Today I'm listening to Out of the Silent Planet. My Special topics course is reading C S Lewis's trilogy, and we'll be discussing OSP Monday night. I've read it many times, but each time I'm delighted again. To actually read or hear the words, the descriptions, the language of the Malacandrians, always amazes me again. What an imagination Lewis had! And his story telling is so concise, yet brilliant, like sparkling jewels. His descriptions so cleanly defined, so finely chiseled.
As a medievalist, I really enjoy his cosmology and his Oyéresu--the medieval "Influences" that guide the planets in their cosmic dance. And hearing the story of the rebellious oyarsa of Thulcandra, understanding the sub-lunar silence imposed by his actions, makes me mourn the loss of communication with the Heavens that Earth has experienced for nearly its whole existence and makes me think that even the earliest cosmologists had an inkling of this as they designed their geo-centric models of the cosmos.
I'm just at the part where Ransom meets the pfifltrigg who is carving his "likeness" into the stone inscriptions on Meldilorn; I appreciate so much that Lewis develops his various species with such integrity: their physical appearance, traditions, and languages seem so "natural" to them. It's not hard to accept such creatures as "hnau"; the hard thing to imagine is that they live in peace and in willing submission to Maleldil. These stories elicit that desire Lewis was so aware of himself: the desire for wholeness and for true communication.
More on Ransom later; I'm looking at him in relation to a project I'm working on, so as I re-read the trilogy this time I'm hoping to focus on some of his characteristics.
If I stop blogging now, I should just have time to finish the book and get to bed before 2:30.
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