Perelandra , also known as Voyage to Venus , is the second book in C.S. Lewis' science-fiction trilogy. Published in 1943, it is a sequel to Out of the Silent Planet and precedes That Hideous Strength . The story follows Elwin Ransom's supernatural transport to Perelandra (Venus) where he finds a water-covered, paradisal planet inhabited by a Green Lady, the planet's equivalent of Eve. The plot centers on Edward Rolles Weston, who arrives on Perelandra with the aim of tempting the Green Lady to disobey God by spending the night on the Fixed Land. Ransom realizes he was brought to Perelandra to help the Green Lady resist Weston’s attacks and ultimately battles and kills Weston, preventing the fall of Perelandra.

Who wrote Perelandra and when was it published?

Perelandra , the second book in C.S. Lewis' science-fiction trilogy, was published in 1943. The trilogy centers on Elwin Ransom and includes Out of the Silent Planet (1938) and That Hideous Strength (1945). Perelandra is a retelling of the temptation of Eve, where Edward Rolles Weston tempts the first woman on the planet Perelandra (Venus). The book is a science fiction and religious allegory that has been criticized for having a sexist view of women.

Where is the story of Perelandra set?

Perelandra , also known as Voyage to Venus , is the second book in C.S. Lewis' science fiction trilogy. The story is set on the planet Perelandra (Venus), which is unlike Earth, Mars (Malacandra), or Thulcandra. It is a water-covered planet with floating islands of vegetation and animal life. The planet is full of rich colors, smells, and tastes, and is covered by a golden dome created by the sun shining on the dense atmosphere.

Who is the main character in the novel and what does he do?

The main character in Perelandra is Elwin Ransom , a middle-aged professor who previously traveled to Mars in Out of the Silent Planet . In Perelandra , Ransom is transported to Venus to prevent the fall of its first woman, the Green Lady, who is like Eve in the Garden of Eden. He confronts the scientist, Edward Rolles Weston, who is possessed by diabolical forces and attempts to tempt the Green Lady to disobey God by spending the night on the Fixed Land. Ransom realizes that he must stop Weston to prevent the planet's fall, leading to a physical battle in which Ransom triumphs, thus saving Perelandra from evil.

What is the main conflict or problem in Perelandra?

The main conflict in C.S. Lewis' Perelandra centers on the scientist Edward Rolles Weston's attempts to tempt the Green Lady, the first woman on the planet Perelandra, into disobeying God's command. This conflict mirrors the biblical story of the temptation of Eve, with Weston, possessed by diabolical forces, aiming to induce the Green Lady to fall from grace by spending the night on the Fixed Land. Elwin Ransom, transported to Perelandra, realizes his purpose is to help the Green Lady resist Weston's temptations. Ultimately, Ransom confronts and kills Weston to prevent the diabolical power from maintaining its hold on the planet, thus averting planetary tragedy.

How does Perelandra explore themes of good and evil?

Perelandra explores good and evil through Elwin Ransom's journey to Venus, a paradisal planet, where he encounters the Green Lady, Perelandra's version of Eve. The scientist Edward Rolles Weston, now possessed by diabolical forces, arrives to tempt her, mirroring the biblical story. Weston aims to persuade the Green Lady to disobey God by spending the night on the Fixed Land, a forbidden act that symbolizes materialism and distrust in God. Ransom realizes his purpose is to help the Green Lady resist temptation. Ultimately, he confronts and kills Weston to prevent the fall of Perelandra, preserving its unfallen, obedient, and paradisal nature.

Perelandra

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Perelandra

novel by Lewis

Also known as: “Voyage to Venus: Perelandra”

Written by

Peter Schakel

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Britannica Editors

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Top Questions

What is Perelandra?
Perelandra, also known as Voyage to Venus, is the second book in C.S. Lewis' science-fiction trilogy. Published in 1943, it is a sequel to Out of the Silent Planet and precedes That Hideous Strength. The story follows Elwin Ransom's supernatural transport to Perelandra (Venus) where he finds a water-covered, paradisal planet inhabited by a Green Lady, the planet's equivalent of Eve.

The plot centers on Edward Rolles Weston, who arrives on Perelandra with the aim of tempting the Green Lady to disobey God by spending the night on the Fixed Land. Ransom realizes he was brought to Perelandra to help the Green Lady resist Weston’s attacks and ultimately battles and kills Weston, preventing the fall of Perelandra.
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1. Perelandra
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Who wrote Perelandra and when was it published?
Perelandra, the second book in C.S. Lewis' science-fiction trilogy, was published in 1943. The trilogy centers on Elwin Ransom and includes Out of the Silent Planet (1938) and That Hideous Strength (1945).

