Which C.S. Lewis novel begins with the kidnapping of the philologist Elwin Ransom?

The C.S. Lewis novel that begins with the kidnapping of the philologist Elwin Ransom is Out of the Silent Planet.

Published in 1938, Out of the Silent Planet opens with Ransom being abducted during a walking trip. The kidnappers take him aboard a spacecraft bound for Mars, which the inhabitants call Malacandra. Ransom eventually learns that the expedition’s purpose is far more sinister than scientific exploration.

The novel introduces Lewis’s Ransom character and begins The Space Trilogy. It presents Mars as a world inhabited by intelligent species living within a morally ordered creation. Ransom’s knowledge of language becomes crucial because communication helps him understand the planet’s societies and avoid the assumptions of his captors.

The title’s “silent planet” is Earth, called Thulcandra in the books. That detail is sometimes overlooked because the story spends much of its action on Mars. The sequels are Perelandra and That Hideous Strength.