The Space Trilogy

Yes, yes, the "translation" scene--with different wordings in English serving to represent English _and_ Martian--is a classic, sticking a merciless pin into the balloons of social Darwinism and the eugenics movement. Which leads me in turn to a remark about Mr. Lewis' take on science in the story. Mr. Lewis knew, even then, that the planets Mars and Venus were unlikely to be the way he depicted them; but he purposely portrayed both planets as inhabitable, not only because that meant Ransom could be on them and live, but because the earliest science fiction _had_ imagined these planets and even our Moon as inhabitable. And Mr. Lewis wanted to meet the earliest science fiction on its own ground, because it was in this arena that H.G. Wells had used science fiction as a platform to promote ideas hostile to Christianity.

Anyway, that interpreting-for-Oyarsa scene is so great that it merits the compliment of emulation. Years ago, a youth pastor asked me to read through The Humanist Manifesto (a document composed and signed before World War Two by a number of Marxists and other God-haters, advocating an atheistic one-world government), and "translate" it--that is, reword its inflated rhetoric into common-sense English. I did so, and I wish I had kept a copy of my end product, because I believe I did a fair job of cutting that Manifesto down, Ransom style.


Joseph Ravitts (pronounced RAY-vitts)
 
I just picked up C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy. I've heard their very intresting and very good books. I plan to read them while I'm in NC and on the plane home.
 
They're awesome books. They get progressively deeper and more theological from the first book to the third...the first is more of a story, although it is still philosophical and all. But by the time you get to the third - it's very, very deep. The third book is kind of an eerie prediction of the way society today is going! And Lewis saw it so long ago...:eek:
 
Lady of Lorien said:
They're awesome books. They get progressively deeper and more theological from the first book to the third...the first is more of a story, although it is still philosophical and all. But by the time you get to the third - it's very, very deep. The third book is kind of an eerie prediction of the way society today is going! And Lewis saw it so long ago...:eek:
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Totally agree. Much of what you read in THS is so practical for today. It is rather amazing that Lewis could see it coming from back when. I love all three of the books. Enjoy them, Godfrey!
 
I just started reading Out of the Silent Planet and I already notice the deep theological notes. I must say though I'm deeply intrigued and can't wait to read more.
 
I read Out of the Silent Planet, and I have the second 2, but gotta read them yet. I liked the first one so I'm interested in the other 2.
 
They are of great value for understanding spiritual warfare. Volume Three is almost like a retelling of Mr. Lewis' nonfiction book "The Abolition of Man." By the way, I think that the "Ransom? Nothing" routine was intended in part to show that, under all of their pretense of wisdom and cleverness, fallen spirits are actually very shallow, like spoiled children--even though they can do a great deal more harm than spoiled mortal children can.
 
Agreed, it was as if Lewis was showing you that evil at its base is stupid, because intelligence is a good thing, and so evil can't really have a part in it. Of course, there can be smart evil people (heaven help us!) and they can do a lot of damage, but at its foundations, part of evil's awfulness is that it is so vapid, pointless, and stupid.

Julie, you must read Perelandra and That Hideous Strength! I can't believe you didn't read them yet if once you read Out of the Silent Planet. I read them in college, and I was so delighted, it was as if I'd found a "grown-up" Narnia. The spiritual themes were there, and the storylines much deeper, but still, everything that could delight a grown-up Narnia fan. :)
 
C.S. Lewis had such a version for what space travel would be like and in many ways he was right. I can see much of Spiritual symbolizism within this story, they are quite vivide. I think that even though I have but read only the first four chapters that this Space Trilogy shall be one of favorite Scifi stories, even more so than Star Wars!
 
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I'm a bit surpised that C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy isn't very recoginzed. Until recently I haven't seen any copies of The Space Trilogy for many years, (then again I hadn't been looking for them) . Prehapes I was looking in the wrong section. Anyways I think C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy is as imaginitive as Narnia with more theological outlook. I however cannot trully compare either works due to their utter and obvious diffrance. But I can say that C.S. Lewis in my opinion is a Master writer of literature.
 
