Perelandra

On Venus, a world of warm oceans and floating islands, a new Eve has just been born. A tempter arrives from Earth. Ransom has been sent to stop him. Lewis considered this novel one of his best.

Did you know

Lewis held this novel to be one of his best.

The narrator, a certain Lewis, helps his friend Ransom travel to Perelandra, the planet Venus, in a strange box resembling a coffin. Ransom discovers a world of unparalleled beauty: a golden ocean, floating islands that sway with the waves, and fruits whose taste is revelatory. There he meets the Green Lady, the first woman of this world, innocent and curious, separated from her King. She has only one prohibition: not to spend the night on the solid land. Weston, the physicist from the first book, now possessed by an evil force, arrives. Ransom soon calls him the “Anti-Man.” Day after day, Weston argues with the Green Lady to push her to disobey, with speeches about grandeur, independence, and self-sacrifice. Ransom realizes that words alone will not suffice. The second half of the novel shifts into physical combat, then into a long cosmic vision, the “Great Dance.”

• Original title — Perelandra
• First published — 1943
• Genre — Science-fiction novel, theological allegory
• First English edition — The Bodley Head, London, 1943
• Availability in bookshops — Out of print (as of 2024); second-hand.
• Reading level — Intermediate — demanding philosophical passages
• For whom — For those who enjoyed the first book and are not afraid of philosophy. The last fifty pages are among Lewis’s most lyrical.

Other French titles

• Voyage à Vénus

[{title, publisher, year, translator?, note?, source?}]

• Voyage à Vénus, in Le Silence de la Terre ; Voyage à Vénus ; Cette hideuse puissance — Club du livre d'anticipation (Opta) — Paris — 1967 — Frank Straschitz — first French translation, the trilogy in one volume (introduction by Sam Moskowitz)
• Voyage à Vénus — Retz — Paris — 1976 — Frank Straschitz — illustrations by Christian Broutin
• Voyage à Vénus — Oswald (Nouvelles éditions Oswald) — Paris — 1981 — Frank Straschitz
• La Trilogie cosmique — L'Âge d'Homme — Lausanne — 1997 — Maurice Le Péchoux
• Perelandra: voyage à Vénus — Gallimard, Folio SF — 2008 — Maurice Le Péchoux

themes

• A new Genesis: what if the temptation of Eve had failed?
• The seduction of evil: it presents itself as noble, heroic, “adult.”
• Freedom and trusting obedience.
• The sensory beauty of creation.
• The place of each within a vast “Great Dance.”

## How to Approach It Level: Intermediate — includes demanding philosophical passages. For those who enjoyed the first book and aren't afraid of philosophy. The last fifty pages are among Lewis's most lyrical. ## The Book in a Few Lines The narrator, a certain Lewis, helps his friend Ransom travel to Perelandra, the planet Venus, in a strange chest resembling a coffin. Ransom discovers a world of unparalleled beauty: an ocean of gold, floating islands that sway with the waves, fruits whose taste is revelatory. There he meets the Green Lady, the first woman on this planet, innocent and curious, separated from her King. She has only one prohibition: not to spend the night on the Fixed Land. Then comes Weston, the physicist from the first book, now possessed by an evil force — the one Ransom soon calls "the Un-Man." Day after day, he argues with the Green Lady, trying to persuade her to disobey, with speeches about greatness, independence, and self-sacrifice. Ransom realizes that words will not be enough. The second half of the novel shifts into physical combat, and then into a vast cosmic vision, the "Great Dance." ## In Lewis's Workshop Written in 1941-1942, during the war, at the same time Lewis was preparing his *Préface au Paradis perdu* on Milton: the two books speak to each other. The novel is dedicated to Anglican nuns in Wantage. Tolkien thought he recognized himself a little in Ransom, a philologist like him. ## What Announces Narnia The sung creation and the "Great Dance" announce Aslan's song in *The Magician's Nephew*. The duel with the Un-Man recalls Digory's temptation in the garden, another forbidden fruit story. ## What Today's Readers Remember The long debates between the Un-Man and the Green Lady strangely resemble today's seductive speeches about independence and self-overcoming. The modern reader may be baffled by the violence of the final battle; they will be rewarded by the "Great Dance," one of the most ambitious cosmic visions in 20th-century literature. ## The Ideas to Remember

• A new Genesis: what if Eve's temptation had failed?
• The seduction of evil: it presents itself as noble, heroic, "adult."
• Freedom and trusting obedience.
• The sensual beauty of creation.
• One's place in a vast cosmic "dance."

## Quotes > « Where Maleldil is, there is the centre. » > — *Perelandra*, ch. 17 — translation from the website ## Read It in French

• Voyage à Vénus, dans Le Silence de la Terre ; Voyage à Vénus ; Cette hideuse puissance, Club du livre d'anticipation (Opta), Paris, 1967, trans. Frank Straschitz — first French translation, the trilogy in one volume (introduction by Sam Moskowitz)
• Voyage à Vénus, Retz, Paris, 1976, trans. Frank Straschitz — illustrations by Christian Broutin
• Voyage à Vénus, Oswald (Nouvelles éditions Oswald), Paris, 1981, trans. Frank Straschitz
• La Trilogie cosmique, L'Âge d'Homme, Lausanne, 1997, trans. Maurice Le Péchoux
• Perelandra : voyage à Vénus, Gallimard, Folio SF, 2008, trans. Maurice Le Péchoux

## On Stage and Screen Perelandra opera by Donald Swann (libretto by David Marsh), premiered in 1964. No filmed adaptation. ## See Also

See Also

• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• Prince Caspian
• The Silver Chair
• The Last Battle
• The Magician's Nephew

## Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perelandra

https://www.pintswithjack.com/csl-in-france/