Welcome to Tumnus’s Book Shelf where we review any and all books related to Narnia and CS Lewis! For this weeks review, we will be looking at CS Lewis’s Out of the Silent Planet
Book Title:Out of the Silent Planet
Author: CS Lewis.
Publisher: Scribner (March 4, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0743234901
ISBN-13: 978-0743234900
Summary of the book:
Some Possible Spoilers.( Please Highlight to read)
Summary:
One rainy day in London, a Philologist by the name of Elwin Ransom was heading for the house of Mr. Devine. A hysterical woman he met on the road was worried, as her son Harry worked for Devine and hadn’t come home yet and she feared that something was wrong.
He went into Devine’s house which was called “The Rise“. He saw Harry in a scuffle with two other gentlemen in a laboratory. Ransom broke up the fight. Harry had gone hysterical because of something he saw in one of the rooms of the house. He said that they should send Harry home. One of the two men demanded that Ransom introduce himself and he complied with their wishes.
The other man, Devine, recognized Ransom as they were school mates. Devine introduced Ransom to the other man, a physicist by the name of Weston.While Devine sent Harry away, Weston and Ransom went to the sitting room to wait for him. Devine came back and served them drinks. Ransom’s was drugged. As he tried to leave Weston and Devine knocked him out.
He awoke to find himself in a space ship. Weston informs them that they are taking him to a planet called “Malacandra” SPOILERS! that is located in our solar system. Ransom is surprised by this as there is no planet by that name within out solar system, to which Weston informs him that Malacandra is what the planet’s inhabitants call it.END SPOILERS! Ransom had plenty of time to think about what may lie ahead during their 28 day journey. He tried to talk with Devine as he found him a bit better company than Weston but still got no answers.
When they landed on Malacandra, some of the inhabitants, called Sorns, came to them. Ransom escaped while Weston attempted to kill them. He wandered around the planet and is befriended by a creature called a “Hross”, a large furry, seal-like creature that lead him to a boat and took him to it‘s people.
After a time he adapted to life on Malacandra. He learned the language and about the creature. The Hross, who’s name is Hyoi tells him of Meledil, the creator of the universe. Ransom tried to tell the creature what world he came from but found himself unable to properly find the word for it in the Malacandrian tounge of Old Solar.
He also learned of a right of passage where the Hross must try and hunt a sea monster called a hnarka and took part in this ritual. They found the monster and defeated it. While they were resting SPOILERS!Ransom heard a gunshot. He knew it was from Weston and Devine who brought rifles with and saw it as their duty to conquer the planet.
Hyoi was shot by Weston and died. Ransom felt horrible about it. He told the Hross to do with him as they wish, even if they must kill him, Weston and Devine. They told him that they cannot do that. He must go to Oyarsa. To get to Oyarsa he must seek the tower of Augrey as Augrey would be able to help him better than they could. He felt tremendous guilt and asked to stay with the Hrossa but Whin, another Hrossa, said it was the will of the Eldil that he leave.END SPOILERS!
Ransom headed for the tower of Augrey. Augrey was one of the sorns. Augrey deduced that Ransom came from Thulcandra. He was confused, until Augrey showed him Thulcandra through a telescope:SPOILERS! it was Earth.END SPOLIERS
The next day Augrey carried him as far as he could to Oyarsa. Along the way Augrey told him more of the cultures and world of Malacandra. Augrey took him to a ferry as he could only go so far with Ransom as Oyarsa did not call for Augrey, only Ransom, and only those who are called in may go in and meet with Oyarsa.
When he got of the ferry he met another type of creature the pfiflitrig. One of them, Kanakaberaka, allowed him to stay in his guest house until Ransom’s meeting with Oyarsa.SPOILERS! At long last Ransom met Oyarsa. He discovered that Oyarsa had been calling for him since his arrival on Malacandra and saw how he was treated by Weston and Devine. Through it all they saw that Ransom was different.
Oyarsa wished to know of Thulcandra as it is “the silent planet.” It is silent as it is ruled by a bent Oyarsa and this has left it isolated from the field of Arbol. Ransom is told that because Earth’s Oyarsa rebelled, Ransom’s race is bent as well.
However Meldil himself went to Thulcandra and faced the Bent One and Oyarsa wished to know what he had done. Ransom discovered that life outside of his world was benevolent. Humans posed the problem.