Perelandra is a retelling of the temptation of Eve, where Edward Rolles Weston tempts the first woman on the planet Perelandra (Venus). The book is a science fiction and religious allegory that has been criticized for having a sexist view of women.
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Where is the story of Perelandra set?
Perelandra, also known as Voyage to Venus, is the second book in C.S. Lewis' science fiction trilogy. The story is set on the planet Perelandra (Venus), which is unlike Earth, Mars (Malacandra), or Thulcandra. It is a water-covered planet with floating islands of vegetation and animal life. The planet is full of rich colors, smells, and tastes, and is covered by a golden dome created by the sun shining on the dense atmosphere.
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1. Perelandra
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Who is the main character in the novel and what does he do?
The main character in Perelandra is Elwin Ransom, a middle-aged professor who previously traveled to Mars in Out of the Silent Planet. In Perelandra, Ransom is transported to Venus to prevent the fall of its first woman, the Green Lady, who is like Eve in the Garden of Eden. He confronts the scientist, Edward Rolles Weston, who is possessed by diabolical forces and attempts to tempt the Green Lady to disobey God by spending the night on the Fixed Land. Ransom realizes that he must stop Weston to prevent the planet's fall, leading to a physical battle in which Ransom triumphs, thus saving Perelandra from evil.
1 Britannica Source
1. Perelandra
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What is the main conflict or problem in Perelandra?
The main conflict in C.S. Lewis' Perelandra centers on the scientist Edward Rolles Weston's attempts to tempt the Green Lady, the first woman on the planet Perelandra, into disobeying God's command. This conflict mirrors the biblical story of the temptation of Eve, with Weston, possessed by diabolical forces, aiming to induce the Green Lady to fall from grace by spending the night on the Fixed Land. Elwin Ransom, transported to Perelandra, realizes his purpose is to help the Green Lady resist Weston's temptations. Ultimately, Ransom confronts and kills Weston to prevent the diabolical power from maintaining its hold on the planet, thus averting planetary tragedy.
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1. Perelandra
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How does Perelandra explore themes of good and evil?
Perelandra explores good and evil through Elwin Ransom's journey to Venus, a paradisal planet, where he encounters the Green Lady, Perelandra's version of Eve. The scientist Edward Rolles Weston, now possessed by diabolical forces, arrives to tempt her, mirroring the biblical story. Weston aims to persuade the Green Lady to disobey God by spending the night on the Fixed Land, a forbidden act that symbolizes materialism and distrust in God. Ransom realizes his purpose is to help the Green Lady resist temptation. Ultimately, he confronts and kills Weston to prevent the fall of Perelandra, preserving its unfallen, obedient, and paradisal nature.
1 Britannica Source
1. Perelandra
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Perelandra, second novel in a science-fiction trilogy by C.S. Lewis, published in 1943; some later editions were titled Voyage to Venus. It is a sequel to Lewis’s Out of the Silent Planet (1938) and was followed in the trilogy by That Hideous Strength (1945). In a reworking of the biblical story of the temptation of Eve, Perelandra presents the scientist from Out of the Silent Planet, Edward Rolles Weston, as the tempter of the first woman on the planet Perelandra (Venus). Although sometimes criticized as having a sexist view of women, Perelandra nevertheless succeeds as both science fiction and religious allegory.

Elwin Ransom, the middle-aged professor who was taken to Malacandra (Mars) in Out of the Silent Planet, is in this story transported supernaturally to Perelandra in a symbolically coffin-sized box. The journey to Malacandra had involved a death to self that freed him from fear and prepared him for whatever challenges Perelandra has to offer. The descriptions of the world on which Ransom arrives are Lewis’s most impressive imaginative achievement. Ransom finds that Perelandra is totally unlike Malacandra or Thulcandra (Earth). It is a water-covered planet, with flexible inhabitable islands of vegetation and animal life floating on its surface; it is a world full of deep rich colours and amazing smells and tastes; above is a golden dome, caused by a sun shining on the dense opaque atmosphere.

Ransom swims to one of the islands, spends the night there, begins to explore it the next morning, and meets one of the planet’s two sentient inhabitants, a woman with a human form but green skin. He learns that Perelandra is newly inhabited and paradisal, unfallen, equivalent to the earthly Garden of Eden, with this Green Lady as its Eve. Soon afterward he discovers that Weston has reached Perelandra by spaceship. Weston, who has moved on from the interplanetary colonization he was pursuing in Out of the Silent Planet, now espouses the “emergent evolution” associated with French philosopher Henri Bergson and has come to Perelandra with the objective of spreading his new-found faith to that world. He is not aware that diabolical forces have taken possession of his personality and are using him for a different purpose: to tempt the Green Lady and induce her to fall, as the biblical Eve did.

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Weston tries three times to persuade the Green Lady to do the one thing forbidden to Perelandrians, spending the night on the Fixed Land, one of the rare solid areas on Perelandra—forbidden because it would allow them to accumulate possessions and to place their trust in materialism instead of in God. Ransom realizes that he was brought to Perelandra to help the Green Lady resist Weston’s attacks on her will. After Weston’s third attempt to persuade her, Ransom recognizes that eventually she will give in if the temptations continue. He therefore must physically assault Weston and kill him, thus destroying the diabolical power’s access to the planet, since it can remain on Perelandra only if it has a human body to inhabit. Ransom battles Weston, who by now has become an “Un-man,” totally possessed by evil, and pursues him across the sea and through deep underground caverns. Ransom is victorious, and the planetary tragedy is averted.

Perelandra, unlike Earth, will continue to be unfallen, obedient, and paradisal, as Lewis believed the Earth would have been if humans had not been disobedient. After Ransom listens to a magnificent litany of adoration and watches a Great Dance celebrating the grandeur and goodness of God and the universe, he is taken back to Thulcandra in a coffinlike container like the one that brought him to Perelandra.

Peter Schakel

Perelandra

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