What was C.S. Lewis’s first published novel, released in 1938?
Answer
Out of the Silent Planet
Out of the Silent Planet was C.S. Lewis’s first published novel, released in 1938.
The novel follows Dr. Elwin Ransom, a philologist who is abducted and taken to Malacandra, a planet commonly identified with Mars. There he encounters different intelligent species and learns that the assumptions of his captors do not describe the wider universe accurately.
Victor Gollancz published the book in 1938. It became the first volume of Lewis’s Space Trilogy, followed by Perelandra in 1943 and That Hideous Strength in 1945. The trilogy combines planetary adventure with philosophical and theological themes.
Out of the Silent Planet is not a Narnia novel, even though both series contain imaginative worlds and moral conflicts. It is also distinct from Lewis’s later Venus-set novel, Perelandra, which is the second volume of the trilogy.