The door behind them opened and a number of Hrossa came into the chamber carrying the body of Hyoi and brought with them the captured Devine and Weston. Oyarsa demanded to know why they killed Hyoi. He got no answer from them as Weston and Devine couldn’t see him and didn’t believe he existed.
They thought it was a tribal trick. Weston tried to speak to the oldest Hrossa in a jibber-jabber form of Malacandrian, thinking he was a shaman. All he got in response from Oyarsa and the creatures was laughter. Finally after Ransom intervened by translating, Oyarsa got the answer from Devine but in the form of a lie.
A funeral was held for Hyoi and Oyarsa “Unmade” his body or simply caused it to vanish from existence. Oyarsa turned his attention back to Weston and Devine. Weston attempted to talk back but couldn’t, so he had Ransom translate for him.
Weston told them that humans are a more advanced race and he and Devine had the right to do as they did. Weston said that they even had the right to claim every planet as their own and conquer the solar system. Oyarsa could tell that Weston had no love for anything. He also saw that he was not fully evil and could be cured.
Oyarsa then told them why Meledil who Ransom knows as God on Earth allowed Malacandra, to become as it was. It was done to prevent them from advancing so much that they themselves may do as Weston is trying to do. He also comes to understand that Malacandra is known on Earth as Mars.
Oyarsa told them that they would be sent back to Earth after Ransom finished telling them about Thulcandra. Then they would return to Earth and by Oyarsa’s command upon it’s arrival the ship would be Unmade.
Toward the end of their time on Malacandra Oyarsa gave to Ransom a choice. He could stay on Malacandra or return to Thulcandra. He chose Thulcandra. He was sent back with provisions, including a weapon to defend himself with if Devine or Weston should attempt to harm him.
They left Malacandra and journey through space. Some days later, after getting lost in orbit, Ransom awoke to find that the ship had landed. He left the ship and rejoiced as he felt the rain. He was home. The story ends with him having told his story to CS Lewis.
Review:
Science fiction, much like fantasy is a genre were you have either one of three options, you can do something completely new that defines the genre , you can do what has been done and stay within the vein, or you can take what has been done and twist it around. In the case of Out of the Silent Planet, the first volume in CS Lewis’s Space Trilogy ( sometimes called the “Ransom Trilogy”, or the “Cosmic Trilogy“), CS Lewis chose the last option, and does it quite well and in the process ended up redefining some aspects of Science Fiction.
In his preface Lewis wrote that the story could not exist with out the space fantasies of HG Wells. Of course, through out the story Lewis makes many references to those stories, predominatly War of the Worlds in order to contrast his vision of benevolent “Malacandrians” with the hostile Wellian Martians. Notably, Lewis is the person the space traveler, Ransom, tells his story to, much as what happens in any of HG Wells fictional stories
Prior to Out of the Silent Planet, in most Science Fiction stories that would appear in the old pulp magazines like “Amazing Stories” the aliens were typically the threat to the humans. In this book we get a different view, based on Lewis’s own theology and philosophies.SPOILERS! Humans are the problem, and the ones bent on conquering and would only bring sin with us. The aliens on the other hand are benevolent. With the exception of Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind or ET, very few have portrayed aliens as the helpers, and the humans as the aggressors.END SPOILERS!
In factSPOILERS! it is because of the evil of humans that they are unable to come in contact with the aliens. Earth is cut off from the other worlds and humans would only bring their falleness further. The Martians or Malacandrians are also limited. They cannot journey beyond their planet as an effort to keep them from conquering the solar system.END SPOILERS!
One aspect of the space trilogy that is so originalSPOILERS! is that the Martians do not call their planet Mars. It is pointed out early on in the book that Mars is the name assigned to the Red Planet by Terrestrial astronomers. In actuality they call it by a different name, “Malacandra.” If something actually lived on Mars, why would they call it by the name from Earth? They would call it something else, much like how in Germany they call their country Deutshcland. This makes the reader feel like they are in another galaxy when in fact they really aren’t.END SPOILERS!
