In C.S. Lewis’s space trilogy, Perelandra is set on Venus.
Perelandra is the second novel in C.S. Lewis’s space trilogy, following Out of the Silent Planet and preceding That Hideous Strength. It was published in 1943. The story sends philologist Elwin Ransom to Perelandra, Lewis’s name for the planet Venus, where he encounters a newly created world and a temptation resembling the biblical account of humanity’s fall.
Lewis’s Venus is not a realistic account of the planet’s hostile modern environment. It is a theological and imaginative setting with floating islands, rich vegetation, and an intelligent humanoid population. The novel uses planetary romance to explore freedom, obedience, evil, and the possibility of a world that has not yet fallen.
Readers sometimes remember the trilogy mainly as science fiction because of its interplanetary travel. Its structure is also allegorical and philosophical. Lewis’s invented names, including Perelandra and Malacandra, allow him to reimagine familiar planets within a distinct mythic universe.