Tim’s research

Chris’s comments on The Man Who Was Thursday

GK Chesterton

The Man who was Thursday

Before starting on an analysis of the novel I was curious to discover to what extent Tolkien had studied Chesterton’s works and what he possibly might have thought about them. Oronzo Cilli’s book Tolkien’s Library An Annotated Checklist confirms that Tolkien did indeed have a copy of this work as well as GK Chesterton’s poem The Ballard of the White Horse. However in a letter to Christopher Tolkien he expresses his disappointment with the poem saying The ending is absurd. The brilliant smash and glitter of the words and phrases (when they come off, and are not mere loud colours) cannot disguise the fact that GKC knew nothing whatever about the ‘North’ heathen or Christian. This does not suggest Tolkien was over impressed with Chesterton’s works. Nevertheless in Tolkien’s essay On Fairy-Stories he does reference Chesterton a number of times clearly indicating that he must have studied the works in reasonable detail. Perhaps one indication of Tolkien’s interest in The Man who was Thursday can be gleaned from Hammond and Scull’s Tolkien Companion and Guide. It’s stated that when Lewis, Warnie, Tolkien and Havard happened to meet on the 4^th May 1953 and debated whether to listen to a broadcast of Chesterton’s novel they decided to enjoy two bottles of Burgundy instead. Strange as it might seem when Syme is taken to his room near the end of the novel by a butler he is offered a bottle of Burgundy and Syme replies “Burgundy is a spanking good thing.” Perhaps it was the remembrance of this fact that spurred them on to thinking about Burgundy and deciding that an evening drinking it was preferable to listening to the broadcast.

As with my thoughts on CS Lewis’s Out of the Silent Planet I have tried to analyse the work in relation to Tolkien i.e. what would have appealed to him, what he would have disliked and if Chesterton’s work somehow influenced Tolkien’s own writings.

One similarity to both Lewis’s Out of the Silent Planet and Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings is the concept of leaving one environment and entering a different world. Ransom is drugged and taken to a different planet, Bilbo is suddenly moved from his quiet life into a world of new experiences as is the case with Frodo and Sam. In Chesterton’s novel when Syme is elected as Thursday and steps onto the tug to take him to meet Sunday “he had a singular sensation of stepping out into something entirely new; not merely into the landscape of a new land, but even into the landscape of a new planet.”  Syme, like Ransom and Bilbo, is entering a world where things are not as they seem and where a great deal of initiative and bravery are required in order to overcome the many obstacles put in his way.

As in Tolkien’s novels chance or prearranged destiny play a part. Syme’s meeting with the police officer when feeling depressed changes the course of his life as he is suddenly persuaded to become part of a secret police force tracking down anarchists. Such experiences are common to the other police recruited to this force. However did Sunday, the omnipotent being in this story, prearrange these meetings? Was it all predetermined to slot people into the correct roles to fit the Genesis story?

Language is another aspect of the work which may have appealed to Tolkien and I was particularly struck by lines which resemble Sam’s colloquial speech. When the Marquis is in a panic when the train approaches in France he shouts out You great fat, blasted, blear-eyed, blundering, thundering, brainless, God forsaken, doddering, damned fool …. You great silly, pink-faced, towheaded turnip … Going to Jericho to throw a Jabberwock.  I am sure Tolkien would have liked this.

Swearing of oaths plays another important part in Chesterton’s novel. Even though Gregory is meant to be an anarchist denying society and wanting to destroy everything, he still feels bound by the oath he gave to Syme. Thus Syme says Don’t you see we’ve checkmated each other? .. I can’t tell the police you are an anarchist. You can’t tell the anarchists I’m a policeman.  This oath swearing continues with other characters in the novel who keep to their word. This is opposite to the oath breakers in The Lord of the Rings although they do eventually fulfil their duty and obey Aragorn’s call to arms.

Another feature that would have appealed to Tolkien was the use of codes. As we know Tolkien was very keen on Runes and other coded clues on maps. In Chesterton’s novel a very clever coded language is devised using fingers. This allows a strange double conversation to take place one using their fingers between the interrogators and one using real speech with the interrogated.

However there are aspects of Chesterton’s novel which may not have appealed to Tolkien. One of them is the direct political statements which frequently appear. I am not saying Tolkien may not have agreed with them but it is the up-front nature of them which may have caused him a problem. Examples include The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn’t; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all. Aristocrats were always anarchists, as you can see from the barons’ wars.  Similarly Four out of five rich men in this town are common swindlers. I suppose the proportion is pretty equal all over the world. I think this shows a clear political statement shaming the rich and how they can easily get away with fraud. This, of course, has not changed and the rich continue to use tax avoidance and hide away overseas.

