Perelandra: Get in your coffins and join us as we travel to Venus with Dr. Ransom!
Summary, Quotes, and Themes (ch. 1-3)
The members of That Hideous C.S. Lewis Reading Group from Keller, Texas recently secured our glass coffins and began our journey to Perelandra. If you would like to travel with us, please read along and feel free to use our session notes for your own discussions or reach out to me directly. It does not take much arm-twisting to get me talking about the Ransom Trilogy. Stay tuned for more Out of the Silent Planet podcast episodes as well.
I write-up chapter summaries, select key quotes, and identify some of the themes, symbols, motifs, etc. My list is by no means exhaustive. Enjoy!
Perelandra Chapter 1
Chapter 1 Quotes
“And I realized that I was afraid of two things: afraid that sooner or later I myself might meet an eldil, and afraid that I might get 'drawn in'. I suppose everyone knows this fear of getting drawn in - the moment at which a man realizes that what had seemed mere speculations are on the point of landing him in the Communist Party or the Christian Church - the sense that a door has just slammed and left him on the inside.”
"We tend to think about non-human intelligences in two distinct categories which we label 'scientific' and 'supernatural' respectively."
"To think that the spectre you see is an illusion does not rob him of his terrors: it simply adds the further terror of madness itself - and then on top of that the horrible surmise that those whom the rest call mad have, all along, been the only people who see the world as it really is."
"The sound was quite unastonishingly unlike a voice. It was perfectly articulate: it was even, I suppose, rather beautiful. But it was, if you understand me, inorganic...Blood and lungs and the warm, moist cavity of the mouth are somehow indicated in every voice. Here they were not."
Chapter 1 Summary
While on the way to Ransom's cottage, Lewis is overcome by fear and is accosted by various temptations to not complete the journey. Ransom had previously invited him to the cottage to discuss "business" (meaning Ransom's prior journey to Malacandra). Lewis is fearful of the Dark Eldila and other spiritual beings that are trying to prevent his visit to Ransom. He arrives at the cottage but Ransom is not there. He enters and trips over a large cold packing-case. He then hears a voice call "Ransom" but it is not an organic or human voice. He then sees a pillar of light and realizes he is in the presence of the Oyarsa of Malacandra. Even though the Oyarsa is good, Lewis is still uncomfortable. Ransom then arrives and begins conversing with the Oyarsa in a strange language which further terrifies Lewis.
Chapter 1 Themes, Motifs, & Symbols
Fear and doubt
Presence of spiritual beings
Language
Coffin-like box or packing case
Perelandra Chapter 2
Chapter 2 Quotes
“Oh, they'll put all sorts of things into your head if you let them. The best plan is to take no notice and keep straight on. Don't try to answer them. They like drawing you into an interminable conversation.”
"Haven't you noticed how in our own little war here on earth, there are different phases, and while any one phase is going people get in to the habit of thinking and behaving as if it were going to be permanent?...Now your idea that ordinary people will never have to meet the Dark Eldila in any form except a psychological or moral form - as temptations or the like is simply an idea that held good for a certain phase of the cosmic war: the phase of the great siege , the phase which gave to our planet its name of Thulcandra, the silent planet. But supposing that phase is passing? In the next phase it may be anyone's job to meet them...well, in some quite different mode."
"One can believe in anesthetics and yet feel panic when they actually put the mask over your face. I think I feel as a man who believes in the future life feels when he is taken out to face the firing party. Perhaps it's good practice."
"I was silent for a moment, astonished at the form which had risen from that narrow house - almost a new Ransom, glowing with health and rounded with muscle and seemingly ten years younger. In the old days he had been beginning to show a few grey hairs; but now the beard which swept his chest was pure gold."
Chapter 2 Summary
Lewis is relieved to see Ransom. As they converse, Ransom confirms that dark eldila were trying to thwart Lewis' journey to the cottage by tempting him with fear and doubt. Ransom explains he has been summoned to Venus (Perelandra) but he is not sure of his purpose. He has heard through Oyarsa that the Bent One of Thulcandra (Satan) may be planning an attack on Perelandra. Ransom explains he will converse in Old Solar while on Perelandra (same language he learned on Malacandra and which is the language of Deep Heaven). Ransom also confirms the Oyarsa of Malacandra has been with them throughout the conversation. Lewis helps pack Ransom - naked and blindfolded - in the large coffin-like box and he disappears into the sky. More than a year later, Ransom returns in the coffin which is filled with red flowers. Ransom emerges as a younger looking radiant man with a golden beard. He is full of vitality and vigor; however he has a cut on his heel which bleeds freely without stopping. Over the next few days Ransom tells of his adventures on Perelandra.
Chapter 2 Themes, Motifs, & Symbols
Coffin
Omnipresence of spiritual beings
Spiritual & cosmic warfare; war in general
Language
Red flowers
Blood
Vitality, vigor, radiance, life
Accepting one's duty
Perelandra Chapter 3
Chapter 3 Quotes
“On the contrary it is words that are vague. The reason why the thing can't be expressed is that it's too definite for language.”
"Though he had not been aware of thirst till now, his drink gave him a quite astonishing pleasure. It was almost like meeting Pleasure itself for the first time."
"But then it was so different from every other taste that it seemed mere pedantry to call it a taste at all. It was like the discovery of a totally new genus of pleasures, something unheard of among men, out of all reckoning, beyond all covenant. For one draught of this on earth wars would be fought and nations betrayed. It could not be classified.”
Chapter 3 Summary
Lewis picks up Ransom's narrative here. Ransom struggles to express the beauty of Perelandra to Lewis. Lewis now continues uninterrupted with Ransom's narrative. While traveling in Deep Heaven, Ransom was hot on one side and cold on the other. As the coffin enters the Perelandrian atmosphere, it plunges into water and dissolves. Ransom finds himself in a seemingly endless ocean of massive waves. The water is refreshing and good to drink. He soon sees floating masses which are floating islands. The sky is a bright golden color and like a dome. After an incredible thunderstorm, Ransom climbs onto a floating island. He struggles to walk and maintain balance because the island moves with the contours of the waves beneath it. He enters a forest and finds a fruit tree. The juice from the fruit is so intense which he describes as a "new genus of pleasure". He wants to drink again but something tells his reason it would be better not to drink again. As night approaches, the world becomes completely black - so that Ransom cannot see his own hand in front of him. There are no stars and no moon. Ransom is comfortable and warm. He falls asleep on the floating island.
Chapter 3 Themes, Motifs, & Symbols
Pleasure
Desire, longing
Light, colors
Water
Will vs reason & appetite (think “Men without Chests” from Abolition of Man)
Baptism
Seeing
Seeking stability
Movement, motion
In your summary of chapter 1 you said,
“Lewis is fearful of the Dark Eldila and other spiritual beings that are trying to prevent his visit to Ransom.”
But I got the impression that Lewis was ignorant about the Dark Eldila until Ransom made him aware that his thoughts to turn back were not merely his own thoughts and that there were dark spiritual beings at work. Am I wrong in assuming that?