huxley novels on my aStore (here) for your information and for purchase. Click on the texts to see them in my aStore:

• That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
• C. S. Lewis Man of Letters: A Reading of His Fiction by Thomas Howard (extract from critical text which I will provide as a photocopy)
• Apocalyptic Themes in "That Hideous Strength" by Marisa White
• THat Hideous Strength: A Faity-Tale for Grown-Ups by Walter Hooper

The Orwell novel is an optional third novel which you could read and refer to in your coursework. All three novels present the reader with fictional dystopias; visions of our world gone somehow terribly wrong, or going that way. Hence the unit title, 'The Miserific Vision'.

You will be preparing either one or two pieces of critical response to the novels for a folder of 2500-3000 words. Our main text is Lewis' That Hideous Strength, an exciting supernatural thriller which is the third in a trilogy sometimes called the 'Cosmic Trilogy' as they involve inter-planetary travel. That Hideous Strength, however, is set mainly in the fictional world of Edgestow, a small university town somewhere in the Midlands of England.

Please obtain the texts as soon as possible so that from the 15th June 2009 we can begin studying them.

Image: C. S. Lewis and That Hideous Strength.