Another major feature of the novel which may have troubled Tolkien is the blatant religious nature of the work as this was not the case in The Lord of the Rings where religion is present but not overt. Indeed there is a need for a book like The Battle for Middle-earth by Fleming Rutledge to point out the underlying religious content in The Lord of the Rings because this is so hidden to the ordinary layman. However Tolkien does create a similar Genesis setting with Ilúvatar’s creation of the world in The Silmarillion although this is set in an imaginary world. In Chesterton’s  novel the group of so-called anarchists are named and finally dressed according to the role played by the day of the week they represented in the Book of Genesis in the Bible. Sunday, who appoints these people, is the mysterious power behind the events in the novel. Significantly each of the anarchist group see him quite differently but as Syme says Each man of you finds Sunday quite different, yet each man of you find one thing to compare him to – the universe itself.

It is also interesting to note the role of Gregory’s sister Rosamond, the only identifiable woman in the novel. It is when Syme is with her that he enters his dream-like state: In the wild events which were to follow this girl had no part to play … And yet, in some indescribable way, she kept recurring like a motive in music through all his mad adventures afterwards, and the glory of her strange hair ran like a thread through those dark and ill-drawn tapestries of the night.  It would seem that Rosamond acts like Ilúvatar’s creative music, which defines the order of events, and is the real power in how things develop. As with Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings women may appear only briefly but they also have power.

I am sure there is a lot more to say about this novel especially how it fits into the politics of the time. In some ways it reminds me of the film The Four Lions which concerns a group of British jihadists trying to blow things – a serious subject but played out as a black comedy. Chesterton’s novel also turns a serious issue, namely people wanting to set off bombs, into a comic fantasy. Such comedy rarely appears in Tolkien’s works. As an example in Chesterton’s novel he uses the chase sequences around London to add  humour. For instance when the zoo keeper says An elephant has gone mad and run away and Syme replies you may take my word for it that the elephant has not run away with him. He has run away with the elephant.

Overall it was an enjoyable read and I am sure Tolkien would have mainly enjoyed it.

Tim’s comments on OSP

Apologies for having interrupted the flow of OSP comments, but here now are Tim’s. All the others are accessible via the links on the left sidebar.

Tim wrote:

A Few Observations on C.S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet

Coming late to the party (fashionably late) due to having only limited access to the internet at present whilst locked down at my mum’s house, and with my copy of the book at home, I’ve now had the opportunity to re-read the book (thanks to my sister dropping it off) and to read through everyone’s comments on the blog (10,000 words, an essay’s worth!)
I found everyone’s thoughts on the book very interesting, and was heartened that some points tallied with my own observations, for example, some similarities with Tolkien’s legendarium.
As a result, there isn’t a great deal I can add to the discussion, but here goes.
My main impression of OSP was that it doesn’t really rate as science fiction (I think Laura has made that point). I’ve read a fair amount of sci-fi, and it is a very broad church: OSP falls into the category of space fantasy adventure/space opera – more akin to Edgar Rice Burrough’s John Carter of Mars tales than Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy (which I’m a third of the way through and can highly recommend). I think I naturally defaulted to a space adventure mode when reading Lewis’ book.
On the back of that, I was struck by a similarity in tone between Lewis and the likes of H. Rider Haggard (who was, as we know, one of Tolkien’s influences): the great white hunter/ muscular Christian explorer-trader-conqueror on the Great British civilising mission in the dark continent (exploitation). In particular, when Weston (and to a lesser degree Devine) were talking with condescension to the native inhabitants of Malacandra on the presumption that less technology and industrialisation means less intelligent or civilised.
The book is very much of its time, published at a time when Europe was beset by populist forces in Germany, Italy and Spain, as well as in Britain, France and the Netherlands, and war was threatening. As Lewis appeared to be demonstrating, it is a fundamental characteristic of human nature, particularly of white Anglo-Saxon males, the drive to conquer, dominate and control other “lesser” beings.
As a story, the narrative begins and ends in a somewhat banal, innocuous fashion – such as concluding with Ransom walking into the first pub he comes to and ordering a pint of bitter – but the development of the story did consistently grip my attention, as much on the first read as on the second read.

Tim McCullen
22nd May 2020

Lynn’s comments on The Man Who Was Thursday

Comments on The Man Who Was Thursday to page 74

Once again my slow reading means I have not completed the book but a good deal of time is taken up by puzzling over what’s actually going on. So I have been concentrating on bits I could handle.

In the first place, all the references to German pessimism suggest to me Chesterton’s intention to satirise the popularity of Nietzschean philosophy. Some of his handling of paradox has the same feel, as has his use of a storytelling mode which exploits paradox and the denial of expectation. But I think there’s more to it. The constant subversion of the reader’s and the character’s expectations, together with the subversive manipulation of language feel like an examination of epistemology, because what we and the characters think they know is so often off the mark. So knowledge, especially as it defines expectations, social interactions, and the language in which they are expressed, is constantly subjected to critical distance and shown to be wanting, or faulty, or flawed.

The influence of philosophy also seems to include the brief but telling interrogations of Syme and the Doctor in black rooms. I was reminded of Schroedinger, and Lewis actually mentions him in OSP.

