“Less sympathetic to our aims was Dr. C. S. Lewis, author of two of the very few works of space fiction that can be classed as literature—Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra. Both of these fine books contained attacks on scientists in general, and astronauts in particular, which aroused my ire. I was especially incensed by a passage in Perelandra referring to ‘little Interplanetary Societies and Rocketry Clubs’...
“An extensive correspondence with Dr. Lewis led to a meeting in a famous Oxford pub, the Eastgate...Needless to say, neither side converted the other. But a fine time was had by all, and when, some hours later, we emerged a little unsteadily from the Eastgate, Dr. Lewis’ parting words were, ‘I’m sure you’re very wicked people—but how dull it would be if everyone was good.’”
—Arthur C. Clarke, “Armchair Astronauts,” Holiday magazine, 1966