Downward to the Earth

by Robert Silverberg

The planet Belzagor is predominantly jungle, populated with bizarre flora and fauna and governed by the elephant-like alien Nildoror and the bi-pedal Sulidoror.

Gunderson was last on Belzagor when it was the colonial planet Holman's World and he was an administrator. He has returned to meet old friends, his former lover Seena and the enigmatic Kurtz.

Yet Gunderson is still driven by an old guilt from the time when he prevented some Nildoror from journeying to their sacred place for the mysterious ceremony of 'rebirth'. Now he wishes to undergo the bizarre Nildor rite, to travel into the mist country for his own metamorphosis...

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Audiobook, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Aliens

173 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1969

About the author

There are many authors in the database with this name.

Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.

Reviews

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange, powerful book.

Joseph Conrad first published his masterpiece Heart of Darkness in 1899. Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola’s brilliant Vietnam War retelling of Conrad’s work was first released eighty years later in 1979.

Ten years before Coppola and seventy years after Conrad, Robert Silverberg published Downward to the Earth, his superlative tribute to Heart of Darkness.

Gunderson, akin to Marlowe and Coppola’s Willard, has returned to an alien planet “station” after that planet has been returned to its natives and Gunderson is haunted by his time there and especially of the memory of Kurtz. While this is decidedly a science fiction novel, and Silverberg makes this his own story and being inspired by Conrad, this is not a strict retelling of Heart of Darkness.

Silverberg draws a distinction between blasphemy and contrition, Kurtz is cast as a fallen angel, and there are other Christian symbols and allusions, both more subtle and more obvious. Silverberg’s tone, like Conrad's, is mature and somber. Rarely given to comic relief anyway, Downward to the Earth is one of Silverberg’s more sober works. The title comes from a quote from the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes.

One of my favorite lines from Apocalypse Now is when Martin Sheen, as Willard, says: “They were going to make me a major for this, and I wasn’t even in their f***ing army anymore.” His spiritual journey had eclipsed and made irrelevant his material purpose. So too, Silverberg’s Gunderson completes a spiritual quest that could not have been anticipated. There will be some readers who are disappointed, even offended by his summation, but it demonstrated contextual integrity.

Finally, this work also reminded me of Joe Haldeman’s 1977 novel All My Sins Remembered and for its theme of humans adapting to and being drawn to an alien world, John Varley’s Gaea trilogy.

[mark monday · Rating 4 out of 5]

gentle elephant things in the jungle; furry man-shaped things in the mist. our hero, former colonial station chief, returns to this strange planet much changed. the planet itself has changed: its residents no longer considered mere animals, beasts of burden to be used as humans see fit... they are people. a surprisingly liberal future-Earth now recognizes these beings as sentient, as does our hero. he returns to this place, full of regret for past actions, craving understanding and redemption, yearning for the intangible. he will seek to provide recompense and he will know change, a great and terrible change.

this marvelous little classic gets everything right: a beautifully detailed yet still mysterious world... a flawed protagonist striving to accomplish ambiguous yet still understandable goals... intriguing mysteries and a strange quest... aliens that feel genuinely alien... and a powerful theme running through it all: to truly understand others is to truly understand yourself; one cannot be accomplished without the other.

there are shades of Heart of Darkness here (even including a character named "Kurtz"), except turned inside-out: the darkness within man made almost inconsequential; darkness made light. i was also reminded of tales of colonial India (even including an alien character named "Srin'gahar"), the misdeeds and the culture clash and the ugliness and the beauty. looking forward, i was also reminded of Tepper's Grass, a book published many years after this one that takes one of this novel's central ideas and runs with it, in a much more horrific direction.

Silverberg usually writes about the need to understand ourselves and the yearning to transcend who we are or who we are supposed to be. physical travel that parallels inner change. and such is Downward to the Earth.

Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

ECCLESIASTES 3:21

__________

this review is a part of a longer article on Robert Silverberg posted on Shelf Inflicted.

