Out of the Silent Planet is a science fiction
novel by the British author C. S. Lewis, published
in 1938 by John Lane, The Bodley Head. Five
years later it was published in the U.S. (MacMillan,
1943). Two sequels were published in 1943
and 1945, completing the so-called Cosmic
Trilogy or The Space Trilogy.The fragment
of another sequel, evidently set prior to
Perelandra and That Hideous Strength, was
published as The Dark Tower in a 1977 collection
of short fiction by Lewis (deceased 1963)
and essays by four others, The Dark Tower
and Other Stories (Collins, ISBN 0-00-222155-1)
== Origins ==
The trilogy was inspired and influenced by
David Lindsay's A Voyage to Arcturus (1920).According
to biographer A. N. Wilson, Lewis wrote the
novel after a conversation with J. R. R. Tolkien
in which both men lamented the state of contemporary
fiction. They agreed that Lewis would write
a space-travel story, and Tolkien would write
a time-travel one. Tolkien's story only exists
as a fragment, published in The Lost Road
and other writings (1987) edited by his son
Christopher.
A "NOTE" precedes the text of the story: "Certain
slighting references to earlier stories of
this type which will be found in the following
pages have been put there for purely dramatic
purposes. The author would be sorry if any
reader supposed he was too stupid to have
enjoyed Mr. H. G. Wells's fantasies or too
ungrateful to acknowledge his debt to them."
== 
Plot ==
The story starts out by following an unnamed
pedestrian taking a walking tour throughout
the English countryside. The man is later
identified as Dr. Ransom, a linguistics professor.
He is looking for a place to stay the night
and stumbles upon a small cottage where a
woman is desperately waiting for her son to
return. Ransom agrees to help her in hopes
he might be able to stay the night at The
Rise, the estate where the woman's son works.
At the front door, Ransom hears shouting and
struggling inside. When he hurries around
back, he sees Weston and Devine trying to
force Harry, a dull-witted young man, to enter
a structure on the property against his will.
Ransom intervenes, and Devine sees him as
a better prospect than Harry for what he and
Weston have in mind. With Weston's grudging
consent, Devine offers Ransom a drink and
accommodations for the night.
After enjoying what he thinks is a glass of
water, Ransom realizes that he has been drugged.
He tries to escape but is subdued by Weston
and Devine. When he regains consciousness
he finds himself in a metallic spherical spacecraft
en route to a planet called Malacandra. The
wonder and excitement of such a prospect relieves
his anguish at being kidnapped, but Ransom
is put on his guard when he overhears Weston
and Devine deliberating whether they will
again drug him or keep him conscious when
they turn him over to the inhabitants of Malacandra,
the sorns, as a sacrifice. Ransom takes over
work as cook and scullion, but appropriates
a knife and plans to escape when he gets the
chance.
Soon after the three land on the strange planet,
Ransom gets his chance to run off into the
unknown landscape, just after he sees the
Sorns—tall alien creatures who terrify him.
Ransom wanders around, finding many differences
between Earth and Malacandra, in that all
the lakes, streams, and rivers are warm; the
gravity is significantly less; and the plants
and mountains are strangely tall and thin.
Ransom later meets a civilized native of Malacandra,
a hross named Hyoi, a tall, thin, and furry
creature. He becomes a guest for several weeks
in Hyoi's village, where he uses his philological
skills to learn the language of the hrossa
and also learns their culture. In the process
he discovers that gold, to the hrossa as "sun's
blood", is plentiful on Malachandra, and thus
is able to discern Devine's motivation for
making the voyage. Weston's motives are shown
to be more complex; he is bent on expanding
humanity through the universe, abandoning
each planet and star system as it becomes
uninhabitable.
