Out of the Silent Planet

Originally posted at FanLit.

You probably know that C.S. Lewis was a Christian apologist who wrote many popular books ??? both fiction and nonfiction ??? which explain or defend the Christian faith. His most famous work, THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, some of the most-loved stories in all of fantasy fiction and children???s literature, is clearly Christian allegory. Likewise, his science fiction SPACE TRILOGY can be read as allegory, though it???s subtle enough to be enjoyed by those who don???t appreciate allegorical stories and just want to read a thoughtful science fiction adventure with an intelligent hero.

In Out of the Silent Planet, the first book in the trilogy, Dr. Elwin Ransom, a Cambridge philology professor, is kidnapped and taken by spaceship to Mars, which is called Malacandra by the alien species that live there. Suspecting that he???s about to be offered as a sacrifice, Ransom escapes from his captors and must survive by himself on the strange planet. There, he is enchanted by the beautifully foreign scenery, meets aliens who are nothing like humans, learns about the origin of the species on Malacandra and Earth and, finally, morosely reflects on the fallen nature of mankind.

I liked everything about Out of the Silent Planet ??? the descriptions of the spherical space ship and the planet of Malacandra, the idea that space is full and living instead of empty and dead, the development of Ransom from a conservative college professor to a daring space traveler, the interesting metaphysics and the ideas about the perception of light and movement, the allegorical explanation of humanity???s greed and selfishness which suggests a spiritual origin for social Darwinism. Best of all was Ransom???s translation of one of his captor???s speeches about human destiny for aliens who previously had no concept of human ambition and aggression.
It???s easy to see that C.S. Lewis loved language, mythology and knowledge, and that he was ashamed of much human behavior. The Christian allegory is easy to see, too, if you???re willing, but discussing that here would require spoilers and remove all the mystery, so I will leave that for you to discover.

Out of the Silent Planet was written in 1938, long before we knew enough about Mars to realize that Lewis???s story is impossible. However, Lewis did his best with the knowledge he had, settling his Martians in the trench-like canals and leaving the surface dead. Generally, the story doesn???t feel as old as it is.

I listened to Blackstone Audio???s version, 5?? hours long, which was read by Geoffrey Howard who I liked very much. I look forward to listening to him read the next book in the SPACE TRILOGY, Perelandra.

WHAT
An anthropological account of a man visiting an alien planet. Learn about its flora, the native tribes custom's, how much they differ from us even in the way of thinking, and other textbook boring subjects.

ANALYSIS
This is not my kind of book. The prose is dry, the characters are not relevant. It is a novel where the “setting” is king, and I was not fond of its majesty.

Other reviewers point out that by the end of the book there is a message about mankind's flaws or something. I could struggle to get there, since its is a very short book. But I choose to spend my next two hours reading something else.

Read 2:40/ 5:50 46%

I don't read a lot of science fiction, but I'm starting to work my way through all of C.S. Lewis's fiction, which starts with this book. I really didn't think I was going to like it at all, as the first few chapters seem to be setting up a sinister plot, but once Ransom arrives on Malacandra, most of the book is actually just about his life on the planet, learning about the lives of the various beings that live there and describing the environment. The setting allows for exploration in the later chapters of the morality of humanity on Earth, as seen from the perspective of another planet. I enjoyed the world building and the allegory more than I was expecting to dislike the intrigue, but it's still not quite a favorite.