Perelandra
a novel
by C. S. Lewis · first published 1943
20mentions
9recommended by
18HN commenters
2012–2025first – last mentioned
50% recommend33% neutral17% critical
Dr. Ransom is ordered to Perelandra by the supreme being, and there he finds a Garden of Eden.
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That Hideous Strength is, to me, the most challenging of his space trilogy. I liked Perelandra best, but only after reading it a second time when a friend pointed out that it was a reimagining of the garden of Eden (I was too young to pick up on that during the first read). Out of the Silent Planet…
on “The Scientists Take Over: George Orwell Reviews “That Hideous Strength” (1945)” ↗Perelandra (the second book in the "Space Trilogy") by C. S. Lewis is probably the most impactful book I've read in recent years. I read it once when I was in my early teens and it made no sense and was quite the…
on “Ask HN: What is the best book you have read with the greatest impact on you?” ↗…'non-overlapping magesteria' ideals. Kind of feels like a short Vanity Fair or Rolling Stone article on a complex technological topic. If Clarke's story ideas are tantalizing to the reader, I would suggest reading Perelandra by C.S. Lewis for a [admittedly dated] view from the other side of the equation. (I know of no similarly posited and argued Catholic story, so my apologies for suggesting a strongly Protestant one after…
on “How Possibilities of Life Elsewhere Might Alter Held Notions of Faith” ↗That Hideous Strength is a good book, but it's just bizarre compared to the previous two books in the trilogy (and admittedly Perelandra gets pretty bizarre in the final 20% or so of the book). But my favorite lesson is from Perelandra: Sometimes you can't beat the devil in a battle of wits, sometimes you just gotta beat him to death.
on “Inner Ring – CS Lewis” ↗…(~200,000,000 years) which is around 5% of the time that earth has been around( 4.5 billion years) which is around 33% of the time the universe has been around. In this regard, I like this quote from Perelandra by CS Lewis: "Be comforted, small immortals. You are not the voice that all things utter, nor is there eternal silence in the places where you cannot come." Take joy in your life now, what you learn…
on “Ask HN: How can I be happy, knowing I can never learn or read everything online?” ↗> I would suggest reading Perelandra People should read Out of the Silent Planet first, and then Perelandra. The third book in the series is also good, but goes in a different direction and doesn't really touch on the relationship between…
on “How Possibilities of Life Elsewhere Might Alter Held Notions of Faith” ↗…because he strikes me as a perfect case of someone torn between telling a good story and wanting to put out a message. There's an interesting split in his oeuvre between books that are wonderful stories (Perelandra), and books that try to convince you to be a Christian, and his Narnia Chronicles occupy a confusing mix of the two. Many people love his stories despite his preachiness, and many people absolutely hate…
on “Economics in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged [pdf]” ↗I really liked Perelandra and the space trilogy books from C.S. Lewis. Recommend read if your interested in exploring the Christian worldview and thoughts on aliens.
on “What If There _Is_ Life on Venus?” ↗Perelandra's devil – the Un-Man – struck me on first reading as an excellent early depiction of a hostile, alien form of intelligence, superior but purely instrumental. Lewis was very early in working out the implications…
on “Inner Ring – CS Lewis” ↗…amount of satire on the subject [1], which sparked an on-again-off-again correspondence, cordial but without much agreement, with Arthur C. Clarke, initiated when Clarke wrote to object to some passages in Perelandra [2]. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Space_Trilogy [2] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743475186/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...
on “NASA Planetary Protection Policy” ↗…Dead - Orson Scott Card * Tim Gunn's Fashion Bible - Tim Gunn * The Gods Themselves - Isaac Asimon * The Hugo Winners vol. 3 - Various Between Planets - Robert A. Heinlen The Martian - Andy Weir * Perelandra - C S Lewis Heretics of Dune - Frank Herbert (Unfinished, couldn't do it.) Nightfall - Isaac Asimov * Foundation's Edge - Isaac Asimov * Foundation and Earth - Isaac Asimov * Stranger in a Strange…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗…but you can operate it as a standalone book (and if you must start with the other books, Out of the Silent Planet is a cute little homage, but don't let the dense and somewhat-dull Christian allegory in Perelandra get you down and make you skip Hideous.)
on “Civ II game a decade old” ↗…why Lewis never did a time travel novel. Turns out, he started one, and its rough draft eventually turned into this. My advice: read the short and sweet Out of the Silent Planet first for context, skip Perelandra (dangerously overdosed with overt Christian allegory), and then try this thing.
on “Stories from Radium Age sci-fi, which ruled the early 20th century” ↗…recognizing wrongdoing by their own society, utterly incapable of taking criticism or recognizing the need for correction. This is remarkably close to the image of Hell painted by C. S. Lewis in his books Perelandra and The Screwtape Letters: a paralyzing self-absorption that imprisons the individual in hate and impotent rage while simultaneously blinding him to any possibility of escape. This doesn't seem like…
on “In the Land of Vendettas That Go on Forever” ↗…"And God smote his enemies." Three books building up to a final conflict, and in the end it feels like one side wasn't even needed, since God takes care of it anyway. To boot, his use of allegory on Perelandra was just hideous. If you're going to make an allegory, you don't have a character explain the allegory while it's in progress!
on “The Scientists Take Over: George Orwell Reviews “That Hideous Strength” (1945)” ↗