[Książkowe Bajdurzenie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,75⭐️
Zaskakująco dobra książka. Nie spodziewałem się wariacji na temat “Jądra Ciemności”, ale to pozytywne zaskoczenie.

[M. Malmierca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Regreso a Belzagor (1969) es un buen ejemplo del talento de Robert Silberberg (1935-) para mostrar los conflictos provocados por la idiosincrasia de la especie humana. Escrito hace más de 50 años, el autor recrea un planeta imaginario donde conviven varias razas y, como cabría de esperar, la humana siempre se cree superior y desprecia lo diferente o, al menos, recela de ello.

Si de aquí parte la novela, en su desarrollo el autor nos propone cierta redención a través del protagonista, un Ulises futuro que con su viaje iniciático nos va mostrando todo lo que aún nos queda por aprender como especie. Magnifica literatura de viaje enmarcada, en este caso, en un entorno de Ciencia Ficción. Nos encontramos con insensibles megacorporaciones, un poder supremo relativamente justo a la vez que múltiples injusticias, pero Regreso a Belzagor también sobresale por sus reflexiones sobre la condición humana, el sentido de la culpa, del arrepentimiento, del intento de reparación.

Personajes bien construidos, ambientes inquietantes y diálogos logrados hacen de Regreso a Belzagor una buena novela de Ciencia Ficción y una de las mejores de Silberberg, que nos permitirá también redimirlo por otras obras menos acertadas.

Y para los más atrevidos solo falta echarle un poco de imaginación y descubrir la novela como una alegoría del mundo real: elefantes, planeta selvático, etc.

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Company, run by humans, colonized Belzagor until they were kicked out by its original inhabitants, the Nildoror. The Nildoror bear a striking resemblance to elephants. Belzagor is also home to the Sulidoror, who have a strange symbiotic relationship with the Nildoror. Now Edmund Gunderson, a former Company official, has returned to Belzagor. His return becomes a quest for a missing human that brings to mind the “Heart of Darkness”.

This book is decidedly weird, but also beautiful, mesmerizing, menacing and ultimately very positive, with a surprising payoff. I had read only one book by this author before, but now I plan to read more.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is absolutely brilliant - it represents the best of late 1960s New Wave SF, and the best of Robert Silverberg, so what more do you need to know? Normally I would sit down and write a pretty gushing review of how well it is written and what aspects of the story really resonated with me. But since two of my colleagues at Fantasy Literature have already written stellar and comprehensive reviews covering all the points I would have made, I recommend you read their reviews instead:

Kat Hooper's review:
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

Sandy Ferber's review:
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Bronson Pinchot (you know, the guy who played Balki Bartokomous in the sitcom Perfect Strangers in a long-lost universe far, far away), and he is brilliant. Go out and listen to it now.

[Izabela Górska · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 ⭐️

Stwierdzam, że jest to książka IDEALNA dla osób, chciałyby rozpocząć swoją przygodę z science fiction, bądź po prostu ciekawych bardziej przystępnych pozycji z tego gatunku. Na dodatek jest po prostu cholernie dobra.

Nie ma tutaj technologicznego żargonu i całej masy sformułowań, których nie będziecie rozumieć. Skupiamy się tutaj na odkrywaniu innego świata i żyjących w nim gatunków będącymi poniekąd odpowiednikiem człowieka na Ziemi. Tym samym zwraca się naszą uwagę na to jak bardzo ludzie lubią mieć władzę i wszystko postrzegać przez swój pryzmat, który domyślnie jest jedynym właściwym.

Pokusiłabym się nawet o stwierdzenie, że była to bardzo głęboka i miejscami filozoficzna historia o duchowości (nie tylko w sensie stricte religijnym).

[Patrycja · Rating 5 out of 5]

W tak krótkiej treści autor dał nam przestrzeń do niesamowicie wielu refleksji na temat życia i współistnienia.