The hrossa honour Ransom greatly by asking
him to join them in a hunt for a hnakra (plural
hnéraki), a fierce water-creature which seems
to be the only dangerous predator on the planet,
resembling both a shark and a crocodile. While
hunting, Ransom and his hrossa companions
are told by an eldil, an almost invisible
creature reminiscent of a spirit or deva,
that Ransom must go to meet Oyarsa, the eldil
who is ruler of the planet—and indeed that
he already should have done so. He hesitates
to respond to the summons, as he wishes to
proceed with the hunt. Hyoi, after killing
the hnakra with Ransom's help, is shot dead
by Devine and Weston, who are seeking Ransom
in order to take him prisoner and hand him
over to the séroni. Ransom is told by Hyoi's
friend (another hross named Hwin) that this
is the consequence of disobeying Oyarsa, and
that Ransom must now cross the mountains to
escape Weston and Devine and fulfil his orders.
On his journey, Ransom finally meets a sorn,
as he long feared he might. He finds, however,
that the séroni are peaceful and kindly.
Augray (the sorn) explains to him the nature
of Oyarsa's body, and that of all eldila.
The next day, carrying the human on his shoulders,
Augray takes Ransom to Oyarsa.
After a stop at the dwelling place of an esteemed
sorn scientist, wherein Ransom is questioned
thoroughly regarding all manner of facts about
Earth, Ransom finally makes it to Meldilorn,
the home of Oyarsa. In Meldilorn, Ransom meets
a pfifltriggi who tells him of the beautiful
houses and artwork his race make in their
native forests. Ransom then is led to Oyarsa
and a long-awaited conversation begins. In
the course of this conversation it is explained
that there are Oyéresu (the plural) for each
of the planets in our solar system; in the
four inner planets, which have organic life
(intelligent and non-intelligent), the local
Oyarsa is responsible for that life. The ruler
of Earth (Thulcandra, "the silent planet"),
has turned evil (become "bent") and has been
restricted to Thulcandra, after "great war,"
by the Oyéresu and the authority of Maleldil,
the ruler of the universe. Ransom is ashamed
at how little he can tell Oyarsa about Earth
and how foolish he and other humans seem to
Oyarsa. While the two are talking, Devine
and Weston are brought in guarded by hrossa,
because they have killed three of that race.
Weston does not believe Oyarsa exists and
tries to terrify, then pacify the Malachandrians
with decorative beads, but is unsuccessful.
Oyarsa sends him away with orders to hrossa
to dip his head in cold water. Oyarsa then
directs a pfifltriggi to "scatter the movements
that were" the bodies of Hyoi and the two
other hrossa, using a small, crystalline instrument;
once touched with this instrument, the bodies
vanish. Weston is brought back from the water,
and makes a long speech justifying his proposed
invasion of Malacandra on "progressive" and
evolutionary grounds, which Ransom attempts
to translate into Malacandrian, thus laying
bare the brutality and crudity of Weston's
ambitions.
Oyarsa listens carefully to Weston's speech
and acknowledges that the scientist is acting
out of a sense of duty to his species, and
not mere greed. This renders him more mercifully
disposed towards the scientist, who accepts
that he may die while giving Man the means
to continue. However, on closer examination
Oyarsa points out that Weston's loyalty is
not to Man's mind – or he would equally
value the intelligent alien minds already
inhabiting Malacandra, instead of seeking
to displace them in favor of humanity; nor
to Man's body – since, as Weston is well
aware of and at ease with, Man's physical
form will alter over time, and indeed would
have to in order to adapt to Weston's program
of space exploration and colonization. It
seems then that Weston is loyal only to "the
seed" – Man's genome – which he seeks
to propagate. When Oyarsa questions why this
is an intelligible motivation for action,
Weston's eloquence fails him and he can only
articulate that if Oyarsa does not understand
Man's basic loyalty to Man then he, Weston,
cannot possibly instruct him.
Oyarsa, passing judgment, tells Weston and
Devine that he would not tolerate the presence
of such creatures, but lets them leave the
planet immediately, albeit under very unfavorable
orbital conditions. Oyarsa offers Ransom the
option of staying on Malacandra, but Ransom
decides he does not belong there, perhaps
because he feels himself unworthy and perhaps
because he yearns to be back among the human
beings of Earth. Oyarsa gives the men ninety
days' worth of air and other supplies, telling
the Thulcandrians that after ninety days,
the ship will disintegrate—so that whether
they make it back to Earth or not (which is
unlikely given the orbital conditions), they
will never return to Malacandra. Weston and
Devine do not further harm Ransom, focusing
their attention on the perilous journey home.
