Out of the Silent Planet (1938) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit

Write a ridiculously simplified synopsis.

Characters edit see section history

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• Elwin Ransom: Protagonist of the story who journeys to the planet Malacandra.
• Edward Weston: A professor who kidnaps Ransom and takes him on a voyage to Mars.
• Hyoi: A hross, one of the intelligent indigenous species of Malacandra.
• Malacandra: The Oyarsa, or guiding intelligence, of the planet Mars.
• Ned Devine: Weston's co-conspirator.
• Maleldil: The Malacandrian name for "God."
• C. S. Lewis: Narrator.

Quotes edit see section history

• “He could not feel that they were an island of life journeying through an abyss of death. He felt almost the opposite - that life was waiting outside the little iron egg-shell in which they rode, ready at any moment to break in, and that, if it killed them, it would kill them by excess of its vitality.”

• “And yet, he thought, beyond the solar system the brightness ends. Is that the real void, the real death? Unless... he groped for the idea... unless visible light is also a hole or gap, a mere diminution of something else. Something that is to bright unchanging heaven as heave is the the dark, heavy earths...”

• “A month of inactivity, a heavy meal and an unknown world do not help a man to run.”

• “A pleasure is full grown only when it is remembered. You are speaking, Hman, as if the pleasure were one thing and the memory another. It is all one thing.”

  Hyoi

• “How could there ever be enough to eat if everyone had twenty young? And how could we endure to live and let time pass if we were always crying for one day or one year to come back--if we did not know that every day in a life fills the whole life with expectation and memory and that these <i>are</i> that day?”

  Hyoi

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Malacandra: The planet Mars. A cold, harsh and dizzyingly vertical world where intelligent species hunt, fish and remember.
• Thulcandra: The silent planet; known to us as Earth. Besieged by our guiding intelligence, and thus cut off from the rest of the Solar System.

First Sentence edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Oyarsa: The guiding intelligence of a planet.
• Eldil: A race of spiritual beings who live in the Heavens. One can also think of them as energy life-forms fundamentally different from humans on a quantum level.
• Hnau: A rational being.
• Maleldil: The Malacandrian word for God.
• Thulcandra: The "silent planet", that is, Earth.
• arbol hru, sun's blood: The Malacandrian word for Gold, the sole reason Ned Devine is in interested in Malacandra.
• hross pl.hrossa: One of the native hnau species of Malacandra, Human sized intelligent otters capable of speech. One can consider them C.S. Lewis' take on various stone age aliens, such as those in the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. One can also consider them a transition from his Narnia books.
• sorn, pl. seroni: One of the native hnau species of Malacandra, 18 foot tall avian humanoids, possessing incredible astronomical knowledge. As aliens, one can consider them equivalent to Greys in some aspects, and their perfect opposite in others, since sorns look like old men, as opposed to fetuses.
• pfifltrigg pl. pfifltriggi: The third native hnau species of Malacandra, short frog-like beings, talented in metal and stone working. These can be thought of as C.S. Lewis' interpretation of "little green lizard/insect men from Mars in silver suits".

Series & Lists edit see section history

Followed by Perelandra.

Preceded by A Spell for Chameleon.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. C. S. Lewis (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 823.912

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Religion & Spirituality › Christianity › Literature & Fiction › Fiction
• Books › Religion & Spirituality › Christianity › Literature & Fiction › Science Fiction & Fantasy
• Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Authors, A-Z › ( L ) › Lewis, C.S.
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( L ) › Lewis, C.S.
• Books › Religion & Spirituality › Fiction › Science Fiction & Fantasy
• Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Science Fiction › Adventure
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary

Books That Influenced This Book edit see section history