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Out of the Silent Planet (Space Trilogy, Book One)
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$ 12.32
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| Retail Value |
$ 14.00 |
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$ 1.68 (12%) |
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| Item Number |
23114 |
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Item Description...
Overview
Dr. Ransom is abducted to the eerie red planet, Malacandra, where his escape and flight endanger both his life and his chances of ever returning to Earth.
Publishers Description
The first book in C. S. Lewis's acclaimed Space Trilogy, which continues with Perelandra and That Hideous Strength, Out of the Silent Planet begins the adventures of the remarkable Dr. Ransom. Here, that estimable man is abducted by a megalomaniacal physicist and his accomplice and taken via spaceship to the red planet of Malacandra. The two men are in need of a human sacrifice, and Dr. Ransom would seem to fit the bill. Once on the planet, however, Ransom eludes his captors, risking his life and his chances of returning to Earth, becoming a stranger in a land that is enchanting in its difference from Earth and instructive in its similarity. First published in 1943, Out of the Silent Planet remains a mysterious and suspenseful tour de force. |
Item Specifications...
Pages 160
Dimensions: Length: 0.5" Width: 5.25" Height: 8"
Weight: 0.4 lbs.
Binding Softcover
Release Date Mar 1, 2003
Publisher Simon & Schuster
ISBN 0743234901
EAN 9780743234900
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Availability 72 units.
Availability accurate as of May 24, 2012 06:10.
Usually ships within one to two business days from Johnson City, TN.
Orders shipping to an address other than a confirmed Credit Card / Paypal Billing address may incur and additional processing delay.
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About this Author/Artist C.S. Lewis was a professor of medieval and Renaissance literature at Oxford and Cambridge universities who wrote more than thirty books in his lifetime, including The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Mere Christianity. He died in 1963.
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Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | Elegantly presented and bewilderingly creative. Mar 12, 2007 |
Firstly I must state that I am not a Christian; in fact I'm quite firmly an atheist. And given the life story, reputation, and themes of C.S. Lewis, it is quite impossible to approach his works as anything but Christian allegory. But, despite being largely inspired by and relative to an ideology which I do not support, this remains one of my favorite science fiction novels. The images are so evocative, the concepts so inventive, and the themes so fascinating that it rises above both simplistic faith-based moralizing and the tropes of its genre.
I first read this book I believe in junior high school, putting me at the age of eleven or twelve. At the time, I didn't have any understanding of the larger issues in the novel. I read it as simple fantasy, and was still mesmerized. The world that Lewis so carefully constructs is so unearthly that one is consistently amazed at how he is even able to conceptualize something so removed from human experience. He is quite just in his ridiculing of early space travel fiction (which is plentiful; so much so that the book is now published with a formal recognition of the author's respect for his predecessors), for his imagination is so much the greater in his visions which easily escape the fear of the unknown and the necessity that each facet of the otherworld be analogous to a facet of this.
Now, however, when I read the novel, I realize that even in creating something so amazingly different, it still incorporates a very strong and complicated allegory. This is so tastefully presented that it was not even visible to my younger self, but it now is equally as fascinating to me as his descriptions of alien languages and landscapes and philosophy. The story functions on a great many levels: a man exploring a new world, a man overcoming fear and coming to faith, a critique of colonialism, capitalism, and greed, a retelling of several biblical stories, and many other things besides. And none of these stories is presented in black and white, but rather in a multidimensional, intelligent way. Aspects of socialism, Christianity, democracy, and individualism are shown to coexist and complement each other; the unfaithful are critiqued but not demonized; the faithful rewarded but not unfaltering or flawless. And all is presented with such elegance that one is not assaulted by it, but delights in unraveling it and considering its implications.
A huge amount of philosophical and political issues are touched on in the novel, and they are largely presented skillfully through metaphor rather than exposition, and still it remains focused in its ultimately optimistic but not simplistic message. This, coupled with the extraordinary imagination and texture of the narrative make it immensely enjoyable for the casual or the analytical reader, and it is worth revisiting several times, given its impressive depth. | | | | A gem revisited glitters brightly Mar 5, 2007 |
I must have read Out of the Silent Planet as a teenager. What other explanation for its being on my shelf, priced at 95 cents? And that reader (who I was) thought it was science fiction, or perhaps picked it because it was written by the author of the (allegedly children's literature) Narnia series.
Returning to the story decades later, I see something totally different. That it is science fiction is almost irrelevant. If anything, that's just the genre which frees a writer a bit more by allowing him to suspend any historical or technological occurrence at will. But then, Mark Twain managed that in A Connecticut Yankee without calling it science fiction.
Rather, a great writer abstracts the most general from human history, and paints a picture with a different color paint to highlight simply-stated big questions we all ignore. Questions as political as, "Is there enough food in the world for everyone?" (If so, why do we starve some people in order to force them to do our will?) As sublime as, "What is man?" Or, both profound and humorous, "What are pets and why do we have them?"
If you have ever had the silly, if somewhat rewarding, experience of discovering a lost 20-dollar bill, now found, in a book on the shelf, consider it as a warm recommendation to re-read books. For if the bill has not changed, or perhaps lost some value, the reader has changed. Hopefully grown from experience, meeting anew the challenge of great questions in the guise of a story, one can enjoy so much more. | | | | Great Book Feb 13, 2007 |
Bought for my daughter's college course, this is an excellent book, beautiful, well made, delivered quickly. You won't be disappointed.
| | | | Ideal Jan 26, 2007 |
This book takes the reader on a fantastic journey full of wonderful descriptions. It also is incredibly and deeply thought-provoking like most other of Lewis' books, but yet can be enjoyed for the story and details. I highly recommend this book, especially to discuss with a friend or group.
The trip takes Dr. Ransom, the protagonist, to another planet where Ransom finds out what life could have been like without the break caused in the Garden of Eden. This could spur many meditations on what life is meant to be like and how life can be more joyful. Classic Lewis, one of the best that I have read of his. If you like his fiction, get this book. | | | | AMAZING Jan 24, 2007 |
| This book is amazing, there is not a better word to describe it, I read it over and over again. C.S. Lewis is hands down my favorite Author. What a great man and thinker he was. If you have not picked up this trilogy I advise you to do so. I wont tell you anything about it cause I would hat to spoil it for you. AMAZING! | | | Write your own review about Out of the Silent Planet (Space Trilogy, Book One)
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