Oyarsa had promised Ransom that the eldila
of "deep heaven" would watch over and protect
him against any attacks from the other two
Thulcandrians, who might seek to kill him
as a way of economizing their air and food
supplies; at times, Ransom is conscious of
benevolent presences within the spaceship—the
eldila. After a difficult return journey,
the space-ship makes it back to Earth, and
is shortly "unbodied" according to Oyarsa's
will.
Ransom himself half-doubts whether all that
happened was true, and he realizes that others
will be even less inclined to believe it if
he should speak of it. However, the author
(Lewis, appearing as a character) who did
not previously know of Ransom's adventure,
fortuitously writes to Ransom asking whether
he has heard of the medieval Latin word "Oyarses"
and knows what it meant. This prompts Ransom
to let Lewis in on the secret. Ransom then
dedicates himself to the mission that Oyarsa
gave him before he left Malacandra: stopping
Weston from further evil. Ransom and Lewis
then collaborate—in the story, not in real
life—to compose and publish Out of the Silent
Planet under the guise of fiction. They realize
that only a few readers will recognize their
story as describing "real" events, but since
they anticipate that further conflict with
Weston or the Bent Oyarsa of Earth will be
forthcoming, they also desire simply to familiarize
many readers with the ideas contained therein.
== Characters ==
Dr. Elwin Ransom – A professor of philology
at a college of the University of Cambridge,
hence gifted with languages. He befriends
first many hrossa, then some sorns, and at
last Oyarsa.
Dr. Weston – A thick-set physicist, savage,
arrogant and greedy, who considers himself
ultra-civilized. He mocks "classics and history
and such trash" in favor of the hard sciences
and imperialism and, boasting to Ransom about
his achievements in interplanetary travel,
declares, "You cannot be so small-minded as
to think that the rights of an individual
or of a million individuals are of the slightest
importance in comparison with this."
Dick Devine – Later a politician, Weston's
"power-hungry accomplice" possesses "that
kind of humour which consists in a perpetual
parody of the sentimental or idealistic clichés
of one's elders." "He was quite ready to laugh
at Weston's solemn scientific idealism. He
didn't give a damn, he said, "for the future
of the species or the meeting of two worlds."
He instead is motivated solely by greed for
wealth and seeks to exploit Malacandra for
its gold.
Hyoi – Ransom's first hross friend; they
meet in Chapter 9, and Hyoi begins to teach
him the Old Solar language and the practical
philosophy of the hrossa. Hyoi is murdered
by Weston.
Hnohra – An older hross who teaches Ransom
to speak Old Solar.
Augray – A sorn who saves Ransom from near
death on his freezing mountain-top, asks him
many questions about Earth, and carries him
to Meldilorn to meet Oyarsa.
Kanakaberaka – A pfifltrigg who carves Ransom's
portrait onto a stone at Meldilorn.
Oyarsa is undying, wise, and compassionate.
He is the greatest eldil to visit Malacandra
and functions as its ruler. Oyarsa tells Ransom
that he "sent for" Ransom to visit him from
Thulcandra (thus establishing Ransom's special
qualities in later books).
== Reception ==
Peter Nicholls describes Out of the Silent
Planet and Perelandra as "planetary romances
with elements of medieval mythology. Each
planet is seen as having a tutelary spirit;
those of the other planets are both good and
accessible, while that of Earth is fallen,
twisted and not known directly by most humans.
