Downward to the Earth
★★★★★
Gundersen returns to the decolonised planet Belzagor, wrestling with his prejudices towards the native elephantine Nildoror whom he treated as little more than animals while he was administrator. He embarks on a journey of self-discovery with his Nildororian travelling companion, heading to the pilgrimage site of the aliens’ mysterious rebirth ceremony.
Along the way we visit the few humans left behind, manning decaying outposts scattered through the jungle. There’s a nihilism to these sad vignettes of the people who wouldn’t leave but who also have no future in this world. Stylistically, Silverberg is strong on the body horror, blurring the line between the human and the ecology as the physical and biological remnants of humanity are reabsorbed into the jungle.
Silverberg elegantly calls out the arrogance of using one’s own cultural norms as the only yardstick of civilisation and the assumption that a society without technology is an inferior, even non-sentient, culture. Clear parallels are implied with our own colonial history and treatment of ‘backwards’ natives.
For Gundersen, this is a pilgrimage of atonement and self-sacrifice as he wrestles with his guilt, ennui, and loneliness - familiar themes for Silverberg echoing The Book of Skulls, which I read last year. The climax and reveal, while not unexpected, is nonetheless very satisfying.
About this book
Downward to the Earth by Robert Silverberg (1935) , first published in 1969.
Genres: science fiction
Nominated for: Locus Award for Best Novel (1971) .
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