What is the name of C.S. Lewis’s 1945 novel about a dystopian university and the N.I.C.E.?

That Hideous Strength is C.S. Lewis’s 1945 novel about a dystopian institution called the National Institute of Co-ordinated Experiments, abbreviated N.I.C.E. It concludes the Space Trilogy.

The story follows Mark Studdock, a sociologist drawn into the N.I.C.E., and Jane Studdock, whose dreams connect her to a supernatural conflict. The organization claims to pursue scientific progress but seeks technological control over humanity. Lewis contrasts its mechanized planning with older moral, spiritual and communal traditions represented by the people at St. Anne’s.

Unlike the first two trilogy volumes, the novel is set mainly on Earth rather than another planet. Its title comes from Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, specifically a description of a monstrous force. Lewis wrote the book during debates about eugenics, technocracy and the misuse of scientific authority. It is often read alongside his nonfiction works The Abolition of Man and The Great Divorce, though it remains a fictional narrative.