There seem to be some points of comparison between the works of JRRT, CSL and GKC that we have read. All have heroes with literary leanings – Ransom the Philologist, Syme the supposed Poet, and Bilbo and Frodo who are interested in language and literature. All three authors devise alternative ‘languages’, GKC’s may be only a version of morse code but it’s a means of conveying meaning, even though meaning in ‘Thursday’ is always unstable.

We are also given another dominant male presence although Sunday the anarchist is by definition opposed to the capitalism of CSL’s Weston and Devine, but while they would destroy by exploitation, Sunday’s anarchist gang would do so simply by violence, without creating anything more, so they seem to be more orc-like in their intentions, and more politically driven than either Tolkien’s or Lewis’s villains. Of course if you have read the whole book you will have a more informed view than this.

I wondered how much Chesterton knew about Sausserian linguistics as he sets up so many false signs and signifiers. Anarchists who are police, police who are poets, actors, doctors, aristocrats, all to some extent actors anyway, hiding behind various disguises, so that appearances too are shown to be unreliable signs of identity, always hiding another truth. I can’t think of anything in Lewis or Tolkien to match this, nor do they create the episodes of increasing tension evoking fear and horror for the reader on Syme’s behalf, that is always, so far, resolved in moments of bathos, a technique rarely used these days, I think.

Wit and plain silliness seem to be important tools in the process by which Chesterton surveys philosophical and particularly epistemological influences in his own society. Given that bomb-throwing anarchists were a problem in late Victorian and Edwardian times it seems odd to treat the matter flippantly. ‘Thursday’ constantly reminds me of a burlesque version of Joseph Conrad’s wonderfully bleak and seedy evocation of an anarchist cell during the same period in The Secret Agent, but I shall read the rest of ‘Thursday’ with great interest because Chesterton is really holding my attention with his strangeness, even if I’m struggling to work out how Tolkien’s work emerges out of the age of Impressionism, ‘German pessimism’, and the preoccupation with anarchy which Chesterton plays with so entertainingly.

 

