5-6-7/50. The Space Trilogy.

For my British Literature class, I was assigned to read C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy. This included Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. While each of these novels could, theoretically, be read on their own, they definitely make much more sense when read as a whole, in order.

Out of the Silent Planet tells the story of a man named Ransom, who unwittingly becomes the captive of two men, Weston and Devine. He soon finds himself aboard a spaceship, headed to the planet of Malacandra. Through a series of mishaps, he finds himself running for his life and making friends with the planet's inhabitants. The planet is a sort of utopia, and Ransom quickly finds himself at home. The story winds through his adventures there, with many spiritual allusions that Lewis is so famous for. Most notably, he learns of a "silent planet", where there is no spiritual activity being reported to the rest of the universe. Ransom is devastated to learn that the silent planet is none other than earth.

Perelandra derives its name from the second planet Ransom visits. If Malacandra was an utopia, Perelandra is paradise. Here, allusions to Adam and Eve run rapid. For here, the inhabitants are only two, and they will face their own chance to resist a fall. Ransom is brought there for a purpose, but it is only over the course of the novel that he discovers what that is.

I guess Perelandra may be considered a "what if" exposition. What if Adam and Eve had resisted the serpent? What would life be like had there been no fall of man? And, given a second try, would we fall again?

That Hideous Strength draws the trilogy to a close, and rather than traveling to a distant planet, Ransom finds himself on Earth, as the beginning of a great battle for the soul of man falls into place. Here, Lewis makes no apologies. He is providing commentary on the social customs of his day, and constantly promoting a moral version of Christianity. This book is more of a fantasy novel than science-fiction, and in the subtitle, Lewis calls it "A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups".

All three novels center on choices. Lewis is not ashamed to preach through them. However, despite the religious undertones, I still enjoyed the trilogy.

I may, actually, now find motivation to read The Chronicles of Narnia.