For those of you interested in C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength), James Heiser recently posted a new review of Sanford Schwartz’s book, C.S. Lewis on the Final Frontier.  Here is an excerpt:

Lewis’ “Space Trilogy” — Out of the Silent Planet (1938), Perelandra (1943) and That Hideous Strength (1945) — was written for a more mature audience than that which is addressed in the Narnia tales, but these books have rarely received the scholarly attention they so richly deserve. Schwartz’s book, C. S. Lewis on the Final Frontier: Science and the Supernatural in the Space Trilogy, offers a worthy correction to this deficit. Schwartz provides careful attention to the internal structure of each book, but even more importantly, he relates the development of Lewis’ thought to his study of science and philosophy — both ancient and modern — and the implications of modern currents in human thought for the spiritual future of our species.

Schwartz’s study is based on three premises: First, a shared “internal configuration” to all three works, second, “significant changes in the representation of the modern evolutionary model as the series proceeds,” and, third, Lewis’ Augustinian view that “bad things are good things perverted.” The significance of these premises, which Schwartz proceeds to demonstrate with sufficient scholarship, is quite significant to understanding the entirety of the “Space Trilogy.”