——————————————————

“W dół do ziemi” to dosyć krótka powieść Roberta Silverberga, która przedstawia życie na obcej planecie - Świecie Holmana - po tym jak ludzie postanowili już ją w większości opuścić. Oczyma Edmunda Gundersona możemy przyjrzeć się z bliska życiu nildorów i sulidorów oraz poznać zwyczaje tych nieznanych nam ras.

Pod przykrywką podróży przez fikcyjną planetę, Silverberg przekazuje nam ogrom ponadczasowych treści. Dotyka między innymi problemów kolonizacji czy współegzystencji. Wywołuje także w czytelniku liczne refleksje na temat człowieczeństwa.

Jest to również poniekąd powieść drogi, w której przemianie ulega wiele różnych elementów - od głównego bohatera, przez obce gatunki, czy choćby samą planetę, a w niektórych przypadkach nawet samego czytelnika.

Książka oprócz przekazywania wartościowych treści, oferuje też pewien rodzaj dobrej rozrywki. Pozwala nam na zgłębianie wykreowanego przez autora świata i odkrywanie jego tajemnic. Bardzo podobało mi się napięcie jakie Silverberg trzymał w swojej powieści. Odpowiednie tempo i niesamowicie intrygujące uniwersum sprawiały, że zupełnie nie mogłam oderwać się od lektury. Nie pamiętam kiedy ostatni raz udało mi się skończyć książkę tak szybko.

Po lekturze “W dół do ziemi” Silverberg trafił do grona autorów, po których będę sięgać regularnie. Jestem niesamowicie ciekawa, co mnie spotka w jego kolejnych powieściach.

[Mirnes Alispahić · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great novel by Silverberg which, according to himself, he didn't like at the beginning thinking it was mediocre, but over time after all praises and accolades received, he realized that it actually is a great novel. If only James Cameron took this novel to adapt for a big screen instead giving us Avatar.
Belzagor used to be known as a Holman's World, back in the days when humans consider it one of their colonies, thinking there are no intelligent life on the planet. But just because we're ignorant to realize how intelligence comes in different forms, doesn't mean we're right. Humans are humans. Whatever they think lesser than themselves, is not worth it. History has shown it over and over again.
However, Nildoror and Sulidoror are intelligent species, even though one resembles green elephants with purple poo and others are shaggy, bipedal with snouts of a tapir.
Edmund Gundersen used to run Company's operation on the Belzagor, but he left with the company. Now, years later he's back as he feels regret for things he's done to Nildoror during his command. He seeks redemption and also, a way to discover a secret of rebirth, mysterious ritual of Nildoror. Thus he begins his journey into the mist county where Sulidoror rules and rebirth takes place only to find that secret is much more complex that he could have imagined.
Silverberg is an excellent writer and there are couple of scenes in novel that really stays with you long after you've finished. The scene when he finds two Earthlings inside ruined waystation or the one where he meets Kurtz again after all that time... Pure horror.
The only thing that is a big smear on, otherwise perfect novel, is Silverberg's treatment of Seena who is too sexualized and made almost a sex puppet, although there are beautiful passages in the encounter of Gundy and Seena which shows more of his emotions.

[Krysia o książkach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ciekawa książka zarówno pod względem kreacji świata jak i przemyśleń postkolonialnych.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Up until last week, I hadn't read Robert Silverberg's brilliant sci-fi novel "Downward to the Earth" in almost 27 years, but one scene remained as fresh in my memory as on my initial perusal: the one in which the book's protagonist, Edmund Gundersen, comes across a man and a woman lying on the floor of a deserted Company station on a distant world, their still-living bodies covered in alien fluid that is being dripped upon them by a basket-shaped organism, whilst they themselves act as gestating hosts to some parasitic larvae. This scene, perhaps an inspiration for the similar happenings in the "Alien" film of a decade later, is simply unforgettable, but as a recent rereading of the book has served to demonstrate, it is just one of many superbly rendered sequences in this great piece of work. Originally appearing as a four-part serial starting in the November 1969 issue of "Galaxy" magazine--just one of six major sci-fi novels that Silverberg saw published that year--"Downward to the Earth" made its debut in book form in 1970. A perennial fan favorite ever since, and chosen for inclusion in David Pringle's excellent overview volume "Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels," it is a work that its author has expressed only a belated appreciation for himself, in the face of near universal praise.

