What was C.S. Lewis’s first science-fiction novel, featuring Elwin Ransom?
Answer
Out of the Silent Planet
Out of the Silent Planet was C.S. Lewis’s first science-fiction novel featuring Elwin Ransom.
Published in 1938, Out of the Silent Planet introduces Elwin Ransom, a philologist who is kidnapped and taken to Mars, called Malacandra by its inhabitants. The novel combines planetary adventure with philosophical and theological ideas.
It is the first volume of Lewis’s Space Trilogy. Perelandra followed in 1943, and That Hideous Strength completed the trilogy in 1945. The books do not simply imitate scientific adventure fiction; they use journeys between planets to explore moral corruption, language, civilization, and humanity’s place in creation.
The title refers to Earth, which the inhabitants of Malacandra call Thulcandra, the “silent planet.” Readers sometimes identify Perelandra as the first Ransom novel because it is often discussed more directly as a theological space fantasy, but it is the second volume.