Out of the Silent Planet

Published in 1938, Out of the Silent Planet is a science fiction novel by author C. S. Lewis, best known for his bestselling fantasy children’s series, The Chronicles of Narnia. It is the first book in Lewis’s Space Trilogy, followed by Perelandra (1943) and That Hideous Strength (1945). With Out of the Silent Planet, Lewis sought to write a narrative that differed from contemporary popular science fiction, which he believed promoted harmful ideas like human supremacy and xenophobia. Out of the Silent Planet explores themes of morality, theology, and humanity’s place in the universe through the intergalactic journey of protagonist Dr. Elwin Ransom.

Plot Summary

An unnamed narrator introduces protagonist Dr. Elwin Ransom, a linguistics professor at Cambridge University who is taking a year-long sabbatical to complete a walking tour of England. While searching for lodging one night, Ransom comes across a house inhabited by an old schoolmate named Devine and a radical physicist named Dr. Weston. He interrupts the men in the midst of their unexplained attempt to restrain a young man named Harry. After serving Ransom a drugged drink, Weston and Devine abduct him instead, bringing him aboard a spaceship bound for the planet Malacandra.