Ransom trilogy

The Ransom trilogy, also called The Cosmic Trilogy or the Space Trilogy, is a series of science fiction novels by the Irish writer C.S. Lewis, consisting of (in chronological order) Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra and That Hideous Strength. "The Space Trilogy" and "The Cosmic Trilogy" are unofficial names for the series, with the first two novels being planetary romances, and all three mixing space travel with Mediaeval cosmology and Christian theology. Lewis wrote the series before the better known The Chronicles of Narnia, and there is some overlap in some of the material. A philologist named Elwin Ransom is the hero of the first two novels and an important character in the third. They are more occasionally referred to as the Planetary Trilogy or the Interplanetary Trilogy

The action in the books takes place on three planets - Thulcandra or Earth; Malacandra or Mars; and Perelandra or Venus. Other planets are mentioned, such as Viritrilbia (Mercury), Glundandra (Jupiter), Lurga (Saturn) and Neruval (either Uranus or Neptune). The Earth's moon Sulva is also mentioned, as are the dancers before the threshold, and the Malacandrian moons, although not by name.

Lewis' books belong to an uncommon genre which can be characterized as "Theological science fiction" or "Christian science fiction", i.e., they take the basic tenets of Christianity to be factually true: These include notions such as God's existence, his creation of the Universe and the fact that watches over everybody; that Jesus really is the Son of God and He truly died on the cross in order to redeem Humanity; Satan, known here as The Bent One, is present, trying all the time to tempt people into selling him their souls, and those who are so tempted suffer a very terrible Perdition; and so on. With the tenets of Christianity being accepted as fact, the story then moves on to various science fiction and fantasy tropes within that framework.

However, the books themselves are not especially concerned with technological speculation, and in many ways read like fantasy adventures combined with themes of biblical and classical mythology. Like most of Lewis's mature writing, they contain much discussion of contemporary rights and wrongs, similar in outlook to Madeleine L'Engle's Kairos series. The kidnapping of Ransom by Dr. Weston is reminiscent of Flash Gordon being forced into Dr. Hans Zarkov's spaceship in that series. Many of the names in the trilogy also reflect the influence of Lewis' friend J. R. R. Tolkien and his Elvish languages.

The factual veracity of all this is a basic premise on which the books' plot depends - though the reader is introduced to this premise gradually. In the first book, only hints are given which the reader must decode; but by the second part God, Satan and various Angels all step onstage and take a direct, visible and substantial part in the unfolding plot. Partly because of limited observation in C.S. Lewis' day, none of the planets in the Space Trilogy much resemble their real life counterparts, except of course, Thulcandra or the Earth.

Arthur C. Clarke called Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra "two of the very few works of space fiction that can be classed as literature," despite his misgivings about their religious and scientific themes.

Annie Nardone suggests the trilogy

"introduces us to the core ideas of masculinity in Out of the Silent Planet, femininity in Perelandra, and how they both function together (or not) in That Hideous Strength."

Summary

The books in the trilogy are:

• Out of the Silent Planet (1938), set mostly on Mars (Malacandra). The first in the series, it is a tribute to early science-fiction of the likes of From The Earth to the Moon and H.G. Wells' work. In this book, Elwin Ransom voyages to Mars and discovers that Earth is exiled from the rest of the Field of Arbol. Far back in Earth's past, it fell to an angelic being known as the Bent One, and now, to prevent contamination of the rest of the Solar System ("Field of Arbol"), it is known as the "Silent planet" (Thulcandra). Ransom is kidnapped by the bent scientists Devine and Weston, and taken in their space-ship to the planet Malacandra (or Mars, as we call it) as a human sacrifice to appease the natives while they mine the place for gold. Ransom escapes, locates and falls in among some of the civilized natives (the otterlike hrossa) and learns their Old Solar language and their ways. He is then summoned to see Oyarsa, the ruler of of Malacandra. This being is an eldil and actually just wants to talk. In the court of Oyarsa, Ransom learns much of the history of eldils and the solar system, and the reason why Thulcandra (the titular Silent Planet, that is, Earth) has heretofore been cut off from the Heavens. Weston and Devine reappear, and their ultimate villainous goals are laid bare and dissected. Oyarsa then sends the three humans back to Earth. This book owes a lot to the ideas discussed in Lewis' earlier essay Religion and Rocketry.

• Perelandra (1943), set mostly on Venus, also known as Voyage to Venus. In this second novel, it is revealed that the eldils have kept in contact with Ransom since his trip to Deep Heaven, and now Ransom has been given a Mission From Maleldil to visit Perelandra (i.e. Venus) in which the first humanoids have just emerged. He finds the planet to be covered in an ocean with many Floating Islands, and its inhabitants living an Edenic existence. Ransom makes the acquaintance of the planet's Queen Tinidril, and discovers that she and the King Tor who has been missing for the past few days) are the only intelligent inhabitants. The peace is shattered by the arrival of another space-ship, bearing Weston--and with him, an eldil of Thulcandra, bent on corrupting this young world. This eldil possesses Weston, turning him into the Un-man. Ransom realizes that he was sent to Perelandra to prevent this from happening--by words, and if necessary, by force. As a side-note, this was Lewis' personal favourite of all the things he wrote.

