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Out of the Silent Planet, C. S. Lewis: Part I
A while ago, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
truepenny made a series of fascinating posts on the Narnia books, and this sparked my annual rereading of Lewis's Space Trilogy, with a view towards closer analysis and discussion, because I haven't seen much on them in the way of literary criticism (though if you know of any, please point me towards it).
Now, when I say 'annual re-reading', I mean it: I have read the entire trilogy at least once every calendar year since I was twelve years old, when they were given to me as a Christmas present and I lost track of the world for a week. These were some of the first books I learned to argue with, the books that critically engaged me, the books that caused me to think about the philosophy in them and the effects it might have on my own life if various forms of philosophy were true or false. That's a precious thing, and the first two books, as well, are very beautiful, but it is for their flaws as well as their virtues that I love them, at this point, since it is the flaws as well as the virtues that provide the food for thought. I would like to discuss them with the understanding that I do love them deeply, but that I don't think it at all necessary that other people do also. I can see these being either extraordinarily boring or hatable to some people, and if that's how you happen to feel about them, cool. Tell me why. I'll find it interesting.
I would also like to note that, as the Narnia books are, the Space Trilogy is a work of Christian apologia. I am not a Christian. I was raised Baha'i, spent eight years in a Catholic school, and am presently a neo-pagan. I find some aspects of Christianity very interesting and some others totally inapplicable. The Christian philosophy and values expressed in these books has neither converted nor repelled me, and I expect it to stay that way.
Out of the Silent Planet is the first of the Space Trilogy, and the one in which the protagonist, Ransom, is kidnapped and taken to the planet its inhabitants call Malacandra. It's a short and light read, one hundred sixty pages in my fairly-large-print paperback edition (Macmillan, 1986, with a lovely Kinuko Y. Craft cover). It's the kind of book that gets labeled 'entertaining digression' or 'minor work' or 'prelude' in overviews of authorial careers, but I think it's worth discussing on its own in detail.
( Notes toward a close reading. )
truepenny made a series of fascinating posts on the Narnia books, and this sparked my annual rereading of Lewis's Space Trilogy, with a view towards closer analysis and discussion, because I haven't seen much on them in the way of literary criticism (though if you know of any, please point me towards it).Now, when I say 'annual re-reading', I mean it: I have read the entire trilogy at least once every calendar year since I was twelve years old, when they were given to me as a Christmas present and I lost track of the world for a week. These were some of the first books I learned to argue with, the books that critically engaged me, the books that caused me to think about the philosophy in them and the effects it might have on my own life if various forms of philosophy were true or false. That's a precious thing, and the first two books, as well, are very beautiful, but it is for their flaws as well as their virtues that I love them, at this point, since it is the flaws as well as the virtues that provide the food for thought. I would like to discuss them with the understanding that I do love them deeply, but that I don't think it at all necessary that other people do also. I can see these being either extraordinarily boring or hatable to some people, and if that's how you happen to feel about them, cool. Tell me why. I'll find it interesting.
I would also like to note that, as the Narnia books are, the Space Trilogy is a work of Christian apologia. I am not a Christian. I was raised Baha'i, spent eight years in a Catholic school, and am presently a neo-pagan. I find some aspects of Christianity very interesting and some others totally inapplicable. The Christian philosophy and values expressed in these books has neither converted nor repelled me, and I expect it to stay that way.
Out of the Silent Planet is the first of the Space Trilogy, and the one in which the protagonist, Ransom, is kidnapped and taken to the planet its inhabitants call Malacandra. It's a short and light read, one hundred sixty pages in my fairly-large-print paperback edition (Macmillan, 1986, with a lovely Kinuko Y. Craft cover). It's the kind of book that gets labeled 'entertaining digression' or 'minor work' or 'prelude' in overviews of authorial careers, but I think it's worth discussing on its own in detail.
( Notes toward a close reading. )