The book takes place in the year 2248, when Gundersen, the former administrator of Holman's World, returns to the planet eight years after Earth has relinquished all colonial claims. The planet is now called Belzagor by its two dominant life forms: the nildoror--which resemble elephants except for their green color, additional set of tusks, cranial ridges...and purple dung--and the sulidoror, 10-foot-tall, shaggy, bipedal entities with tapirlike snouts. Drawn back to Belzagor to both visit the few remaining Earthmen still on the planet and to investigate the mysterious nildoror ceremony of "rebirth," which no Earthman has ever witnessed, Gundersen, as it turns out, has a third reason for his return: a sense of guilt arising from the manner in which he had formerly treated the nildoror, patronizing them and even interfering with a group in the midst of a rebirth pilgrimage. Thus, we follow Gundersen as he travels from the steaming jungles of Belzagor's central region and up to the so-called Mist Country of its more northerly zone, encountering old friends and running across an amazing array of alien flora and fauna, and are ultimately vouchsafed a look at the truly mind-blowing, psychedelic ceremony of rebirth itself....

Like all truly superior sci-fi, "Downward to the Earth" is the sort of novel that just bursts with some imaginative idea or unexpected touch on every single page. It is a terrific feat of the imagination, wonderfully well written by Silverberg (who, at this point, had already seen around 40 novels published since his first, "Revolt on Alpha C," in 1954), and with fascinating characters, both alien and human. It is also, typical of its author, a highly literate affair, with numerous allusions to the Bible, to Dante's "Divine Comedy," to English poet Matthew Arnold's 1867 poem "Dover Beach," and to Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" (one of Gundersen's old friends on the planet, who undergoes a disastrous rebirth himself, is named Kurtz). Belzagor itself is wonderfully described by Silverberg; not only the jungles and the Mist Country, but also the mysterious Central Plateau region and the mirror-bright, crystalline wasteland known as the Sea of Dust. Perhaps best of all, however, are the descriptions of all the grotesque animals and plants to be found on Belzagor: the tiger moss, the razor shark, the monkeylike munziror, the jelly-crabs, the mobile fungoids and on and on...plus, of course, that bright-red, wall-hanging basket thing! Topography is also memorable in the novel, with the 1,600-meter-high, triple-tiered Shangri-La Falls--where Gundersen visits his old flame Seena and her body-hugging pet amoeba--and the mountain of rebirth in the Mist Country being both figurative and literal standouts. Silverberg, apparently, wrote this novel after a recent trip to East Africa, and his primary intention with his book is a laudable one: to show that the native races of a region (or, by extension, a planet) may have a LOT more on the ball, as far as intelligence and culture are concerned, than their imperialist occupiers are willing to admit. Here, the truth about the nildoror and sulidoror, as regards their cultures and how the two races are connected, comes as a real eye-opener to both Gundersen and the reader. "Gundy" is a likable protagonist, only seeking to atone for past instances of malfeasance, and he makes for a good companion as we explore this rather intimidating planet; a planet that Silverberg, through his great skill, makes us see, feel, smell, taste and hear. Pringle writes that it is sci-fi "done with feeling," and that the book is "very well described, [with] several pieces of memorable grotesquerie." I happen to love this novel, all the way to its wonderful, transcendent conclusion, in which our protagonist gets precisely what he deserves. A pity that Silverberg never chose to return to Belzagor, as he did to the world of Majipoor on so many occasions. It is a mysterious, exotic, dangerous and yet beautiful world, one that I'm sure all lovers of intelligent sci-fi will love to immerse themselves in. As you can tell, this is one of my favorite science fiction novels, and comes more than highly recommended. Just wondering, though, Mr. Silverberg...where can I purchase one of those monomolecular jungle blankets?

