C.S. Lewis published Out of the Silent Planet in 1938.
The novel is the first book of Lewis's Space Trilogy, also called the Ransom Trilogy. Its protagonist, Elwin Ransom, is kidnapped and taken to Mars, which the inhabitants call Malacandra. The story combines planetary adventure with philosophical and theological ideas.
The book appeared in 1938, before the later volumes Perelandra and That Hideous Strength. Lewis wrote it partly in response to what he saw as the limitations of much contemporary space fiction, especially stories focused mainly on technological conquest and interplanetary conflict.
Out of the Silent Planet is sometimes described as science fiction, although its imagined science and extraterrestrial cultures serve broader literary purposes. The novel's setting on Mars should not be confused with the alternate-world setting of Narnia, which Lewis began publishing twelve years later.