After reading Surprised by Joy, I got a hankering to reread C.S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet, which I’d enjoyed in my youth. I had this notion that it might fit into my Science Fiction class next fall. Upon rereading it, I discovered that it wasn’t as good as I remembered it, and I won’t use it in my course.
That’s not to say it’s not worth reading. As one might expect from Lewis, he’s got some theological underpinnings embedded in this space journey, as well as commentary about interplanetary colonization. Perhaps cosmology is a better word than theology. What we learn in Planet is that the various planets in our solar system are each governed by their own diety. Beyond that, it’s not too theologically deep. That depth gets played out in the rest of the trilogy (Perelandra and That Hideous Strength).
Since I’d read it before, Lewis’ surprises weren’t surprising any more; however, when I read it the first time, the “silent planet” wasn’t what I expected it to be, and neither was our planet’s diety.
I like the Britishness of our hero, the philologist Dr. Randsom, who in moments of crisis is apt to say things like “Dear me!” or “I say!” but I don’t plan to complete the trilogy any time soon.