[Garden Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro bien escrito. El ex administrador imperial, Edmund Gundersen, regresa a Belzagor, un planeta conocido inicialmente como el planeta de Holman. Viaja con la intención de expiar los pecados que siente haber cometido contra los nativos durante el tiempo en que dirigió la colonia.

Un libro entretenido, muy fácil de leer y con buena ambientación. Tanto el clima selvático como los peligros de la jungla le otorgan un aura de misterio al relato, y la relación de los nildores con los sulidores es interesante y fundamental en el desarrollo de la novela. Lo único que no me convenció del todo fue su final, más cercano a la fantasía que a la ciencia ficción. La verdad es que esperaba algo diferente, algo más impactante, dado todo el misterio que se va generando en torno al rito del Renacimiento.

Pero, en fin, aunque las últimas páginas me dejaron frío, no puedo negar que fue un buen viaje. Me lo pasé bien, aunque esperaba otra cosa.

¡Muy recomendable!

[Aleks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spodziewałam się wynudzić na tym, a to była świetna książka! Nie jakiś mój top, ale baaardzo dobra

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This edition came with a really interesting introduction by the author himself in which he explains how he thought this was not very good when it was first published and, at first, taken aback by how well it was received. He even withdrew it after it was nominated for a Nebula award to make way for, what he thought was the better book, Tower of Glass. I have to say that I think this is one of his better efforts and certainly better than "Tower of Glass".

Silverberg also tells us how it was inspired by Rudyard Kipling and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness as well as his own trip to Africa. It is a story set on an alien world that was a former terran colony and populated by at least two sentient species. A former governor returns eight years after they gained independence, drawn back for reasons he can't quite understand. He must come to terms with himself and his own former attitudes and actions as he goes on a journey, both physically and spiritually, to the legendary mountain of rebirth.

The parallels between this world and the former European colonies on earth are obvious and the author makes no secret of it. It is well written and an engaging and pleasant read, if perhaps a little heavy handed with the point it is trying to make. It certainly feels very much of its time, both thematically and also because the conclusions reached at the end probably won't seem so startling and original as they might have done once.

But still, a solid effort and a must read for all fans Silverberg fans.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Downward to the Earth was serialized over four issues in Galaxy magazine from November 1969 through March of 1970, and then published in hardback by Doubleday and the Science Fiction Book Club (with a nifty Frank Frazetta cover that might have been more at home on a Burroughs title) later that year. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for best novel of the year, but Silverberg declined the nomination, perhaps so he wouldn't be competing against himself; his Tower of Glass was also on the ballot, though Larry Niven's Ringworld (quite rightly, in my opinion) swept the awards that year. It's a cautionary tale about colonialism with ruminations about sentience and transcendence and rebirth; it's purposefully linked thematically to Conrad's Heart of Darkness, though when I first read it the only Conrad I knew was from Roger Zelazny and all I knew about Africa was what I'd learned from reading the adventures of Kit Walker and Lord Greystoke. I enjoyed it as an adventure and then appreciated it years later as a thoughtful parable. (I thought it was much better than Tower of Glass, by the way, so what do I know?)

[Kristijan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Masterpiece!!!!!

[tomoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

ciekawe i fajne w czytaniu, ale jakoś nie odkrywcze. może kiedyś wywarło by na mnie większe wrażenie. ale też nie miałam poczucia, że jakoś bardzo się zestarzało, więc na plus.