The hero of our story is a philologist by the name of “Elwin Ransom”. Notably, the character was based primarily off of Lewis’s friend, collogue and fellow Inkling JRR Tolkien ( a favor which Tolkien later returned by basing the character of Treebeard the Ent off of CS Lewis). His character an ordinary scholar, a philologist, who is caught up in this extraordinary journey that changes his life forever much like the children in Lewis’s Narnian Chronicles, or even Bilbo and Frodo Baggins in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
Much like these characters he wasn’t really looking to have an adventure. He was only doing some simple mundane task, and in his case just going to find a woman’s lost son. Much against his will he is taken to this other world. However he finds that everything had little to do with his will, and everything to do with a Higher purpose as he had been brought to Malacandra for a reason.
The villains of this story are Drs Devin and Weston. They are bent on power and dominance and seizing control of the Solar System. They feel it is their right to do so. SPOILERS!So much so that at one point Weston’s words sound like a paraphrase of ideas of Manifest Destiny, or British Imperialism in that they talk about how it is a more “advanced” people’s right to rule and dominate another. The fact that they are the villians may be an indirect crticism of such dogma.END SPOILERS!
The world of Malacandra is inhabited by more than just one species of creatures, unlike in most early stories about a journey to Mars. These creatures include the gentle and seal like creatures called the Hrossa, the frog like creatures known as Pfifltriggi who serve as the craftsmen of the planet and the Sorns, who are the thinkers and philosophers and also serve as shepherds and appear as expected of aliens do in most sci-fi:extremly tall and spindly. All these creatures are benevolent and prove better friends to Ransom than the humans he came with and teach him much about the universe that he never knew.
SPOILERS!Ruling the planet is Oyarsa, an almost angelic being. He is seen mostly as pure light and is only heard. Oyarsa has many powers but even those are limited by the command of Melidil. He summoned Ransom to him as he is interested n hearing of what Medilil had done on Earth and protects him both on the planet and through out his journey.
Unlike Narnia, SPOILERS!this story is not allegorical in the least bit. There is not stand in figures for Christ or Satan. Christ , who is called Melidil in the tongue of Old Solar has come to Earth or Thulcandra. The names of Meledil and God are used interchangeably in the later parts of the story and the subsequent sequels. This means that the sacrifice for humanity has already happened, and doesn’t need to occur again. However, the evil and sinfulness of humanity needs to be contained to Earth or else the rest of the Solar System would fall to evil.END SPOILERS!
In contrast to his friendly, almost grandfatherly narrations in his Narnian Chronicles that insinuate that he himself may have been there, Lewis is “retelling” the readers of Ransoms’ account of his journey to Malacandra as one in which he is distant from and never went on and is trying his best to relate to us. This difference in his narrative voice helps set a different tone for this different universe. Narnia is warm and friendly, the kind of place we’ve always hoped to find, Malacandra on the other hand is cold and dying, a world we never wish to see.
As it is one of the earlier works of science fiction, Out of the Silent Planet has remained influential to later Science Fiction stories and even comic books. POSSIBLE SPOILERS!Works that came after it have featured multiple races of aliens on Mars. Mars is also seen as at one point having been a fertile world and some how dying, something that modern science fiction writers tend to still portray. The DC Comics character of “J’Onn J’Onzz” or “ The Martian Manhunter” says that he comes from “Ma’aleca’andra”, a variation of “Malacandra”. In Volume 2 of the graphic novel series “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” writer Alan Moore depicted the Sorns from this book as assisting in the war against the Martians from Wells novel.END POSSIBLE SPOILERS!
However, SPOILERS!as Lewis was writing this in the early 1940s, space flight had not yet begun. Lewis does have his share of factual inaccuracies that can plague early writers of the genre , mostly due to a lack of knowledge at the time. For example, Ransom’s journey to Mars takes 29 days. In actuality it takes up to six months depending on the position of the planet in relation to Earth. He is also able to breath on Mars, whereas the atmosphere of Mars is high in Carbon Dioxide.
These facts may be jarring to some who may like the story to be more “realistic” but if you can take into account the time he was writing, and suspend your disbelief, and END SPOILERS! keep in mind these are called “Space Fantasies” and not flat out “Science Fiction”, you can have an enjoyable time with this book. It’s an exciting adventure with a surprising revelation on par with the ending of the 1968 film The Planet of the Apes ( though not as emotionally jarring).You are sure to have an out of this world adventure in Out of the Silent Planet.
Five out of five shields