Welcome to Malacandra
Read the book “Out of the Silent Planet” by CS Lewis (or listen to it — the audiobook for this one is great and can be accessed in its entirety here on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96pzHWcgcqI)
This is the first book in CS Lewis’ Space Trilogy — one of his lesser-known, but very interesting and insightful works.
In it we are introduced to Elwin Ransom, who begins the story as an English professor of philology (look up what this means) on a walking holiday but who, by the end of the third book, has travelled beyond space and time to wrangle with the deepest questions and wrestle with the oldest powers at war in the creation.
We are reading only the first book in the saga but I hope it will be enough to interest you in the remaining two.
This book seems particularly appropriate to read this year as a complement to Jay and Sara’s class on cultures. As you read Out of the Silent Planet, make note of how the new cultures with which Ransom comes in contact are described and developed by Lewis. What works for you in his method? What doesn’t? His treatment of the new cultures are as thorough as any I have come across in literature. And as imitation is a high form of praise (a point Lewis actually makes in his introduction to this book — see if you can spot it), feel free to incorporate anything you learn from him into your own culture creation.
Topics we will discuss in connection with this book:
What is “humanity”?
What is “mankind”?
What do you like about Ransom?
What do you like about Devine (another human character in the story)?
What about Weston?
What is the “greater good”?
What problems do you see with their behaviour?
How are men and animals different?
How are they the same?
Is there a superior culture?
How would you identify it?
Which Malacandrian characters do you like and why?
What do you make of the conversation between Weston and Oyarsa?
What is “the silent planet”? Why is it called that?
What is the Malacandrian meaning of the word “bent”? Is there a decent English equivalent? Why did Ransom translate it that way?
What is the value in reading science fiction?
I’m very much looking forward to discussing it with you.
Prepare yourself for adventure.
