Field of Arbol

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The Field of Arbol. Image of the Solar System annotated with the Old Solar names of the celestial bodies.

The Field of Arbol refers to the fictional Solar System used by C.S. Lewis as the setting for his Space Trilogy. While it comprises the same celestial bodies as in the real Solar System, there are significant differences in planetary geology, and history; including non-human indigenous extraterrestrial civilisations.

The Old Solar names used for the bodies in the Field of Arbol are:

[edit] Civilisations

• Sulvan - Sulva is described in That Hideous Strength, as being home to a race of extreme eugenicists. On the near side, the elite caste seems to have dispensed with organic existence altogether, by some means never clearly described; the only holdouts against this trend are an embattled minority on the far side. In the book the response of the characters to this state of affairs varies according to their status: Professor Filostrato, the dupe of the wicked N.I.C.E., considers the Sulvans "[a] great race, further advanced than we", while the Christian champion Elwin Ransom describes them as "an accursed people, full of pride and lust".

[edit] Languages

Though not as fully realised as the languages devised by Tolkien for Middle-earth; Lewis described three languages used in the Field of Arbol.

• Old Solar – also known as: Hlab-Eribol-ef-Cordi, language of the Fields of Arbol; Hressa-Hlab (erroneously), language of the hrossa; the Great Tongue; Language Herself; the language of Maleldil - spoken throughout the Field of Arbol, except in Thulcandra and Sulva.

• Surnibur – the language of the Sorns. Spoken in the Highlands of Malacandra.

• Language of the Pfifltriggi – spoken in the Great Valleys of Malacandra.

[edit] See also

The Space Trilogy

[edit] References

• David C. Downing. Planets in Peril: A Critical Study of CS Lewis's Ransom Trilogy. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1992.
• Martha C. Sammons. A Guide Through CS Lewis' Space Trilogy. Westchester, IL: Cornerstone Books, 1980.

[edit] External links

• Languages of the Out of the Silent Planet Trilogy – site discussing the languages of the Field of Arbol described in The Space Trilogy
• Malacandra.co.uk, a Wiki for CS Lewis fans.

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