Peepiceek
Well-known member
I have recently been reading the Space Trilogy for the first time. I just finished OSP and am a few chapters into Perelandra. I was interested in OSP that there seem to be several themes that get picked up in the Narnia series, particularly TMN. Weston, for example, seems very similar to Uncle Andrew. And the walled garden that Ransom experiences when he is drugged bears notable resemblances to the walled garden in TMN. Does anyone know if Lewis had a particular intention in this?
As a fan of Ward's 'Planet Narnia' theory, I have also been on the lookout for aspects of the medieval conception of the planets. I didn't really see anything in OSC (though I'm wondering if the Cyclops is particularly associated with Mars), but in what I've read of Perelandra so far I noticed a number of prominent mentions of the copper colour that represents Venus (also a feature in TMN) and I wonder if the fact that the first character Ransom meets on Perelandra is a woman is significant. Does anyone have any further knowledge on whether Lewis was intending to use medieval planentary allusions in the Space Trilogy in the way (Ward claims) he does in Narnia?
I was also interested in the way Lewis narrates these books, as he does with Narnia, being a confidant of the main character(s) but not himself playing a major role in the books. I can't think of other authors who do this (though I'm sure there must be). Most authors either leave themselves out entirely or else write from a first-person perspective. I wonder why Lewis uses this form in both the Space Trilogy and Narnia. I was interested at the start of Perelandra that Lewis actually plays an active (though minor) role in the book, which he never does in Narnia. (I wonder whether he will play a more active role later in the series.) I'm also intrigued by the way he ties his stories in with bits of real history (I was just looking up on the web about Oyarses, mentioned in the final chapter of OSP). It's an interesting motif, but it also makes it harder to tease out fact from fiction (a little bit Dan Brown-like, though with a different motive, I suspect). I found the same with Letters to Malcolm, which I also read recently. He writes in the form of letters, as his part in a conversation between himself and someone else, even though the other person and therefore the letters he wrote are entirely fictitious. What led Lewis to adopt this kind of motif in his writing, I wonder.
To tell the truth, I have been finding it hard to get into this series. If it wasn't written by Lewis, I would probably have given up on OSP by about a third of the way through, though it got much better towards the end. I found it very slow and often a bit hard to follow; and I'm finding the same with Perelandra. Though I see people above saying Perelandra is the best of the three so I will keep persevering
As a fan of Ward's 'Planet Narnia' theory, I have also been on the lookout for aspects of the medieval conception of the planets. I didn't really see anything in OSC (though I'm wondering if the Cyclops is particularly associated with Mars), but in what I've read of Perelandra so far I noticed a number of prominent mentions of the copper colour that represents Venus (also a feature in TMN) and I wonder if the fact that the first character Ransom meets on Perelandra is a woman is significant. Does anyone have any further knowledge on whether Lewis was intending to use medieval planentary allusions in the Space Trilogy in the way (Ward claims) he does in Narnia?
I was also interested in the way Lewis narrates these books, as he does with Narnia, being a confidant of the main character(s) but not himself playing a major role in the books. I can't think of other authors who do this (though I'm sure there must be). Most authors either leave themselves out entirely or else write from a first-person perspective. I wonder why Lewis uses this form in both the Space Trilogy and Narnia. I was interested at the start of Perelandra that Lewis actually plays an active (though minor) role in the book, which he never does in Narnia. (I wonder whether he will play a more active role later in the series.) I'm also intrigued by the way he ties his stories in with bits of real history (I was just looking up on the web about Oyarses, mentioned in the final chapter of OSP). It's an interesting motif, but it also makes it harder to tease out fact from fiction (a little bit Dan Brown-like, though with a different motive, I suspect). I found the same with Letters to Malcolm, which I also read recently. He writes in the form of letters, as his part in a conversation between himself and someone else, even though the other person and therefore the letters he wrote are entirely fictitious. What led Lewis to adopt this kind of motif in his writing, I wonder.
To tell the truth, I have been finding it hard to get into this series. If it wasn't written by Lewis, I would probably have given up on OSP by about a third of the way through, though it got much better towards the end. I found it very slow and often a bit hard to follow; and I'm finding the same with Perelandra. Though I see people above saying Perelandra is the best of the three so I will keep persevering
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