What is the title of C.S. Lewis’s 1942 science-fiction novel set partly on Malacandra?

C.S. Lewis’s 1942 science-fiction novel set partly on Malacandra is Out of the Silent Planet.

Out of the Silent Planet was published in 1938, not 1942; its story takes place partly on the planet Malacandra, known to humans as Mars. The question’s year refers to a common cataloging confusion, so the correct fact is that the novel was published in 1938. Its protagonist, Dr. Elwin Ransom, is abducted and taken into space by criminals who plan to use him in an exploitative encounter with Malacandran beings.

The book begins Lewis’s Space Trilogy. The second novel, Perelandra, appeared in 1943, and the third, That Hideous Strength, appeared in 1945. Malacandra is therefore associated with the trilogy’s opening volume rather than with the destination named in the second book.

Lewis wrote the trilogy partly in response to contemporary science fiction and ideas about space travel. The series combines planetary adventure with theology, ethics, language, and criticism of technological domination. Ransom returns in the later books, linking the three stories.