C.S. Lewis "Out of the Silent Planet" Trilogy
05-06-01, 08:16 AM
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I'm thinking of reading them.
Any opinions?
Any opinions?
05-06-01, 11:39 AM
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Although I'm an atheist and the Space Trilogy (as it's called) has a strong Christian religious theme (as does just about anything C. S. Lewis wrote), I liked it a lot when I read it many years ago. Lewis was a great writer.
05-06-01, 03:43 PM
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Probably his greatest series in my opinion. Prelandria (sp?) is my favorite out of it. Very worth your time and energy to read. Typically I don't read much of the fiction by Lewis, but this one is well worth it!
05-06-01, 05:21 PM
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Originally posted by Alyoshka
Probably his greatest series in my opinion. Prelandria (sp?) is my favorite out of it. Very worth your time and energy to read. Typically I don't read much of the fiction by Lewis, but this one is well worth it!
Probably his greatest series in my opinion. Prelandria (sp?) is my favorite out of it. Very worth your time and energy to read. Typically I don't read much of the fiction by Lewis, but this one is well worth it!
05-06-01, 06:53 PM
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The one thing that stands out for me of the trilogy is how different each book is -- they're more "linked" than a real trilogy as trilogies are generally considered.
Out of the Silent Planet was a reasonably enjoyable "fantastic" space adventure, with an interestingly imagined alien planet. I liked it.
Perelandra is a version of the Christian temptation and fall. Personally, I really disliked it. There are some neat parts, such as the description of the planet and its floating islands -- Lewis clearly had a good imagination and he shows it here. But in my opinion, he lays on the religion thick and heavy, and it really got to me. A lot of the events rubbed me the wrong way -- I won't go into detail, so as to avoid spoilers -- and then there is a long section of speeches at the end that seemed to me to be a thinly-veiled way of presenting Lewis' own religious beliefs.
That Hideous Strength is completely different from either of the first two. It's hard to explain exactly how it's different... maybe more realistic or detail-oriented, as opposed to the dreamy, half-allegorical stuff in the other two books. It's also a take on the story of King Arthur, in a way. I thought it was moderately enjoyable, certainly better than Perelandra, but no great shakes.
Out of the Silent Planet was a reasonably enjoyable "fantastic" space adventure, with an interestingly imagined alien planet. I liked it.
Perelandra is a version of the Christian temptation and fall. Personally, I really disliked it. There are some neat parts, such as the description of the planet and its floating islands -- Lewis clearly had a good imagination and he shows it here. But in my opinion, he lays on the religion thick and heavy, and it really got to me. A lot of the events rubbed me the wrong way -- I won't go into detail, so as to avoid spoilers -- and then there is a long section of speeches at the end that seemed to me to be a thinly-veiled way of presenting Lewis' own religious beliefs.
That Hideous Strength is completely different from either of the first two. It's hard to explain exactly how it's different... maybe more realistic or detail-oriented, as opposed to the dreamy, half-allegorical stuff in the other two books. It's also a take on the story of King Arthur, in a way. I thought it was moderately enjoyable, certainly better than Perelandra, but no great shakes.
05-08-01, 08:23 AM
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They're all excellent. The first two are a lot better than the third though IMO. If you want to see the more of the sort of metaphysical/spiritual/weird stories like "That Hideous Strength", definitely check out Charles Williams. He was a contemporary of Lewis and was actually one of the Inklings along with Lewis, Tolkien, etc.
He wrote about 8 novels I believe. I've read nearly all of them, but some are more difficult to find now.
"War in Heaven" -- grail story
"Many Dimensions" -- time travel meets paradoxes
"Descent into Hell" -- dopplegangers, ghosts, etc.
"The Greater Trumps" -- tarot cards and whatnot
"The Place of the Lion" -- angelic and demonic manifestations
"All Hallows Eve" -- necromancy and ghosts (and a homunculus thrown in for good measure).
there's a couple others that I can't remember off hand -- I'll add them later.
Basically, sort of like "That Hideous Strength", but done better IMO, these are like Spiritual X-Files that take place in England in the 30's and 40's. Very very interesting -- like the x-files, there's always one person who seems to believe and understand what's going on, but nobody wants to listen -- everyone else thinks it's something else - till they find out the hard way. Excellent stuff. I can't recommend it enough.
Tuan Jim
He wrote about 8 novels I believe. I've read nearly all of them, but some are more difficult to find now.
"War in Heaven" -- grail story
"Many Dimensions" -- time travel meets paradoxes
"Descent into Hell" -- dopplegangers, ghosts, etc.
"The Greater Trumps" -- tarot cards and whatnot
"The Place of the Lion" -- angelic and demonic manifestations
"All Hallows Eve" -- necromancy and ghosts (and a homunculus thrown in for good measure).
there's a couple others that I can't remember off hand -- I'll add them later.
Basically, sort of like "That Hideous Strength", but done better IMO, these are like Spiritual X-Files that take place in England in the 30's and 40's. Very very interesting -- like the x-files, there's always one person who seems to believe and understand what's going on, but nobody wants to listen -- everyone else thinks it's something else - till they find out the hard way. Excellent stuff. I can't recommend it enough.
Tuan Jim
