The Space Trilogy

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 :)
 
Last edited:
This summer I reread the Cosmic Trilogy. Of the names it has been given, that has become my favorite, followed by the Ransom Trilogy, and then the Space Trilogy. They are all good names.

In some ways, Out of the Silent Planet is my favorite of the three. I love the way the whole mystery and mystique of the story is gradually unveiled. Of course, they are all great stories.

I had initially read them when I was around 20 years old, and back then I definitely rushed through them and missed a lot. This go around, at age 40, I took my time with them. I stopped to look up words I was unfamiliar with or whenever I wasn't quite sure of their meanings. I have to admit this probably averaged at least a few times per chapter. I also made painstaking efforts to keep the characters straight from one another. This was especially challenging in That Hideous Strength with the sheer number of people, however doing so proved rather fruitful in my understanding of the story.

I have much to say about these fantastic works of C.S. Lewis and hope to make some time to do so in the coming weeks. I have read every single comment in all 29 pages of this thread. I also read several articles online, and found some brief but really good ones from the C.S. Lewis website.

In the meantime, there is something absolutely delightful I want to bring your attention to. I was watching videos discussing the trilogy when I came upon this family film project on YouTube. Apparently it was only recently made, within the last few years.

This is sort of like a BBC The Chronicles of Narnia episode, but of Out of the Silent Planet, to me. It is charming and heartfelt. The music, visual enchantment, and costumes are superb. For what it is, I believe it rather deserves applause. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have (If you've never read Out of the Silent Planet before, I HIGHLY recommend you do so before watching this). It was produced in three parts. As I was reading Out of the Silent Planet this summer, I would actually watch up to where I had left off reading, and then would go back later after I had read more.

What do you all think of it? Also, I really do hope the trilogy will be made into feature length films one day. There is so much beauty and truth in them that I yearn to see brought to the big screen.



 
Just in case no one on this thread previously noted the following point--

Mister Lewis was, in part, reacting against the existential dreariness of H.G. Wells' fiction. Above all, Wells' premise that Martians would be hostile and predatory. Also, the cold pessimism of "The Time Machine" and "The Island of Doctor Moreau." The epilogue of "Doctor Moreau" ridicules Christian preaching as being like the stupid ape's "Big Thinks."
 
Copperfox, when I was going to a community college in my 20s, those of us pursuing an associate degree had to take a 1 credit hour 'capstone class.' Its alleged purpose was for students to demonstrate a proficient ability to write. There were a wide range of subjects offered, so that we could choose what interested us most. I was not especially drawn to any of them, and ended up selecting "Science of Science Fiction."

I don't remember a whole lot about the class other than feeling out of place in what felt like a sterile philosophical environment, and struggling to offer anything to class discussions. I don't think there were any reading assignments, but perhaps it was assumed that students choosing this topic would have already read some science fiction (I really hadn't). I did seem to gain some additional appreciation for Jules Verne. His well-known adventure stories certainly sounded interesting. I will say I really enjoyed the 2004 remake movie of Around the World in 80 Days with Jackie Chan. It was spirited, colorful and funny (I don't remember any mention of it in the class though). Most of the other authors that the teacher or classmates mentioned did not sound particularly appealing. Spirituality in fact, in a lot of science fiction, seems perplexingly askew. That's if it's even there to begin with at all.

We did watch the older version of The Day The Earth Stood Still, which was interesting in some respects but also somewhat of a downer (I later thought the remake was even worse).

I did of course at least know the difference between contemporary science fantasy and classic science fiction. Still, a small part of me had hoped that we would (or was more inclined to) talk about Industrial Light and Magic, or how a queen from Naboo could go on to become a senator in the Galactic Republic.

Of course there was no mention in the class of the man who brought a bright spot to an otherwise dismal genre, that man being Mr. Lewis himself. I am guessing there are few, if any others in science fiction, like him?

For my shortish story, glorified essay, required writing, or whatever it was we had to conjure up, I wrote from my state of detachment about World War III in space. It was enough to skirt by. It was, afterall, a pass/fail only class. Funny thing is, somewhere along the way I didn't cross an "i" or dot a "t" (I think it was not having submitted the correct version of my high school transcripts...still not sure what was wrong with the ones I did send), so I never received my associate degree...which is fine...because I ended up getting a bachelor's degree at a university in another state. The funny thing is that the University would not accept that class (and a handful of others) for transfer credit. So in essence, the class was useless.
 
Last edited:
Although the story mattered most to Mister Lewis, he DID do some legitimate scientific speculation when he imagined breathable air only in the lowland areas of Malacandra.

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" was a deceitful exercise in fake moral equivalence. If Klaatu was so smart, he should have noticed that Communist regimes were forcibly silencing all dissent, and killing people just for TRYING TO LEAVE. This negligence on Klaatu's part was all the more despicable when he could have CHANGED the global situation without needing to kill anyone. He could have paralyzed the infrastructure of Communist countries, and told them: "Pledge to implement fair elections, and to give people free speech and freedom of movement; THEN we'll turn your power back on. But we'll be watching."

Yes, he could also have demanded racial justice in the West; but any honest student of 20th-century history knows that the government crimes of the Soviet Union and Red China (INCLUDING their own racial bigotries) were orders of magnitude worse than any oppression in the West at that time.

Instead of making an actual difference, the scriptwriter preferred to dismiss the struggle between freedom and enslavement as "a petty squabble." And anyone who pretends to believe that evil is morally equivalent with good is a toxic liar.
 
Back
Top