Eileen’s compiled additonal OSP comments

Ransom had not thought about BEING on another planet, but he slowly began to adapt to living on it. the planet was called Malacandra. he began to enjoy his walks again, and was able to question Hyoi, (through phonetics), about their culture. He learned that they fished, grew many vegetables, but there were two other activities they particularly enjoyed, music, and poetry.
These last two activities, have a particular link with Tolkien. Singing joyfully was natural to the elves, in the hobbit poetry is also a link with Tolkien, as Bilbo often recited poetry, or verses, and the rhythm in the poetry seemed to be at one with the rhythm of walking on his long journey..another link is we are told that the Hrossa playful Hrossa cubs see Ransom as a ‘hairless goblin’, this attitude in OSP comes across as positive. in the hobbit, the goblins are detested and feared. they are seen as the enemy of both the dwarves ,elves, and the hobbit.
I have already touched on the subject that Ransom began to adapt to the Hrossa culture. also in The Hobbit, Bilbo adapts to the quest to survive, and during his long difficult journey, he comes to respect the dwarves he is leading, especially Thorin and Balin, there is another link with Tolkien. In The Hobbit Legolas, an elf, and Gimli a dwarf, begin to have tentative discussions and viewpoints about their respective cultures. they finally agree to SEE cultures from the others’ viewpoint, Gimli to appreciate nature more fully, and Legolas to physically go into the caves, to appreciate the dwarves’ skill at building beautiful halls, and other creative structures, perhaps Tolkien, through their friendship ,and subsequent agreement, is pointing to them as hope for the future.
There is another link with Tolkien, and that is to do with civilisation. In OSP Ransom begins to appreciate the Hrossa civilised way of life. there was a sense of order in their lives. Bilbo and his fellow travellers also adopted an orderly strategy during the long journey.
Another important link is to do with language. Ransom was able to communicate with the Hrossa through the use of phonetics, and I  suspect he also made use of gestures to aid communication. Tolkien’s love of language and literature is evident through powerful imagery, there is also a powerful sense of atmosphere in his description of nature, the mountains, trees, to name a few.
Of course, there is also a link with Tolkien in the meeting between Bilbo and Smaug, the ferocious dragon. though when they first meet, the dragon approaches Bilbo with a rather alarming curiosity. Bilbo keeps talking to Smaug, in order to gain time. The dragon is eventually killed. in OSP, the  river monster is a threat for the three occupants on the boat, but eventually Ransom succeeds in slaying it. but there is also a tragedy here, for Hyoi is killed by a rifle shot by the two evil men, Weston and Devine. The reader would have felt outrage and sadness at the killing of Hyoi, for we had grown fond of him, and admired the friendship between Ransom and him. we have a sense of disbelief, as does Ransom, at the evil act that had just taken place by the evil Weston and Devine. Ransom watched in horror as his friend gradually changed from his Malacandrian friend, into different animal-like shapes as the water devoured his body. It comes across as a scene of horror, and seemed unbelievable. It seems safer for us to imagine that this horror did not happen, and that we imagined the whole horrific scene. We can empathise with Ransom here and understand his need to survive, so, after saying hurried farewell to Whin and his other Malacandrian friends, he raced towards the forest. He was told by Whin that Oyarsa had summoned him. he was to meet the Sorns in Harandra, then on to Meldilorn, where he would meet with Oyarsa. Whin had given him seemingly quite complex directions.
As Ransom went through the Malacandrian forest, he began thinking about the different scenarios, e.g. were the Hrossa under the thumb of the Sorns , and about Oyarsa, and his role in Malacandrian society. He felt ‘remarkably well’, though ‘greatly chastened’ in mind. he reflected how he had changed since his time in Malacandra. now there was ‘accepted duty’, coupled with a sense of fear. he was after all journeying to the unknown, for him. There is a link here with the hobbit. Bilbo had been instructed to go on this difficult and seemingly complex journey by Gandalf. Bilbo went, but he had a lot of misgivings, and we the readers are affected by his often inner turmoil, and struggle as he led his fellow travellers.
Ransom’s landscape began to change. the terrain was much more difficult between the wood and the mountain. he came to an open way, the cold became acute, he was climbing into a ‘silent arctic world’, and he began hallucinating, blaming the Hrossa for sending him on such a journey, he thought deliberately, to avenge Hyoi’s killing. and also blaming the two earthly criminals for abducting him  earth, in the first place.
The scene he came to next was like a ‘lunar landscape’, he began to focus on his whereabouts, and in the distance perceived a light. eventually came to a large cavern. He ventured further into the interior. The Sorn, who by the way spoke ENGLISH, welcomed Ransom, so he experienced kindness, which he seemed to have been denied since his time with his Malacandrian friends. Here there is another link with The Hobbit, for the coziness of the interior is reminiscent of the interior of Bilbo’s beloved home in the Shire.
When the Sorn began to arise from his crouching position, Ransom saw that he was like a large goblin, and had a face that was much more unpleasantly human, than any human face ought to be. This comment, or thought, comes across as uncomfortable reading and has the effect of distancing ourselves from the perhaps implied racism. though taking into account the perilous journey he had endured, and that he had been hallucinating, while coming towards the cavern, perhaps it was not meant as such, but it smacks of an implied superiority. Perhaps Lewis meant it to sound this way, that humans are superior to inhabitants of other worlds!
There is another link with Tolkien: Ransom now thought of the sorn as a huge goblin, albeit covered with feathers. the goblins in the hobbit are despised, and feared. They are portrayed as a ferocious enemy. In OSP the goblin comes across as welcoming and kind, conscious of Ransom’s needs, and administering them. Ransom was offered food and drink, and a strange device, a cup, with an attachment, which turned out to be oxygen. Then began a series of questions from Ransom to find out the sorn’s way of life. One interesting answer from the sorn, when Ransom asked if the Hrossa let him tear up their forests, his reply ‘why should they not?’ This is not the expected answer, and is rather disquieting, but, thinking about it gives us food for thought. Fellow Malacandrians perhaps are treated with respect, and their way of life has more need of forests than that of the sorns. Here, it seems, the land belongs to all the Malacandrians, perhaps like the attune the native Americans used to have.
