Forgotten Books: Out of the Silent Planet

I’m trying to keep ‘recommended classics’ and ‘forgotten books’ apart but really they are probably all going to bleed together in the end.

With Lewis’ fame as a children’s book author and theologian, his skill as an adult fiction writer is often overlooked. That is a shame. Out of the Silent Planet (Amazon Affiliate link), the first in a trilogy, is a fascinating and wholly original work.

I’m currently reading The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis (Amazon Affiliate link), where Alan Jacobs writes

“Surely Lewis himself would have said that when we can no longer be ‘wide open to the glory’–risking whatever immaturity thereby– we have not lost just our childlikeness but something nearer the core of our humanity. Those who will never be fooled can never be delighted, because without self-forgetfulness there can be no delight, and this is a great and grievous loss.”

Based on this assessment, I think there’s a hint of autobiography about the main character in Out of the Silent Planet; this openness and sense of wonder is much more genuinely expressed here than in other sci fi I’ve read. (Incidentally, this linguistic ability is also part of what makes the Chronicles of Narnia so wonderful.)

The thing that surprised me most about Out of the Silent Planet, though, was how wholly new it felt. Admittedly I haven’t read a lot of sci fi but I have seen many movies and TV shows, and while the story is formulaic (man from earth goes to space, winds up on another planet for a while) the science concepts are pretty novel (much like Jules Verne in his own time).

It’s a quick read suitable for the kids who’ve grown up with Narnia but need something new. We’re getting on toward summer (especially here in Florida– this week’s highs are in the mid-80s) and you’re going to need some beach reads. Whether you read it years ago or are just hearing about it now, you can’t go wrong with C. S. Lewis’ space trilogy!