Gandalf Greyhame, Space Cowboy

J. R. R. Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy tells the story of an epic war of good against evil set in a realm called Middle Earth.  C. S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy tells the story of an epic war of good against evil set in three place, Mars, Venus, and finally back on Earth in That Hideous Strength.  Or, more specifically, Britain.  This week’s dumb lit fact is that in That Hideous Strength, Britain is at one point referred to as Middle Earth.

Did C. S. Lewis mean to set That Hideous Strength in the same land as The Lord of the Rings?  Using the name Middle Earth just once is hardly good evidence.  Middle Earth is hardly a name unique to Tolkein.  Mediterranean comes from the Latin for “in the middle of the Earth” and the Chinese name for China is “Middle Country” (though more commonly called the “Middle Kingdom”).  Clearly more evidence is needed, and there is some:

First, C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkein were both members of a literary discussion group known as the Inklings.  We can assume Lewis was familiar with Tolkein’s work.  Of course, this could also just mean that the phrase “Middle Earth” snuck into Lewis’s subconscious and he didn’t intend any connection at all.  But, it’s not just a passing phrase from The Lord of the Rings, it’s mentioned quite a bit.  Lewis being unaware of the coincidence would be like Reagan not knowing about the other Star Wars.

Second, it is possible that Tolkein meant The Lord of the Rings to be a foundation myth, linking the British Empire to its divine ancestors (Aragorn being from a line of men mixed with the immortal elves), similar to myths claiming Greek and Roman heroes as demi-gods.  There’s not a lot of evidence to back this theory up, but the story does fit the form quite well.  If this is what Tolkein intended (or what Lewis thought he did), it would explain why Britain might be called Middle Earth in the Space Trilogy.

Third, in The Lord of the Rings, Sauron is a sort of lesser-god, and the only being of such power that directly interacts with Middle Earth.  The good divinities stay out of it.  In the Space Trilogy, the evil god (presumed to be Lucifer) has cut off Earth’s communication with the good divinities.

Finally, in That Hideous Strength there is an ancient wizard, Merlin who has had some previous interactions with the divine.  Gandalf goes by quite a few names in the Tolkein books: Mithrandir, Olorin, Greybeard, Storm Crow, Greyhame.  Why not one more, Merlin?

Hardly conclusive proof.  Hell, it’s barely anything to go on.  But, the fact that Lewis was probably very familiar with Tolkein’s works means we should be looking for some significance in Lewis’s use of the name Middle Earth.  If anyone has a better theory, I’d like to hear it.

P.S.: Unlike the previous two books of the series, That Hideous Strength doesn’t involve any sort of space travel (and very little of what anyone would today consider Science Fiction), so Gandalf doesn’t actually go in space, as the title of this post suggests.

Sloppy Firsts – Megan McCafferty

Sloppy Firsts is the first book (get it?) in a series about pornaliciously named Jersey high schooler Jessica Darling, told through a series of letters and diary entries.  The book is pretty much what you’d expect with architypical bimbos, jocks, stoners, self-proclaimed cool kids, and peer-proclaimed cool kids (aka: “cool kids”).

Jessica, despite being one of the smartest kids in her school and a top athelete, is, as expected, angsty.  Partly because the book opens with her best friend moving to Tennessee, and partly because she’s a teenaged girl and you just can’t write a book about a teenaged girl without her being angsty.  Guess what she’s angsty about.

If you picked her lame friends, lamer parents, school of people who don’t get her, and sexual frustration, you’re right (and you’ve been a kid before).

While the characters aren’t particularly unique and the conflicts have been done before (Catcher in the Rye comes to mind), the writing is delightfully fresh and witty, and some of the characters’ problems are dealt with in interesting, thoughtful ways.  Reading about a teenaged girl’s sexual frustration is a little weird though, and a bit close to the child-pornography line.  Seriously, there’s some stuff about a young girl’s masturbatory tendencies that I really don’t need to read about.

…Without pictures.

At least she’s of legal age in the later books, so it’s a bit less creepy.  And, if you pick up the first book, keep in mind that it was intended to be a series from the start.  Most of the conflicts are left unresolved and are picked up later on.

This is so far the best written chick lit I’ve read, but it’s still not quite a literary masterpiece.  I’m only on the third book of the series (Charmed Thirds, after Second Helpings), and will revisit the series once I’ve completed it (there are currently five books out), but for now: Three stars.

P.S.: McCafferty has a young son.  I wonder how many hours of therapy he’ll need if he reads the series.

Out from the Silent Planet – C. S. Lewis

More than a decade before The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis wrote the first book in what would become a science fiction trilogy.  That’s right, before sending kids to Narnia, C. S. Lewis sent a philology professor to Mars.

Professor Ransom, after wandering around England at night looking for a place to stay, comes across the home of an old classmate, whom he recalls as being a bit of a jackass.  When Ransom shows up, the old classmate and an accomplice are trying to force a local retarded boy into going on a trip in a space ship.  Ransom intervenes, rescues the boy, sends him back home to safety, and then decides to stay and have a nightcap.  Well, I don’t think we can sympathize too much when Dr. Ransom wakes up from being drugged and finds himself on a spaceship headed towards Mars.  I guess philology professors lack street smarts.  Sucks that they’re planning to sacrifice him to appease the local aliens.  Turns out, of course, that the aliens aren’t blood thirsty at all, and this portrayal is just due to white patriarchy’s need to depict other cultures as savage and brutish.  Oh you white devils!

In case it helps, here’s a good way to know you’ll be kidnapped at some point in your life: your name is Ransom.

The basic set up of C. S. Lewis’s universe is interesting though.  Each world is ruled by an angel-like being, similar to the ingelligences that are assigned to guide celestial bodies in Christian mythology.  Earth however, got stuck with an evil being (Lucifer) who has cut off Earth from communication with the other worlds, which is why we’re presently unaware of life on other planets.

The rest is basically what you’d expect from a B-rate daytime SciFi Channel space movie.  Strange creatures, a lot of “did you know we have different cultures?” and an overly preachy, obvious message.  Silent Planet is more description of the fantasy world than the telling of a story set in it.  But, it was the 1930s and the art of science fiction writing was still young and unrefined.  It may have been groundbreaking at the time, but more modern works, such as Dune or I, Robot, blow it away.

The trilogy continues in a trip to Venus in Perelandra and is finished in a showdown on Earth in That Hiddeous Strength.  Spoiler alert: the final battle involves a domesticated bear, an evil cult lead by a disembodied head, and Merlin.  All it’s missing is a talking rat and a donkey dressed up as a lion.

…Mothertrucking Merlin?  Is he kidding?  Throw in some on-the-cheap CGI and this really would be perfect for the SciFi Channel.

I can’t find much redeeming about this book, or the rest of the trilogy, except that you can wow people with useless literary trivia: “Did you know C. S. Lewis wrote a scifi trilogy?”  One star trivia, one star book:

P.S.: Tune in to this Wednesday’s Dumb Lit Facts to find out what other trilogy, by a different author, may share Lewis’s scifi setting.