More questions were asked about the eldila, and we learn that the body of the eldila was ‘a movement, swift as light’. he also learnt that Oyarsa was the ruler of everything in Malacandra. The following morning, as Ransom was still very weak, the sorn offered to carry him on his shoulders to Meldilorn. His endurance in completing the treacherous journey, is praised by Augray, who then showed Ransom a flask, with a tube attached to it, and said he could administer oxygen to himself by using it. Ransom was told that pfifiriggi had made it and they made things that had to be difficult this is reminiscent of the dwarves in The Hobbit, who built such difficult beautiful structures. Augray continued to carry Ransom on his shoulder. We are told that it was like riding an elephant at the zoo. I wonder what the Malacandrians would have thought, and I was not aware of any animals (other than the river monster), in Malacandra. Regarding the carrying, this reminds me of Gimli carrying Legolas in The Hobbit.
As they climbed, the air became ‘of Himalayan rarity’. The terrain became more difficult. the remote horizon seemed but an arm’s length away’. He was in the frontier of the heaven he had known on the spaceship. So they were in the old forests of Malacandra, which were covered in places with ancient bones. This was food for thought. did the Malacandrian race go back to ancient times. what had happened to them? E.g. when the race began to die, were the bodies left in the forest to decompose there, perhaps united with nature. Eventually Ransom was brought to a large cave, where he understood he was to meet a sorn scientists he was interested in rolls of what appeared to be manuscripts. The sorn said the Hrossa seed to have any books of poetry, but now they are fewer and it was intriguing to read the next comment-‘they say that the writing of books destroys poetry’. This appears to turn the world of literature on its head. There is also of course an underlying sense of comedy. Is Lewis poking fun at Tolkien?
Ransom, being carried on Augrey’s back could see that they were actually travelling on the outside of Malacandra, and were on the surface of a strange planet. Eventually a landscape came into view that reminded him of an earthly landscape, cliffs, and spires of green rock that rose against the dark blue sky. then a sort of paradise opened up before him: a lake that looked like sapphire, set in a border of purple forest. In the lake was an island  of pale red, an on the summit, a grove of trees. Here we have another link with Tolkien: trees and forests feature vividly throughout his work, trees that are beautiful to look at, and are seen as an often benign influence on travellers.
Ransom knew that this was Meldilorn, and again Lewis has portrayed it as a paradise, and Ransom was full of admiration, and appeared to absorb details about its beauty. This is a far different portrayal of the man who in the beginning could not waste time looking at, and absorbing the glowing yellow sunset. He studied the stone nearest to him and went from stone to stone. Along with sorns and Hrossa, he saw an upright wavy figure with wings. Lewis writes, could it be that that the traditions of Malacandrian art went back to that earlier geological era, when, as Augray told him, there was life, including bird life on the Harandra. There is perhaps a link here to the episode where Ransom observes the mass of bones scattered in the forest. He slept in a guest house which was built by the pfiftriggi and felt the presence of all three Malacandrian species.
He was awakened in the morning by a high-pitched voice, ‘Oyarsa sends for you.’ Ransom was apprehensive about meeting the ruler, Oyarsa, who was also an eldila. When he went out he knew he had to go the summit of the island, and the grove. Lewis writes ‘The monolithic avenue was full of Malacandrian creatures, and all silent.’ Ransom walked to the summit and stood. Eventually Oyarsa appeared and the ruler’s presence could only be discerned, by the ‘smallest diminution of shadow.’ When the ruler spoke, it was with a ‘more inhuman voice that Ransom had yet heard, and seemingly remote’. The Oyarsa then proceeded to question him about ‘fear’. Fear was present even before he was on the space-ship, so the Oyarsa has the power to discern  his inner feeling’. If Ransom’s life is controlled by fear, then the way he behaves is perhaps not normal. The Oyarsa then goes on to warn him about the evil that is present in Thulacandra, that there used to be an Oyarsa on his planet, but he became ‘bent’, I think possibly corrupt, and that he was no longer tolerated, because of his spreading of evil, and afterwards Thulacandra was known as the ‘silent planet’. Could this situation be similar to that of Lucifer, who defied God, who banished him from heaven. Lucifer continued to spread evil on Earth so it also perhaps links with Tolkien through the evil Sauron, and Saruman. Oyarsa then warned Ransom about the evil of wars and the continuing rise of evil. Perhaps at this point, we become aware that earth is not regarded as a peaceful place to live in, that evil is too powerful. To live peacefully is, at the moment, precarious.
Ransom was present when the Hrossa carrying three bundles, bodies, one of whom was that of Hyoi. Two men were present, Devine and Weston. Hyoi’s brother said he had been killed with a ‘coward’s weapon’, calling him a ‘great poet’. Oyarsa and asked ‘why have you killed my hnay’. The criminals showed by their abusive comments what they thought of the inhabitants of Malacandra. They insulted Oyarsa by producing necklaces and other baubles to try and bribe them, so that they should do as the criminals said, otherwise they would shoot the inhabitants. The Malacandrians laughed. Ransom was mortified, and ashamed to be associated with such ignorant men from his own planet. There was more abuse before Oyarsa said they would be deported. Ransom was given the choice of remaining in Malacandra, or of returning to earth in the space-ship with the criminals. He chose to return. The travellers arrived back on earth to the noise of ‘pattering rain’, which Ransom relished eventually found refreshment , a pint of bitter.
Lewis informs us that Ransom was ill for several months, and that when he recovered, he found himself ‘in considerable doubt’ as to whether what he remembered had really occurred! So here we have an ambiguous ending, but one similar to other stories, so it comes across as a predictable ending which bores, and perhaps makes us ask if the book had any merit? Of course there are certain links with Tolkien which I have commented on. However, while reading OSP, Lewis came across as curiously detached, though he did seem a little more involved, as were we, in the episode where Hyoi is killed by criminals from Ransom’s own race. I had the sense that Tolkien’s presence was there in the writing. he was involved in what befell the characters throughout, and so ensured that we became involved and cared about the build up and the outcome of the characters we loved, and others that we hated.

