C. S. Lewis, Perelandra

Peter Schakel (Hope College)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Newman University), Louise McDonald (Newman University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1943

Places

Northern Ireland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Allegory
Novel
Science Fiction

Resources

Perelandra (1943) is a sequel to C. S. Lewis's earlier novel, Out of the Silent Planet (1938). Like the earlier story, its central character is Elwin Ransom. In the earlier story Ransom was kidnapped by Edward Rolles Weston and Richard Devine and taken to Mars (known in the universal language, Old Solar, as Malacandra). Weston is a scientist bent on preserving the human race by establishing colonies on other planets; Devine financed Weston's explorations in hopes of profiting from them by bringing back spaceships filled with gold.

In Perelandra Ransom is taken to Venus (Perelandra) not in a space ship but in a coffin-like container which whisks him off by supernatural power. The coffin image is important: o…

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1640 words

Citation: Schakel, Peter. "Perelandra". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 June 2003 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12306, accessed 26 November 2024.]

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