[Ivan Lutz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Silverberg je izvrstan pisac. Jednostavan, inteligentan i maštovit.
Klasična je to kritika na cijelu „kulturu“ kolonijalizma bijelog čovjeka, a tako i osviještenje pojedinaca te njihovo iskupljenje u želji da pronađu oprost kod domicilnog stanovništva. Tako je glavni lik Gunderson, reprezentativan primjer čovjeka žustre mladosti i grješne prošlosti, te korporacijske indoktriniranosti. Nakon što su Zemljani shvatili da na planetu Belzagoru, postoje čak dvije inteligentne vrste (više inteligentni NILDORORI - koji liče po svoj vanjštini slonovima, i SULDORORI niže inteligentna biće prekrivena krznom i hodaju na dvije noge) odlučili su napustiti planet i sve što su sa sobom donijeli tijekom pokušaja kolonizacije. Nekoliko ljudi je ostalo na Belzagoru, a budući da su domicilne vrste izrazito miroljubive, suživot s njima je moguć, pa i u toliko mjeri da sa Zemlje i dalje dolaze turistički brodovi i razgledaju planet prekriven džunglom.
No, Gunderson se želi iskupiti, pa dolazi na Belzagor s ciljem da otkrije tajnu „ponovnog rođenja“ koja je skrivena u mističnim i tajnovitim maglom prekrivenim planinama gdje ljudi nikada nisu smjeli kročiti. Kroz svoje putavanje po planetu postaje mu jasno da Nildorori i Suldorori čuvaju veliku tajnu svog bitka i da su sve samo ne puke zvijeri kakvim ih je smatrao dok je bio jedan od kolonizatora.
Simpatična knjiga. Pravi mali pustolovni odmor.

[Kasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blisko moich refleksji

[Kat Hooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

After being back on Earth for eight years, Edmund Gunderson returns to the formerly colonized planet Belzagor where he used to be one of the human rulers of the two intelligent species who live there — the nildoror, who look much like elephants, and the sulidoror, who look like apes. While Gunderson was on Belzagor, he considered these species to be soulless and stupid, but now that the humans have given up their control of the planet, he realizes that he sinned against the nildoror, and he wants to cleanse his conscience by undergoing their ritual of rebirth.

When Gunderson arrives, he finds that the planet is gradually reverting back to the wild (the nildoror don’t have opposable thumbs, after all) and he marvels that the nildoror and the sulidoror are now working and living together — a practice which they did not keep when the humans ruled the planet. After he gets the nildoror’s permission to travel freely, he sets out across the planet and travels to the place of rebirth. Along the way, he encounters the beauty and the terror of that wild planet, learns more about the species that inhabit it, and begins to fully realize the evil he committed there.

If this sounds a little familiar, that’s because Robert Silverberg’s Downward to the Earth (1970) is his tribute to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1902), which explored the Belgians’ cruel colonization of the Congo. Silverberg makes his homage transparent by naming one of his characters after Conrad’s Kurtz. Like Heart of Darkness, Downward to the Earth was first serialized and later published as a novel. Also, like Heart of Darkness, Silverberg’s descriptions of the coexisting beauty and horror of Belzagor are the best parts of the book.

The title Downward to the Earth, comes from Ecclesiastes 3:21 (“Who knows that the spirit of man ascends upward and the spirit of the beast descends downward to the earth?”). Not only does Silverberg consider the question of what happens to the souls of humans and beasts, but he also asks how we should distinguish a human from a beast. Are some “beasts” more human than we are?

Downward to the Earth could be considered as Christian allegory because it beautifully illustrates the pain of guilt and loneliness, the desire for redemption, the relief of forgiveness and liberation, and the pleasure of unity with like-minded souls. There is much Christian symbolism, too, including a serpent who offers a drug which promises the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:5). Silverberg portrays the drinking of the serpent’s drug as a great sin, but the commission of this sin leads to the understanding of the need to be reborn (“through the law comes the knowledge of sin” ~Romans 3:20). The allegory eventually breaks down (as allegories usually do) when we see how the redemption is accomplished, but I enjoyed this thought-provoking aspect of the novel.