Laura’s comments on OSP

Our final comments on Out of the Silent Planet now include Laura’s, here below. It is fascinating to compare all our different approaches! Chris’s comments can be found by using the ‘search’ facility on the left side of the window as they came in April, so although Eileen’s comments are still to come she has already sent some, and we have a wide range of thoughts and ideas to consider. Here are Laura’s:

OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET
Comments from Laura
As an avid reader of vintage sci-fi stories, I do not feel that this fits well within the genre mostly because there is very little scientific explanation although, to be fair, some early stories were fantastical whilst others were prophetic. There is some detail about the workings of the spaceship but the three men disembark without a thought about air – presumably Weston and Devine have already tested this. On the return journey, Weston imposes silence so that another opportunity for scientific explanation has been lost.
When describing the near invisible eldil, terminology around faster than light beings is used. Also, Oyarsa has the means to “unbody” sentient beings and made things, in particular the men’s space ship and also, movingly, the three dead hrossa in a funeral ceremony.
Lewis does describe Ransom’s fears about meeting aliens particularly contrasting his “reptile fears and insect fears” with what he actually finds. In fact, he is saved by alien monsters from Weston and Devine and from the Hnakra when the Sorns call across the lake. Ransom is also saved by Augry, a sorn, who provides him with the Malacandrian equivalent of a portable oxygen cylinder when they are travelling across mountains.
To be fair to Lewis, I’m not sure that his aim was to write a hard sci-fi novel but to get into spirituality and philosophy as soon as possible. Ransom has many internal debates about good and evil and life on Malacandra.
I found the colonisation theme a bit heavy-handed although Weston’s quite horrible views on a pure race of men dominating galaxies only reflects the totalitarian states at the time of publication (1938). Devine appears indifferent to his colleagues views but wants wealth by plundering the Martian gold, described in a kenning as sun’s blood. Both seem happy to wipe out races to achieve their aim. The attempts by Devine and Weston at communicating with the inhabitants of Malacandra are cringe making (although who doesn’t like a bit of Franglais!)
This is in direct contrast to the philologist, Ransom, who has learned the Hrossa language and is able to communicate in a standard tongue. When meeting what could be a murderous native, Ransom recognises its sounds as a language and starts thinking of how could record its grammar rules. This is a little reminiscent of Tolkien spending time with German prisoners of war and having them check his German grammar.
Ransom’s role as interpreter in the debate between Weston and Oyarsa is comic on one level as he simplifies Weston’s grand descriptions of his beliefs but the simplification also highlights the cruelty and madness of them. In some ways, Weston’s beliefs are like those of King Ar-Pharazon trying to get to the undying lands because of his fear of mortality; for Weston it is the fear of mortality for the race of supermen he wants to create. The Bent One is like Sauron, sewing the seed of defiance against Maleldil.
As we discover later, Ransom’s choice as sacrifice was stage-managed by the gods, unknown to Weston and Devine and his knowledge helps his understanding of people living on Malacandra. Also that the inhabitants of all the planets come from one source so it is probable that languages would be understood. Towards the end of the book, the god-like Oyarsa, explains that all inhabitants of the universe are copies of the creator, Maleldil which is another way of describing Lewis’ own beliefs in that man is created in God’s image.
I rather like the rather strange addition that Weston and Devine were surprised that they had left their camp in such a mess; perhaps this is a comment on invaders not worried about what wreckage they leave. Returning to Weston in particular offering trinkets to the sorns and hrossa reminds me of Europeans offering beads to North American natives – this is probably deliberate. There is a settler myth (or maybe true!) that a Dutchman bought Manhattan in 1624 for 24$ worth of beads – the natives would probably not have understood how anyone could own land as not being part of their philosophy.
In Chapter 9, Ransom describes a sorn as having a wizard-like profile – presumably the long face usually bearded. Of course devotees of Tolkien would find this a good thing – unless it’s Saruman.
Ransom learns, during the course of his travels and meetings, that no race on Malacandra rules the other which he finds surprising. They all have their own strengths eg the hrossa are knowledgeable about astronomy and can sing and make beautiful poetry. Physically they are very different. The description of Augry squatting with his knees up past his ears reminded me of the marshwiggle in C S Lewis’ Narnian story, the Silver Chair. There are similarities with Tolkien’s works. The sorns are rather like ents, shepherding other inhabitants, the pfifltriggi could be the dwarvish equivalent as a sorn states that they are likely to make things that are of no use presumably art. The Oyarsa are like the Valar trying to protect their planets. The eldila, who have a non-corporeal presence, are like the Valar or Maiar before they took on their solid forms.
Earth’s oyarsa, the Bent One, is like Lucifer and Morgoth. All of them were Maledil’s favourite but all became corrupted through jealousy and revenge. All are trapped to prevent more evil. In this context, Maleldil the Older could be seen as God and Maleldil the Younger seen as Christ.
I was taken with the description by Ransom of Weston and Devine approaching Oyarsa towards the end of the book. Ransom has gone native and can only see things as a Malacandrian and describes the two men as short and heavy bodied in contrast to the tall, sleek hrossa and the rather etiolated sorns.
The first time I read this book (too many years ago!) I remember being shocked to discover that the Earth was the Silent Planet because one can’t help being earth-centric! It is interesting that the things Ransom lists as examples that the earth cannot be the silent planet are: London, Athens, Jerusalem and Shakespeare! I was also upset by the death of Hyoi, probably because the Hrossa are described as otter like (amongst other animals) and the thought of being able to communicate with an otter was captivating. His death in this calm place was like Abel being murdered by Cain, it was such a shock.
The postscript shows that much used device in that the book is based on communication by Ransom with C S Lewis. Some of the text sounds like JRR Tolkien complaining to his publisher about all the changes the editors have made!