These two books are powerfully imagined, although
their scientific content is intermittently
absurd."Anna K. Nardo (in Extrapolation, summer,
1979) wrote that "as the reader travels with
Ransom into Deep Heaven, he too is introduced
to worlds where myth comes true and where
what are merely artificial constructs to delineate
kinds of poetry on earth become living realities
in the heroic world of Mars and the pastoral
world of Venus. Through identification with
Ransom, the reader tastes what, Lewis seems
to believe, is almost impossible in the modern
world: pure epic and pure lyric experiences."Robert
McClenaghan writes, "Out of the Silent Planet,
the shortest and most straightforward of the
[Space Trilogy] books, incorporates many of
the elements of classic science fiction, including
a space flight, meetings with fantastic aliens,
and an extended depiction of another planet.
Were it not for the theological backdrop (which
comes into focus only toward the story's end),
Out of the Silent Planet could pass as merely
a well-written and exceptionally erudite pulp
novel."John Gosling, on his website devoted
to The War of the Worlds, wrote that the novel
"is a very well written and important piece
of Martian science fiction."
== Hrossa, séroni, pfifltriggi ==
On Malacandra there are three native species
of hnau, reasoning species such as humans
("sentient races" in popular science fiction
terms).
The hrossa (singular hross) resemble bipedal
otters or seals, and are somewhat taller and
thinner than humans. Ransom finds them beautiful:
"covered, face and all, with thick black animal
hair, and whiskered like a cat ... glossy
coat, liquid eye, sweet breath and whitest
teeth" (p. 59, Chap. 9). They live in the
low river valleys (handramit in the speech
of the eldila) and specialize in farming,
fishing, and performing arts such as dancing
and poetry. They are especially gifted in
making poetry; yet they refuse to write it
down as they believe that books ruin words
and poems. Their technical level is low, and
they wear only pocketed loincloths. The boats
that they build are similar to our canoes.
They add an initial /h/ sound to their words.
Their sense of humor is "extravagant and fantastic"
(Chap. 18). In the sequels it is made clear
that the language of the hrossa is the primary
Old Solar language, and that the languages
of the other two species are late derivatives
of it.
The séroni (singular sorn; the plural is
sometimes given as sorns) are thin, fifteen-foot-high
humanoids having coats of pale feathers and
seven-fingered hands. They live in mountain
caves of the high country (harandra in the
speech of the eldila), though they often descend
into the handramit where they raise giraffe-like
livestock. They are the scholars and thinkers
of Malacandra, specializing in science and
abstract learning. Their technical level is
high, and they design machinery, which is
built by the pfifltriggi. Although they can
write, they do not compose written works of
history or fiction as they feel the hrossa
are superior at it. Their sense of humor "seldom
got beyond irony" (Chap. 18).
The pfifltriggi (singular pfifltrigg) have
tapir-like heads (with a bulge at the back
implying a large brain) and frog-like bodies;
they lean their elbows on the ground when
at rest, and sometimes when working with their
hands. Their movements are quick and insectlike.
They are the builders and technicians of Malacandra.
They build houses and gadgets thought up by
the séroni. They are miners who especially
like to dig up "sun's blood" (gold) and other
useful and beautiful minerals. Their sense
of humor is "sharp and excelled in abuse"
(Chap. 18).
Malacandra's hnau are "unfallen": free of
the tendency to evil and sin that plagues
humans. Ransom describes the emotional connection
between the races as a cross between that
of equals and that of person to an animal,
mirrored in the way that humans tend to anthropomorphize
pets. Members of the three races do not believe
any one of the races to be superior to the
others; they acknowledge, rather, that no
single race can do everything.
== Glossary ==
Arbol — the Sun (Field of Arbol – Solar
System)
crah — final section of a poem
eldil, pl. eldila — spirit, angel
Glundandra — Jupiter
handra — earth's element, land, planet
harandra — high earth, plateau (Tai Harendrimar
= "Hill of Life")
handramit — low earth, valley
hlab — language (Hressa Hlab = language
of the hrossa, identical to Hlab-Eribol-ef-Cordi
= Old Solar Language)
hluntheline — long for, yearn for, desire
(for the future)
hnakra, pl. hnéraki — a vicious aquatic
beast hunted by the hrossa. Its qualities
could be those of a shark and a crocodile.
