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Title: Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis, Geoffrey Howard ISBN: 0-7861-9808-7 Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks Pub. Date: December, 2000 Format: Audio CD Volumes: 5 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.45 (86 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Intriguing first episode of this Christian allegory
Comment: C.S. Lewis is a name that many children and their parents know by heart. In school and long after, they fell in love with his much beloved 7-volume "Chronicles of Narnia". In addition to that seminal work, Lewis was also noted for his profound takes on Christianity, whether he wrote purely theological books or weaved Christian themes into his fictional novels. One of his more celebrated efforts is his "Space Trilogy" consisting of the three books: "Out of the Silent Planet", "Perelandra", and "That Hideous Strength". Having yet to read "That Hideous Strength", I am unable to comment on the overall arc of this trilogy. Though, I can make assessments out of what I have read.
The first book in this series is "Out of the Silent Planet"; a short 160 pages, but by no means a quick read. It focuses on the travels of this series' hero, the estimable Dr. Ransom as he is kidnapped by two devious scientists, Doctors Weston and Devine, and flown out of Earth (the aforementioned 'silent planet') and whisked to the alien planet of Malacandra (the native name for world we know as Mars). Initially fearful of being sacrificed by Weston and Devine to an indigenous Malacandran species known as sorns, Dr. Ransom escapes once they land upon the world and begins and journey where he meets many of the indigenous species, among them, the subservient hrossa and even the sorns he so feared. In his journeys, Ransom is struck with awe and wonder at the magical visual world he sees, from the lush, fertile valleys that are only visible from the planet surface to the more desolate, but no less intriguing, mountaintops where few of the indigenous lifeforms still reside. His travels provide a strong allegorical reference to biblical themes and Christian doctrine. Malacandra provides a glimpse of what Earth could have been if it had never suffered the fall of Original Sin. All Malacandran life is governed by a benevolent being known as the Oyarsa, who is subservient only to the being referred to as Maleldil (though easy to view as God, himself). The Oyarsa of Malacandra laments no longer hearing from the Oyarsa of Thulucandra ("The Silent Planet" aka Earth), who is referred to as the one who is 'bent' or "gone bad". Ransom is to ponder the significance of what he has observed and consider how to use that knowledge. As Malacandra is further from the Sun than the Earth, its indigenous life has been around much longer and can serve as an example its wayward sibling.
Small print-type, complex sentence structure, and long paragraphs all combine to make reading "Out of the Silent Planet" (and the rest of the "Space Trilogy") a challenge to those who are not used to Lewis' writings. Even at 160 pages, multiple readings are recommended in order to absorb all of the themes presented in this book, but don't think that reading "Out of the Silent Planet" isn't a worthwhile endeavor. Much can be gleaned from its pages and more can be pondered after reading it.
Rating: 5
Summary: To You, A Resident Of The Silent Planet
Comment: Don't let the allegory or "this is a story with a message" reviewers scare you away. Dr. Ransom, a linguist, (I often wonder if J.R.R. Tolkien was the inspiration for the persona) is kidnapped by a man who he once knew in academic circles, and sent to Mars. But this is not like other Mars-sci-fi books. It was published in the middle of World War II in England.
Ransom escapes being a planned human sacrifice on Mars and falls in with creatures that have cultures like the Cherokees (a Native American tribe for those of you on the net not from the Americas). He meets the planet's spiritual guardian, Oyarsa, and among other things learns that earth is referred to as the "silent planet," hence the title of the book.
Lewis has several things to say about mankind's wish to colonize the galaxy and beyond - - which are all negative, and amazingly contemporary for readers today.
Many fault the technology Lewis envisioned as dated, but I find hints of Lewis' sci-fi ideas in other stories - - such as the most recent First Contact. Dr. Ransom finds the purpose of his life on earth crystallized on Mars. You may find your purpose here crystallized as well - - but at the least, you will read a highly entertaining, and unusual story.
Rating: 4
Summary: A quiet classic
Comment: This is a period piece - a thoughtful work from the era not far from Doc Smith. It's also a wonderful classic.
Lewis lays out a stark set of characters: the amoral scientist, the money-grubbing capitalist, and our protagonist, a bit of a blank slate. As in H.G.Wells' Time Machine, our correspondent arrives in a land where different faculties of modern thought have been split into distinct species. The first is the literati, the poets. They are agrarians for a living, but exist for expression in the spoken (not written) word. They are also warm - by measured body temperature - and fuzzy. The next are almost an intelligentsia, but it turns out that their thoughts are all second-hand. They know about their world and about other wolds, but it seems that their instruments and insights were all given to them by agencies unspecified. This species, not surprisingly, is tall and pale - a walking ivory tower. Going beyond Wells' two-way split, we have a third sapient species: a combination of sculptor, engineer, and grovelling toad.
After that, the further divisions become more interesting. There are the eldil. They are very nearly invisible, and their voices can't always be heard. Wherever they appear, though, they carry the word and will of some superior being. There is also Oyarsa, the law of the world, but a unique and living being. Oyarsa is just the law of one world, though, and knows that there are other worlds and other laws. Finally, there is the undefined Maleldil, to whom all Oyarsa are subordinate.
Mankind, of course, is measured and found wanting. With Lewis' Christian orientation, though, it could be that human Original Sin is just a local aberration, caused by a defective Law that created our defective world. Lewis also makes it tempting to infer a hierarchy of seraphim and angels, below a planetary hierarchy of Oyarsan archangels. By distant inference, higher, galactic levels of hierarchy could also exist.
This is almost a morality play. Our hero is Ransom, held ransom against our species' good behavior. The miser is Devine [sic], perhaps by opposites. The amoral plunderer is Weston (western?). It reads well next to Piers Plowman, for example.
C. S. Lewis followed all the canons of good space opera. He also turned C. P. Snow's two worlds into two literal worlds. By today's standards, this is a slim volume. It is dense, though, and carries its weight. I enjoyed coming back to it.
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Title: Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by C.S. Lewis ISBN: 0156904365 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 09 July, 1980 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis ISBN: 0060652950 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 05 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis ISBN: 0060652934 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 05 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Out of the Silent Planet Study Guide by Andrew Clausen ISBN: 1586091565 Publisher: Progeny Press Pub. Date: 01 August, 1993 List Price(USD): $16.99 |
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Title: The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis ISBN: 0060652942 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 20 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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