Mike Bliley: Space Trilogy 2

The Power of the Philologist

            To be completely honest, until this class I knew not of the term “philologist.” What it did, what it meant, what skills it required, nothing. And I guess part of the reason that I pose this question is because I still can’t conceive the adeptness required of a philologist. That being said, Out of the Silent Planet, probably my favorite of the books we read for the whole class, bugged me in one regard: exactly how skilled at language was Ransom?

            Consider two times in the text. The first scene is when Ransom runs into the hrossa for the first time. After one single noise from the hrossa, Ransom knew he had a language. After three sounds, Ransom figured out the name of its species. After four, he could tell the hrossa’s name for Malacandra. After five sounds he deduced that the language has both suffixes and prefixes. Next, consider how long it took for him to fully understand the language. At the end of chapter 10, Ransom knows barely three words, and at the first dialogue of chapter 11, he can have full conversations with the hrossa. And in the three pages preceding the dialogue, the only indication of time passage is that the events happen “a few weeks later.” Really? How exactly is it that Ransom can just have these conversations? I’m sorry, maybe this is me just being cynical…I just feel as if this was the easy way out for Lewis, assuming that 1) these creatures have a verbal, structured, language system, 2) this structure is incredibly similar in form to our own, and 3) Ransom can pick it up in a few weeks. Is that just a nod at how brilliant Ransom is? Or perhaps it speaks to the discipline of philologists (again, I can’t say I’ve ever met one)? I just felt like that jump was made a bit too quickly. I was really enjoying the non-verbal communication, as I felt like it highlighted and mirrored the struggle that Ransom felt adapting to a foreign planet…And then I turned the page, and all of a sudden “oh that’s cool, he can fully communicate with them now.” How did you all interpret that situation, was it too abrupt? Or is Ransom just a genius?