Out of the silent planet (by CS Lewis)

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'Out of the Silent Planet' is a science-fiction novel from the late 1930s. It was written by CS Lewis, best known for his Narnia series for children.

I first read this book in my late teens, and have read it again three or four times over the years. It's the first of a trilogy; the others are 'Perelandra' and 'That Hideous Strength'. I'm not usually a fan of science fiction or fantasy, but I do enjoy CS Lewis's writing. When I was persuaded to try this book for the first time, I could hardly put it down. It's exciting even when re-reading it; it's quite moving in places too, and it makes me ponder each time I read it.

Dr Ransom, a philology professor from Cambridge, is the hero of this story.  He is on a solitary walking tour at the start of the book. Disappointed to find that a favourite hotel has changed hands and is no longer welcoming, he finds himself investigating a lonely house where - he's told - two academic gentlemen are working.

To his surprise, one of these men is someone he was at school with many years ago, although unfortunately Ransom did not much like him.  The other is a well-known physicist. Although they aren't exactly pleased to see Dr Ransom, they offer him a meal. He has a drink, and quickly realises it was drugged...

Next thing he knows, he's in a strange metal contraption which turns out to be a spaceship. He has been kidnapped, and is on his way with his captors to a planet called Malacandra. Worse, as he overhears, he is apparently to be given to some monsters known as 'Sorns'.

'Out of the Silent Planet, written over sixty years ago, was without the benefit of much knowledge of space beyond what astronomers could see through telescopes at the time. Inevitably there are some holes in the plot, but somehow it doesn't matter. We know now that other planets in our solar system cannot support human life, partly through extremes of temperature and partly due to lack of air. But Malacandra is more like a fantasy world than the real planet which it's supposed to be. So it wasn't difficult to accept the idea of three races who live there, whom Ransom gradually gets to know.

In a sense this is a book of wisdom and philosophy couched in a fictional setting. Ransom first becomes friendly with the 'hrossa', a race of poets and boat-lovers. Since he is a linguist, he picks up their language fairly quickly. He gradually learns, to his surprise, that these creatures, who seem at first to live in a stone-age civilisation, are peace-loving, generous, and entirely content. They are naturally monogamous, happy to accept whatever life brings and they enjoy their memories as much as the events that created the memories.

Even more surprisingly, the three races who inhabit Malacandra do so without any hint of warfare or jealousy. The 'hrossa' farm, and write poetry, and their language is the common tongue used in all business between the races. Another race has the scientists and historians; another has those who love to work with their hands and create things of beauty. Each gives freely to the others where necessary; each has their own geographical area where they are best adapted to live; each treats the other races both with respect for their gifts and also with friendly humour at their differences.

Unfortunately the two scientists who brought Ransom to Malacandra are not there to learn, nor to benefit from the wisdom of those who live there. One of them is excited by the gold that's common in the planet and wants to dig mines; the other has a hazy notion of extending humanity through space, and wants to take over Malacandra - destroying its native races for the sake of the future of mankind.

But we see everything through the eyes of Ransom, and so these notions - simple greed and twisted humanitarianism - are seen against the background of beauty and contentment. CS Lewis was a Christian as well as a gifted writer, best known for the 'Narnia' series for children, and he portrays Malacandra as a world where sin never existed. There's no Christian message given explicitly, although there are hints of a God who rules all the planets, and a God-given angelic leader of each. However there is much that's thought-provoking, as Ransom ponders many issues which he has previously taken for granted.

I'd recommend this to anyone, whether or not you usually like the fantasy/science-fiction genre. The book is fast-paced, the plot almost believable within the context of the mid 20th century, and the ending - in which it's implied that the whole is true - almost chilling. Teenagers seem to enjoy this as much as adults. I would think any fluent reader from about nine or ten upwards would like this book; alternatively it makes a good read-aloud for children of that age who still enjoy a bedtime story.

Highly recommended.