XPost: rec.arts.books, alt.christnet.theology, alt.books.cs-lewis   
   XPost: alt.christnet.demonology   
   From: hayesstw@telkomsa.net   
      
   On Tue, 20 Jan 2015 16:21:36 +0000 (UTC), Wayne Brown    
   wrote:   
      
   >In alt.books.cs-lewis Steve Hayes  wrote:   
   >> On Sat, 17 Jan 2015 23:52:43 +0000, Jack Campin    
   >> wrote:   
   >>   
   >>>> Certainly I can see the influence of The Place of the Lion in   
   >>>> the last book of the Ransom Cycle, That Hideous Strength (1945).   
   >>>   
   >>>As a recommendation, that comes across to me as saying I ought   
   >>>to read the Icelandic sagas because they led to Harold Robbins.   
   >>>   
   >>>"That Hideous Strength" is an evil farrago of theocratic bullying,   
   >>>backed up by Lewis' apologetics of the time which are also bluff,   
   >>>bluster, and personality disorder turned into cultism.  I hadn't   
   >>>previously associated Williams with anything that repulsive (I read   
   >>>one of his books a very long time ago), but maybe I should add him   
   >>>to my list of writers I will never, ever look into again?   
   >>   
   >> I enjoyed both books.   
   >   
   >So did I, though I have never found Williams or his books to be as   
   >interesting or edifying as Lewis obviously did.  Williams was a bit   
   >too fascinated with the occult for my tastes.  However, it's been many   
   >years since I read his books, so perhaps I should go back and give them   
   >another try.  On the other hand, I've been an avid admirer of Lewis and   
   >his writing (in all genres) since my teens in the '70s and and have read   
   >many of his works (including "That Hideous Strength") multiple times.   
   >They've held up very well.   
      
   "That hideous strength" is fairly widely recognised as an attempt by Lewis to   
   write in the style of Charles Williams, and so shows the influence of Williams   
   on Lewis.   
      
   Four of Williams's books come close in genre to "That hideous strength" --   
   "The place of the lion", "War in heaven", "The greater trumps" and "Many   
   dimensions".   
      
   What Williams does with the Platonic archetypes in "The place of the lion"   
   Lewis does with the Greek and Roman gods, and the planets that are taken to   
   represent them, in his space trilogy. Amnd both can be seen as related to the   
   "principalities and powers" in St Paul's theology.   
      
   For a historical survey that links to some aspects of "The place of the lion",   
   see:   
      
   https://khanya.wordpress.com/2010/08/27/angels-and-demons-and-eg   
   egores-book-review/   
      
      
      
      
   --   
   Steve Hayes   
   Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm   
        http://www.goodreads.com/hayesstw   
        http://www.bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/Methodius   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)