Beyond the silent star
Beyond the silent star (orig. Out of the Silent Planet ), also published under the title The Silent Planet , is a science fiction novel by the English writer CS Lewis , published in 1938 . It is the first volume in the Perelandra trilogy .
action
The main character is Dr. Elwin Ransom, philologist and avid hiker who is kidnapped on one of his trips by a former classmate named Devine and his colleague Weston. When he wakes up the next morning, he notices that he is in space, more precisely in a Weston spaceship - an almost revolutionary discovery for the time, since the novel is set in the 1930s. The two researchers then tell him that the spaceship is on its way to Malakandra. He cannot associate this name with any planet, but later realizes that it is Mars .
Once there, his kidnappers want to sacrifice him to strange beings, the so-called Seroni , in order to be spared themselves - that's what the aliens would have supposedly requested. Ransom succeeds in escaping his kidnappers and fleeing into nature that seems strange to him. This is described as multi-colored and much more colorful than that of the earth, but also as much taller due to the lower gravity .
He makes the acquaintance of a different being who seems less terrifying to him than the Seroni, namely that of a Hross . He befriends these simple, peasant beings, whom Lewis portrays as a homage to simplicity and simplicity. Later he has to travel from the Hross village to the island of Meldilorn, the center of Malakandra. On the journey he also meets one of the Seroni and realizes that they, as the embodiment of Martian wisdom, did not want to sacrifice him, but wanted to get to know him. The main place of the superior spirit being ( Oyarsa ), which has ruled over Malakandra since the creation of the planet, is located on Meldilorn . It is revealed to him that one of these beings rules on every planet, only on earth has this spirit turned away from the good. The contact to earth (the silent star in the title) was lost.
Later in the book, Ransom meets Weston and Devine again, who have been captured by Martians. Ransom and later Weston and Devine are interrogated by Oyarsa in order to find out the reason for their trip and their behavior on the planet, which is incomprehensible to the Malakandrian world of thought. It turns out that Devine is interested in the exploitation of the Malakandrian gold deposits, while Weston is looking for a way to open up infinite life prospects for humanity by expanding into space and displacing other forms of life. Weston and Devine are expelled from the planet by Oyarsa, and Ransom decides to share their fate. All three fly by spaceship on a grueling journey back to earth.
statement
The entire Perelandra trilogy, but also this first book, contain some basic theological statements for the reader at second glance. Ransom keeps getting information from different sources about Maleldil, who is portrayed as the creator of the world and is to be equated with the Christian God . The earthly Oyarsa turned away from Maleldil a long time ago, the book says - in this way the many wars, murders and crimes of humanity on earth are critically explained. The mention that Maleldil did terrible things while wrestling with evil alludes to the Christian account of the life and death of Jesus Christ as the Son of God . Other statements about Christian theology do not reveal themselves to the reader directly, but rather through associative comparisons when describing a world in which, unlike earth, there are no evil influences or in which these influences have been overcome.
The novel also demonstrates the view of space, the planets and the area between them, for a layman living before the space age, and stands out in an original way from many other science fiction adventures.