Lewis may have borrowed the word from Germanic
nicor, Old English niker(en), meaning "sea
monster", or from the monster that is the
object of Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of
the Snark".
hnakrapunt, pl. hnakrapunti — hnakra-slayer
hnau — rational creature
honodraskrud — ground-weed (honodra perhaps
being an alteration of handra, + skrud "weed")
hressni — female hrossa
hross, pl. hrossa — one of three species
of hnau on Malacandra (Hressa Hlab = language
of the hrossa). It is notable that hross (cognate
with the English word horse) is the word for
horse in some Germanic languages (Modern Icelandic,
Old Norse, Old Saxon and Frankish) descended
from the Proto-Germanic hrussą. Whether Lewis
used this etymology as a basis for his use
of the word, or came up with it independently
is not clear.
hru — blood (hence arbol hru, gold)
Malacandra — a compound noun, formed with
the prefix Malac and the noun handra, which
latter means earth, land, or planet, and referring
to the fourth planet from the Sun; in English:
Mars
Maleldil — Jesus, the second person of God
with "the Old One" and "the Third One"
Oyarsa, pl. Oyéresu — (Title) Ruler of
a planet, a higher-order angel, perhaps an
archangel or principality
Perelandra — a compound noun, formed with
the prefix Perel and the noun handra, which
means earth, land, or planet, and referring
to the second planet from the Sun; in English:
Venus
pfifltrigg, pl. pfifltriggi — one of three
species of hnau on Malacandra
sorn, pl. séroni — one of three species
of hnau on Malacandra (Surnibur = language
of the séroni)
Thulcandra — a compound noun, formed with
the prefix Thulc, meaning "silent", and handra,
meaning earth, land, or planet, referring
to the third planet from the Sun in English:
"Silent Planet" or Earth
wondelone — long for, yearn for, miss (from
the past)The hrossa's word for "to eat" contains
consonants unreproducible by the human mouth.
It is not clear how that word would be pronounced
on Venus, where Ransom, in the sequel, finds
humans speaking the same language as that
spoken by the hrossa.
== Weston's speech and its translation ==
The speech which Weston delivers at the book's
climax (in Chapter 20), and Ransom's effort
to render it into the Old Solar spoken by
the Malacandrians, demonstrate the enormous
gulf in cultural and moral perceptions, which
renders Weston's value judgements utterly
untranslatable and may be said to make them
absurd; thus creating a sort of social criticism.
The “translation” that we read is to be
understood as a back-translation into English
of what Ransom said in Old Solar.
== Publication history ==
(Information has been gleaned from the Library
of Congress, the Internet Speculative Fiction
Database, and WorldCat.)
== Hrossa, séroni, and pfifltriggi adopted
==
The hrossa, séroni, and pfifltriggi are several
of the races living on Mars in Larry Niven's
1999 novel Rainbow Mars; they are referred
to as the "Pious Ones" by the Barsoomian races.
The hrossa are called the "Fishers", the pfifltriggi
the "Smiths", and the séroni the "High Folk".
The pfifltriggi are one of the races who chose
to ride to Earth on Yggdrasil.
The séroni appear at the beginning of the
second volume of The League of Extraordinary
Gentlemen as one of the Martian races allied
against the "mollusc invaders" (the Martians
from The War of the Worlds).
In Scarlet Traces: The Great Game, a hieroglyphics-filled
chamber seems to show the hrossa, séroni,
and pfifltriggi as the original races of Mars,
that were wiped out by the arrival of the
War of the Worlds Martians.
== Insinuation of Factuality ==
In the Postscript, Lewis gives context to
the story and its narration by quoting letters
he, Lewis, has received from Ransom (or the
person he represents). They discuss the progress
made in writing this book and how different
aspects of "Ransom's" adventure can be better
represented. Ransom expresses frustration
and dissatisfaction with this written version
of his story because it can't possibly communicate
the experience and awe he felt through his
senses. These letters even go as far as discussing
their, Ransom and Lewis's, decision to make
the book fictional, as it is in reality, to
better open the minds of their readers to
the possibility of its truth.
== Notes
