Which C.S. Lewis science-fiction trilogy features the linguist Elwin Ransom?

C.S. Lewis’s science-fiction trilogy featuring the linguist Elwin Ransom is The Space Trilogy. The three novels are Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength.

Ransom is a philologist who becomes involved in conflicts extending beyond Earth. The first novel sends him to Mars, called Malacandra in the story. The second takes him to Venus, or Perelandra, while the third returns to Earth and presents a struggle involving science, power, and spiritual forces.

Lewis drew on medieval cosmology, Christian theology, and older traditions of planetary fiction. The books are science fiction, but they do not focus only on technology or scientific speculation. They also explore language, morality, human ambition, and the relationship between the material and spiritual worlds.

Readers sometimes call the series the Ransom Trilogy because its protagonist is Elwin Ransom. “The Space Trilogy” is the standard title for the group of novels, while “Ransom Trilogy” describes the same sequence.