What was the first novel in C.S. Lewis’s science-fiction trilogy about Ransom?

Out of the Silent Planet was the first novel in C.S. Lewis’s science-fiction trilogy about Elwin Ransom.

Published in 1938, the novel follows Ransom, a philologist who is kidnapped and taken to Malacandra, a planet that humans commonly call Mars. There he encounters intelligent species and discovers that Earth is regarded as a fallen or damaged world.

The book combines planetary adventure with theological and philosophical ideas. Lewis wrote it partly in response to the scientific romances popular in his time, while also seeking to imagine space travel without treating extraterrestrial beings as automatically hostile monsters.

The trilogy continues with Perelandra, published in 1943, and That Hideous Strength, published in 1945. These books move from interplanetary adventure toward increasingly explicit debates about power, science, education, and spiritual corruption.