• That Hideous Strength (1945), set on Earth. The third novel is an genre shift; it's subtitled "A Modern Fairy-Tale For Grown-Ups" for a reason. In the quiet town of Edgestow, Jane Tudor Studdock finds herself haunted by strange dreams of a decapitated man and an undead mystic. Meanwhile, her husband Mark Gainsby Studdock is strong-armed into joining a scientific think tank called the National Institute of Co-ordinated Experiments, a joint political-(quasi)scientific organization that is surreptitiously taking complete control of the town. The NICE is particularly interested in Bragdon Wood, where Merlinus Ambrosius is rumoured to be buried. The N.I.C.E. is secretly in touch with demonic entities called Macrobes who plan to ravage and lay waste to planet Earth. With great reluctance, Jane falls in with the oddly inactive resistance led by Elwin Ransom--the only opposition to the NICE's (literally) diabolical plans

In 1946, the publishing house Avon (now an imprint of HarperCollins) published a version of That Hideous Strength specially abridged by C. S. Lewis entitled The Tortured Planet. This book shares some common ideas with Lewis' non-fiction The Abolition of Man.

Associated works

Non-fiction bases for Lewis' novels

Religion and Rocketry

Religion and Rocketry is an essay written by Lewis discussing the implications of astronomy and space travel on Christianity and religion. Unlike some pundits, Lewis did not believe the discovery of intelligent extraterrestrial life would constitute a threat to Christian theology or beliefs. The ideas in the essay were developed in a fictional form in Out of the Silent Planet, and the later novels.

The essay argues that as long as humanity remains flawed and sinful, our exploration of other planets will tend to do them more harm than good. Furthermore, much of the substance of the argument between Ransom and Weston in Perelandra is found in Lewis's book, Miracles.

The Abolition of Man

The Abolition of Man is an essay written by Lewis describing the dehumanisation of people, and the deconstruction of nature and human rights by technocracy. It is referred to by name in the preface of That Hideous Strength and is considered to contain many of the same ideas.

Other fictional works

Voyage to Venus

This is simply a retitling which was used for a few editions of Perelandra. It is exactly the same book, but with a more "obvious" title for mass readership.

The Tortured Planet

The Tortured Planet is not, strictly speaking, a work in its own right either, but rather an abridged version of That Hideous Strength edited for the mass market by Lewis himself. That Hideous Strength is by far the longest of the three books, and a radical departure from the subject matter of the previous two, so this is understandable.

The Dark Tower

The Dark Tower is partly a satire of totalitarians in the mid twentieth century. Seen here - the Red Army in Moscow

In addition to the canonical trilogy, and its two rebrandings, there is a fourth unfinished novel - The Dark Tower of questionable origins. This was edited and published post-humously by Walter McGehee Hooper, Lewis' literary executor, but there have been arguments on whether it was really written by Lewis or not, or if he wished it to be ever published. Regardless of its true authorship, The Dark Tower shares much of its tone and themes with That Hideous Strength. It also features Dr. Elwin Ransom, who features in all three of the canonical works.

The Dark Tower has gaps in the text, so does not always flow properly. It also has a different flavour to much of Lewis' work, including more sexualised content, and sometimes a less polished writing style, which are two reasons why its authorship has been questioned. On this Wiki, we generally treat it as part of Lewis' work, but also include a discussion of why some people such as Lindskoog dispute this. Lewis' stepson Douglas Gresham claimed it was authentic, and the late Professor Alasdair Fowler of Edinburgh University also claims he saw it in the author's possession while Lewis was still alive.

Parallels with works by other authors

Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra are what are known as planetary romances, but That Hideous Strength' and The Dark Tower are not. They take a great influence from A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay and the fantasy works of George MacDonald. In more popular terms, one can see parallels and influences from the works of H.G. Wells (who is lampooned as Horace Jules in the third book), J.B.S. Haldane, and Olaf Stapledon. While Wells' Martians are warlike, in Lewis, the Earthlings cause the trouble. While there is no obvious direct connection to Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom, they do provide an interesting contrast. Planetary romance is nominally science fiction, but is set on a alien world described in lush detail. The world is often an alien planet, but it is reached by science-fictional means, not magic - however, the science itself is not usually very sound in this genre. Because the "romance" in "planetary romance" stems from Chivalric Romance, a Love Interest is not in fact required... the main love story in the Space Trilogy takes place between Mark Gainsby Studdock and Jane Tudor Studdock, who are struggling to reconstruct their marriage in the wake of a global conspiracy, so it is not a traditional romantic theme.

The cosmology of all three books—in which the Oyéresu of Mars and Venus somewhat resemble the corresponding gods from classical mythology—derives from Lewis's interest in medieval beliefs. Central concerns of his book The Discarded Image are the way medieval authors borrowed concepts from pre-Christian religion and science and attempted to reconcile them with Christianity, and the lack of a clear distinction between natural and supernatural phenomena (or between what are now called science fiction and fantasy) in medieval thought. The Space Trilogy also expands on Lewis's essay "Religion and Rocketry", which argues that as long as humanity remains flawed and sinful, our exploration of other planets will tend to do them more harm than good. Furthermore, much of the substance of the argument between Ransom and Weston in Perelandra is found in Lewis's book, Miracles.

