[The planet is covered, so far as Ransom can at first see, by a sweet-water ocean, which is dotted with floating rafts of vegetation. These rafts resemble islands, to the extent of having plant and animal life upon them, including a kind of dragon-like creature encountered by Ransom early in his visit. However, as the rafts have no geologic foundations, they are in a constant state of motion. The planets sole observable geological feature is a mountain called the Fixed Land. Ransom soon meets the Queen of the planet, whose name is later revealed to be Tinidril; she is a cheerful being who soon accepts him as a friend. Unlike the inhabitants of Mars in Out of the Silent Planet, she resembles a human in physical appearance with the exception of her skin color, green; this is said to be the preferred form assumed by sentient creatures as a result of the manifestation of Maleldil, the second person of God, in human form. She and the King of the planet, who is largely unseen until the end, are the only human inhabitants and are the Eve and Adam of their world. They live on the floating raft-islands and are forbidden to sleep on the Fixed Land.] wikipedia about Perelandra (1943) [Lewiss description of Perelandras environment and rotation period is, of course, inconsistent with the actual conditions on Venus, but astronomical observation at the time of writing of the novel had not yet positively determined this to be the case. A Venus largely or wholly covered by a worldwide ocean was a common theme in science fiction works of the time—a logical, though eventually proven erroneous, inference from the planets thick cloud cover that it had constant rainfall and ubiquitous oceans.]
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 23:02:52 +0000