Lynn’s comments on the rest of OSP

With apologies for not having finished Out of the Silent Planet in one go, here are the rest of my comments on it. This coming Saturday would have been our second meeting dealing with it.

My response to the rest of OSP

Everyone’s comments on Out of the Silent Planet so far have been very interesting. Those of us who hadn’t completed our reading will hopefully manage it for this week’s ‘meeting’. These are my own comments on the rest of the book.

The theme of the book as it progresses stills seems to flirt with the concept of the development of the infant, but without so much emphasis on Freud’s psychosexual stages. Ransom is concerned with again being infantalised, and needs to redefine himself by taking part in the waterborne hunt.

The acquisition of language is handled with great attention and is connected in the story to a high degree of sensitivity of Ransom’s part. He is often horrified by the animal qualities of the hross and confused by the contrast he perceives between their animal appearance and their rationality expressed through language. He even resolves his horror of the sorn when it speaks to him. All his responses are governed by the ability of life-forms to speak and thus demonstrate some degree of rationality.

We might accept this as a comforting, if banal, statement that rationality should not be judged by appearances. And an interesting argument develops as a result of seeing the arch-humanist NOT the scientist as the person who makes productive contact with the rational life forms on the new planet. He’s not the one who wants to exploit them, and in his developmental state of fluency he is the opposite of the violent, aggressive ‘big Other’ (i.e. the dominant patriarchy encoded in the specifics of the rules of language, the acquisition of which places the speaking subject irrevocably within that domination). This ‘big Other’ is symbolised physically and temperamentally by Weston (if a bit heavy-handedly), and his use of language. This all, I think, argues for a view of the humanist/philologist as the counterbalance to the power of the symbolic order, itself symbolised by linguistic order. I’m sure this argument would have appealed to Tolkien who would have seen it in more nuanced and historical terms. I don’t know that I’m explaining this very well, but the contrast between the developing fluency of Ransom which enables his profound insights into the societies, cultures, and beliefs of the Malacandrians, is in sharp contrast to the domination and manipulation of the other two ‘earthlings’, and their particular uses of language.

Weston is aggressive, domineering and scathing when he speaks, but his refusal to engage in actual conversation, as opposed to haranguing his hearers, is also a refusal to accept that they have any right to be heard, have opinions, and participate in the patriarchal order he dominates. Devine seems more approachable but is just as nasty in the way he uses language to manipulate and obfuscate.

That’s quite enough of the Freudian/Lacanian theorising, and apologies, but I do find it very interesting, in fact it’s really the only thing that does interest me in the book. If this was heavy-handed fictionalising of fashionable theory, as I feel it was, then I found the rest of the book even more heavy-handed in its social and environmental ‘messages’, and almost wholly unappealing and unconvincing.

Sadly, Lewis reminds me of Weston, because he has so little subtlety and genuine sensitivity about his approach to, and blending of, philosophical points and fantasy. Again, I see more negative than positive comparisons between him and JRRT. But Tolkien appears to approaches language and patriarchal power in a completely different way.

On a less negative note, I did wonder if ‘Thulcandra’ exploited ‘Thul’ as in the old term Ultima Thule, indicating an unknown place, but no doubt there are other sources for this phoneme. The ‘frame-breaking’ device that delays the ending is an entertaining surprise. Overall, the story puts together two contemporary and culturally significant concepts – one popular and accessible, space fiction, and one certainly very influential, Freudian psychosexual theory. I’m tempted to be rude and say if the combination had been tackled by a better writer it would have been powerful, but the connections it makes between the subject’s entry into and place within the Freudian symbolic order and modern scientific and industrial exploitation are really fascinating. I am slightly perplexed that haven’t yet found the body of critical work that must/should have developed to deal with this.

 

Eileen’s comments on OSP

Eileen writes:

 I have found it difficult to read after Tolkien, more contrasts in places than comparisons. Regarding the name ‘Pedestrian’, I found it irritating and questioned why the author would use this device, was it to make him appear mysterious! Or to prepare us for his later unexpected journey. The author portrays him as rather forbidding and unapproachable through his actions.

 His immediate quest is to secure lodgings and a meal, without success. He blames the woman who owns the hotel for refusing him entry, even though we are told that it was almost empty. This  makes us wonder whether the fault lies with Ransom, the Pedestrian. He also harbours negative thoughts about the poor distraught woman at the cottage, who is worried about her son. She gives him directions to The Rise, where her son works at the furnaces. As he goes on his way, he judges the woman’s lack of vocabulary. This has the effect of disliking him even more.

There is also his reaction to nature. We are told that a ‘Violent yellow sunset was pouring through a rift in the clouds! but straight ahead ‘the sky was the colour of dark slate’. We are informed that the Pedestrian ‘wasted no time on the landscape’.  I feel that this is a contrast to Tolkien for whom the landscape was an abiding part of his work, at times benign, and at times threatening, but always there! and gazed at!