Another novel written partly at the same time, John Ronald Philip Reuel Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, has several parallels with the Space Trilogy. Both Perelandra and The Return of the King include a decisive final struggle in a subterranean chamber, with the adversary falling into volcanic fire, and the hostility of the scientists in That Hideous Strength toward the natural world (specifically, the wanton destruction of trees and the manipulation of life) is similar to that of Tolkien's character Saruman. Like Tolkien's Beleriand cycle, Lewis' trilogy features beings who, while similar to the gods of pagan pantheons, are rather servants or angels of a single true God.

In That Hideous Strength, Lewis alludes several times to Tolkien's Atlantean civilization Numinor (spelt Númenor by Tolkien), saying “Those who would like to learn further about Numinor and the True West must (alas!) await the publication of much that still exists only in the MSS. of my friend, Professor J. R. R. Tolkien.”

Out of the Silent Planet, and Perelandra, have similar plotlines to Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom and Venus series, in that both authors described Earthlings traveling to Mars and Venus and interacting with the planet's sentient inhabitants.

Stephen R. Lawhead's Song of Albion trilogy contains numerous references to and parallels to the Space Trilogy. These include materialistic endeavors to gain access to forbidden worlds for material gain. Other references to the series include a main character named Lewis and a minor villain named Weston.

John C. Wright's War of the Dreaming duology also references the Space Trilogy, with Sulva as a name for the Moon and references to fallen 'planetary angels'

Rock music

Christian horror punk band Blaster the Rocket Man, whose lyrics frequently subsist on monster themes, borrowed heavily from The Space Trilogy in their album The Monster Who Ate Jesus. Their song "Ransom vs. The Unman" is a direct retelling of the struggle between Ransom and the Unman in Perelandra. The very next song, entitled "March of the Macrobes," alludes to macrobes and the N.I.C.E.'s attempts to disembody the heads of those who wish to gain immortality with lines such as, "Leave flesh behind / There's only mind / Or set the brain apart / To elevate the heart / Whatever happened to the individual? (N.I.C.E.) / Where is his soul? (R.A.P.E.)." Lastly, "Tundra Time on Thulcandra" is a tribute to Out of the Silent Planet, with an allusion to the planet Perelandra as well. "Malacandra on my mind / Perelandra all the time / Nevermind it's tundra / It's tundra time."

Becoming the Archetype, a Christian progressive death metal band, produced an album titled Dichotomy which was inspired by The Space Trilogy. The album explores themes that are prevalent in the trilogy: biology versus technology and man versus machine.

Circle of Dust, a Christian industrial band, reference The Space Trilogy on Disengage, an album which includes two instrumental tracks named Thulcandra and Perelandra.

Progressive rock band Glass Hammer have based the concept of their album Perelandra on the stories of The Space Trilogy and The Chronicles of Narnia.

The Christian band Massivivid has two songs that contain quotes from That Hideous Strength.

Progressive hard rock band King's X titled their first album Out of the Silent Planet and included a song of the same name on their second album, Gretchen Goes to Nebraska.

Iron Maiden recorded a song called "Out of the Silent Planet" on their album Brave New World.

Hip-hop artist and singer-songwriter Heath McNease has a song titled "Perelandra" on his C.S. Lewis tribute album, The Weight of Glory.

A Christian metalcore band is named Silent Planet, after the first book of the trilogy. They currently have one full-length LP and two EPs.

Space Music composer Kevin Braheny, on his album The Way Home, has a track named "Perelandra".

Publication History

• Lewis, C.S. Out of the Silent Planet. London : The Bodley Head, 1938.
• Lewis, C.S. Perelandra: A Novel. London : The Bodley Head, 1943.
• Lewis, C.S. That Hideous Strength: A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-ups. London : The Bodley Head, 1945.
• Lewis, C.S. The Dark Tower and Other Stories. Walter Hooper, ed. London: Collins, 1977

Bibliography

• Downing, David C. Planets in Peril: A Critical Study of CS Lewis's Ransom Trilogy. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1992.
• Lewis, C.S. The Dark Tower and Other Stories. Walter Hooper, ed. London: Collins, 1977.
• Lewis, C.S. Out of the Silent Planet. New York: Scribner, 1938.
• Lewis, C.S. Perelandra: A Novel. New York: Scribner, 1972.
• Lewis, C.S. That Hideous Strength: A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-ups. New York: Scribner, 1974.
• Sammons, Martha C. A Guide Through CS Lewis' Space Trilogy. Westchester, IL: Cornerstone Books, 1980.

External links

• Fandom Wiki for the Series
• Languages of the Out of the Silent Planet Trilogy
• Is Man a Myth? — C. S. Lewis and the Abolition of Man
• Musing on the Trilogy theme

Source: Wikipedia