Which C.S. Lewis novel follows Ransom to Mars under the name Malacandra?

The story behind the answer

Out of the Silent Planet is the C.S. Lewis novel in which Elwin Ransom travels to Mars, called Malacandra.

Published in 1938, the book is the first volume of Lewis’s Space Trilogy, also known as the Cosmic Trilogy. Ransom, an English philologist, is abducted and taken into space by the scientist Weston and his associate Devine. He eventually learns that Mars is inhabited by several intelligent species and that Earth is known as the silent planet.

The novel combines space adventure with philosophical and theological questions about language, civilization, technology, and humanity’s moral condition. Lewis wrote it partly in response to the scientific romances and space fiction of his era.

The two sequels are Perelandra, published in 1943, and That Hideous Strength, published in 1945. Those titles are sometimes mistaken for the first installment, but Out of the Silent Planet is the novel that introduces Ransom’s journey and the name Malacandra.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Oct. 2026

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