C. S. Lewis, Perelandra

Peter Schakel (Hope College)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error
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: only by a willing death to self can he undertake what is to follow. He arrives on a

1640 words

Citation: Schakel, Peter. "Perelandra". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 June 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12306, accessed 19 March 2024.]

12306 Perelandra 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.