By C.S. Lewis

Discussion Prompt by Gregory Thornquest

One could feel complete at the end of C.S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet as Ransom safely lands on Earth and makes his way to the closest pub to enjoy a pint. The reader, like Ransom and his liquid reward for surviving, is given closure to this adventure through space and enlightenment of how immense and vast the possibilities of the universe can be. But one novel was not enough for C.S. Lewis. His inquisitive intellect desires to dive deeper into the rabbit hole of theology as he continues to ask “what if” questions in his sequel Perelandra. What if the creation of life was not just centralized to planet Earth? What if, like Copernicus and Galileo, mankind came to the realization that the Earth is not the center of the universe but merely a part of an even greater story. He asks the question, what if a powerful entity veered from its even more powerful creator? And what would a world look like before sin was introduced to it. These questions and so many more are presented as Ransom is catapulted to the mysterious planet of Perelandra, or as humans know it, Venus.

Lewis states in his preface, “All the human characters in this book are purely fictitious and none of them is allegorical”. As he states none of the “human characters” are allegorical I can’t help believe everything else is. Is Malacandra not allegorically representative of a time of peace of the Earth, but on Mars? Is Perelandra allegorically representative of Genesis on Earth, but on Venus? And is there not some correlation of a man possessed by evil, Adolf Hitler, trying to conquer islands of the world on earth through war while at the same time Ransom is fighting evil for the salvation of a mythical world with floating islands? Whether it be allegorical or not, I love the concept of taking true Biblical history and rewriting it mythologically. And so for his great achievement of reaching the masses by showcasing good versus evil in a universal way I raise my glass to the most extraordinary non-allegorical allegorical writer of the 20th century.

Cheers!!!