As Ransom continues his hurried walk towards The Rise, we are aware that the landscape is bleak,  nothing but ‘Flat fields! And a mass of darkness’. There is a link here with Ransom, forbidding, and causing uneasiness, The build up of mystery and a sense of uneasiness makes us fearful of The Rise.

The reader is not prepared for his sudden abduction (though perhaps this is what the author was building up to in his portrayal of Ransom, forbidding and seeming to lack normal human qualities).

Ransom went round the side of a large stone house. After  getting no response when he knocked, and heard  shouting. There were two men there, and a boy was struggling with one of them. This turned out to be Harry, who was refusing to go ‘in there’. One of the men, Devine, approached Ransom, and offered  a drink, and a meal. Ransom was perplexed, and suspicious, but eventually hunger and fatigue took over and he followed them into the house. Devine went to get refreshments.

The room into which he had been shown revealed a mixture of ‘luxury and squalor, the windows were shuttered. While waiting for food, Ransom came to the conclusion that he disliked Devine, ever since schooldays, his loudness! And his awful guffaw which he often used while speaking. Devine returned with a bottle of whiskey on a tray and then proceeded to get water. When Ransom had a drink, something strange began to happen to him. Devin’s words were no longer making sense. He tried to make focus on them, but gradually the room faded from his sight. We realise of course that Ransom has been drugged!

He is now on a space_ship and about to embark on a journey that was dangerous, disconcerting, and far removed from his comfort zone. Here there are some comparisons with Tolkien’s characters. Bilbo was more or less forced out of his home and home comforts by Gandalf and the Dwarves, to embark on a quest to help find the Dwarves’ treasure, without having a clear idea of the direction. Here there is also contrast, for as Ransom is on his own, a victim of abduction, Bilbo is leading many dwarves, both to safety and to recover what was due to them.

Another comparison  to do with dangerous quests is that of Frodo who, aided by

Sam, sets out on an unknown journey to return the ring to where it originated from, to rid themselves and others of its corruption. Frodo suffered many hardships and was badly wounded in fulfilling his task. And there is the instance when Gollum very nearly changed for the better, when Frodo showed him pity and didn’t kill him.

Throughout the journey through space, Ransom was able to gaze at the beautiful night sky, through the skylight and to appreciate their wonder. He also beheld a very large moon. He found out that this very large disc was, in fact, the earth! Through almost nonstop questioning, much to the others’ annoyance, he found out that they were journeying to a planet called Malacandra which was beautiful. Through observations,  questions and logic, Ransom kept himself sane. The victim is regaining some control, also of course he continues to admire the millions of stars, and to absorb their beauty, twinkling against a black sky. I think this continual appreciation of the stars is a link with Tolkien whose characters often depended on their light, and that of the moon to guide them in their journey.

As the space ship starts to descend, nearing the destination, the craft becomes unbearably hot, and when it landed Ransom felt cold. We are then told that when

he looked around him his first impression was of a bright pale world, a watercolour world out of a child’s paint box. He saw blue water, a purple mass in the distance, he observed strange shapes of whitish green, too jagged and irregular for buildings.

While the abductors were focused what they perceived to be danger, their captive made a dash for it, and ran for miles. (It comes as a surprise that Ransom took the initiative and escaped when he perceived the opportunity. Also, he is no longer a victim, but a man taking control). And now he was running through purple shadow between the stems of a forest of the huge plants.

Here, I think is another link with Tolkien and his many characters. Forests featured a lot throughout Tolkien’s writings, and they helped the characters in their travels. They provided shelter, shade, safety, and were often breathtaking to observe, and it was known at that time that many trees had empathy, one with another.

Ransom is observing the huge plants, like a forest, and also the vivid colours of the landscape in the island, the curious blueness of the water, the purple mass, the whitish green of the jagged mountain like features. He observes the curious perpendicular shapes of some occupants, and the similar shapes in some of the landscape. He is now interested in life growing around him, and so has become a more interesting person, but the most fascinating thing about him is how he embraces learning, and teaching a new language through gestures and phonetics. I think this is another link with Tolkien who loved languages, the origins and the evolution, the roots of ancient languages, which are often contained or hidden in today’s English grammar and literature.

I have read through the blogs, and I wouldn’t have thought of the comparison with Frankenstein, but it makes sense ,except that the abductors were evil. Your take on mythology was interesting too, Lynn, and also at times the difficulty in comparisons give the evil behaviour towards Harry, and the evil experiments they were pursuing.

I didn’t read any of the blogs till after I had completed my own. There are a few points I want to make to explain my previous blog. I was more focused on the psychological a aspect of Ransom’s behaviour so I didn’t go into too much detail on the evil abductors.

I began by linking this to Bilbo, being more or less thrust into an adventure, and coming through it as a more rounded Hobbit ( no pun intended), and I pointed out other comparisons, but I concentrated on how Ransom was changing  as his need for survival was foremost as he was now on a quest to save himself.