What is the title of C.S. Lewis’s 1938 science-fiction novel set on the planet Malacandra?
Answer
Out of the Silent Planet
Out of the Silent Planet is C.S. Lewis’s 1938 science-fiction novel set largely on Malacandra, a planet that humans call Mars. It is the first volume of Lewis’s Space Trilogy.
The protagonist, Elwin Ransom, is kidnapped and taken to Malacandra by the scientist Weston and his accomplice Devine. Ransom escapes and encounters intelligent species whose cultures challenge the assumptions of his captors and of colonial-era science fiction.
The novel combines planetary adventure with theological and philosophical ideas. Its title reflects the inhabitants’ name for Earth: the silent planet, separated from the wider harmony of the solar system by a spiritual catastrophe. Perelandra and That Hideous Strength followed as the second and third books of the trilogy.