Perelandra is the fictional planet visited by Elwin Ransom in C.S. Lewis’s novel Perelandra.
The novel was published in 1943 and is the second volume of Lewis’s Space Trilogy. In its fictional geography, Perelandra is the planet Venus. Ransom is sent there and becomes involved in a conflict concerning temptation, obedience, and the future of the planet’s newly emerging civilization.
Lewis presents Perelandra as a world of floating islands and lush natural abundance. The setting differs sharply from the Mars-like Malacandra of Out of the Silent Planet. The contrast allows Lewis to explore a new version of an unfallen or newly formed world rather than simply repeat the first novel’s planetary landscape.
The title can create a common mix-up because it names both the novel and the planet within it. The third book, That Hideous Strength, returns the story to Earth and shifts toward a modern institutional and technological setting. Elwin Ransom remains an important connecting figure across the trilogy.