Which C.S. Lewis novel begins the Space Trilogy with protagonist Elwin Ransom?

Out of the Silent Planet begins C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy and introduces Elwin Ransom.

Published in 1938, the novel follows Ransom, a Cambridge philologist who is kidnapped and taken to the planet Mars. In the story, Mars is called Malacandra, and Ransom discovers societies unlike the technologically aggressive human culture he left behind.

The book combines planetary adventure with philosophical and theological themes. Lewis wrote it partly in response to the scientific romance tradition and to what he viewed as an overly negative view of space travel and extraterrestrial life.

The two sequels are Perelandra, published in 1943, and That Hideous Strength, published in 1945. Although often called the Space Trilogy, the books differ in setting and style and are connected chiefly through Ransom and their ideas.