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When Mr. Lewis wrote this trilogy, it was never his main purpose to produce an accurate depiction of surface conditions on the planets Mars and Venus. The lessons of his stories do not stand or fall by the level of planetological knowledge in his time. But the mere fact that Mars is now known to be uninhabitable without enclosed artificial environments, and Venus absolutely uninhabitable period, inevitably gives an "out of date" feel to the Perelandra Trilogy. Which is a pity, because more people in THIS age than even when Mr. Lewis was writing would benefit by the lessons in those books.
 
It really doesn't hurt the story, though... The dated science takes a sideline. It is almost as if you are dealing with simply different planets. There are a lot of sci-fi stories set on planets that we now know are not at all like they are described in the stories... Getting past that is just a small part of the entire "suspending your disbelief" phenomenon necessary in such literature anyhow. :D
 
I loved the space trilogy and only recently read all three for the first time. I felt the trilogy climaxed at the "song of the eldila" roughly the last 20 or so pages of Perelandra, which is consequently my favourite of the three and probably my favourite single work of fiction of his because of this part. (For those of you who haven't read this book yet, there's a big time teaser :) ). In this way, it's kind of similar to Til We Have Faces; throughout long sections of both books, I didn't really understand where he was going, but once you got to the end, you saw how brilliantly magnificent it all was.

And for those curious (like I was) what prompted Lewis to write that postscript to Out of the Silent Planet, it was at least somewhat due to criticisms he received from Tolkien, although on the whole Tolkien thought very highly of OOtSP. Many of the criticisms that he includes Ransom as saying are actually criticisms that Tolkien had of his story.
 
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I didn't know that, Tim.
Welcome back, btw!

THS is my favorite of the three, I think ... it changes ... but I love the character of Merlin and the links to the "pagan" past Lewis builds into the modern story. It's intriguing.
 
It's fascinating! I've been interested in Arthurian Legends and so forth for years and years, so it really interests me when Lewis ties that into THS in such a believable way... Really, it could almost be true! (I still harbor some small hope, in real life, that there is actual significance in the Arthurian Legends anyhow...if, for example, Arthur really didn't die, might he not come back? *nods* :D) Lewis' whole arrangement with "Logres" and "Britain" rings so...well, believably...:D

I think THS is my favorite too, although it has a stark and cold feel about it. It's uncomfortable. Perelandra is kind of warm-and-fuzzy...but not THS! Still, it is so TRUE...:D
 
Has anyone pointed out that Mr. Lewis made his Perelandra Trilogy a sequel to LOTR? I'm not kidding! Merlin in "That Hideous Strength" was said to possess the knowledge of "Numinor;" though getting the middle vowel wrong, Mr. Lewis _meant_ the Numenor of the Middle-Earth mythos! It was from this, I think, that Stephen Lawhead later got the idea to have Merlin be a descendant of the people of Atlantis.
 
Well, that was one part that kind of piqued Tolkien. I saw a letter from him to a correspondent wherein he was kind of grousing about that interweaving of Lewis' mythology with Tolkien's. Tolkien explained the misspelling (because Lewis had only ever heard it read, and never seen it written), and seemed to think Lewis presumptuous for connecting the two stories, however loosely. Tolkien didn't have a high opinion of any of Lewis' fiction (or, at least, didn't given any indication of such in his writings).

I'd love to hear what Tolkien thought of Till We Have Faces - but by the time that was written, the two friends were estranged.
 
i loved the space trilogy! i just finished reading them not to long ago. lewis is an excelent author indeed. throughout the books, it was easy to find spiritual insights. i think it is interesting that lewis modled ransom after tolkien. like some of you others, i was quite fascinated with the eldils. i did find the parts about the two colleges to be difficult to read and understand at times though. overall, the books are great.
 
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