Blackstone Audio produced the version I listened to which was read by the magnificent Bronson Pinchot, one of my favorite readers. Downward to the Earth is a beautiful story and the audiobook is a great way to read it.

[Pulek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bardzo ciekawe SF, lekko podane a jednocześnie treściwe mimo niewielkiej objętości. Chętnie czytałabym dalej. Dobrze pokazana refleksja na przekonanie człowieka o jego wyższości kulturowej czy intelektualnej, które myślę, że można przełożyć na różne obszary w zależności od interpretacji, czy to dominację nad zwierzętami czy wszelkie podboje człowieka, kolonializm , niewolnictwo itd.

[Bryn Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elephant-people, misunderstood as beasts by the human empire; homages to colonialist fiction – Kipling & Conrad; an ex-oppressor’s journey out of darkness, into a slightly psychedelic light and the breakdown of species-barriers or perhaps the notion of species. Silverberg has an ear for music in his conjunction of words. Exactly why I read SF.

[Kaśka Zaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

[Dzidronka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ujęła mnie ta książka pod każdym względem. Objętościowo nie jest duża a udało jej się zmieścić dobrze zarysowany obcy świat wraz z jego mieszkańcami, którzy są wyjątkowo inni od wizji "obcych" jakie prezentuje większość książek. Mamy też bohatera, który faktycznie w trakcie historii przechodzi przemianę, który jest ciekawy i złożony. W tym wszystkim wplecionych jest wiele pytań o człowieczeństwo, o to jak ludzie to co nowe próbują zrównać do swoich standardów i wartości. W ksiazce tym "nowym" jest inna rasa, ale historia pokazuje, że tak samo traktujemy każde nowe plemię, które żyje inaczej i ktorego nie rozumiemy. Według mnie ta historia jest wspaniała i zmusza do myślenia. Pod kątem czysto rozrywkowym też zaskakuje i oferuje ciekawe rozwiązania. Na pewno jeszcze do niej wrócę.

[Love of Hopeless Causes · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are not separate from our environments, a point so often lost in the American personal-responsibility-self-help-bootstrap cultural cry for help. A powerful emotional experience in a setting that feels truly alien. Beware you who stare at the alien, the alien stares at you.

Ever think you pulled a turd from the free box, then you dust it off and find a gem? This slow boiler nearly got abandoned. Stick with it, you'll be glad you did.
Ignorance is not bliss. A planet that couldn't be truly understood or conquered was new and powerful for me. Once I got past the first twenty-five pages, it was magic.

[Atalántē · Rating 3 out of 5]

Główny bohater, kiedy tylko widzi kobietę, to zachowuje się jak taki obleśny wujek na weselu. Mam nadzieję, że inne książki autora będą trochę ciekawsze, bo ta raczej nie dowiozła, a szkoda, bo o samych nildorach mogłabym poczytać więcej. Trzeci Wymiar i dla mnie trzeci średniak/skucha, tylko okładek szkoda. 😓 3⭐

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn't read any Silverberg for about fifteen years prior to Downward to The Earth. I found it a simpler, more striking novel than I expected. The plot follows a former colonial administrator named Gundersen returning to the alien planet where he worked ten years before. He finds the place changed by regaining its independence from humans and their priorities. Gundersen is trying to understand the main intelligent species living there, the nildoror, who resemble elephants. On his quest he encounters old friends and reconsiders what he thought he knew about the nildoror.

Downward to The Earth is postcolonial scifi from 1969, in conversation with Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Silverberg named a character Kurtz so that this association would be impossible to miss. Yet it lacks Conrad's bleakness and horror (despite some moments of definite body horror). Silverberg offers the possibility of understanding and reconciliation between a group that has been oppressed and their former oppressors. However this on the precondition that the oppression has truly ended, which was not the case with real world decolonialisation. The nildoror are completely economically and culturally independent from humans, as well as being a totally different species, so the analogy is a simplified one. This doesn't make it less interesting, though.

I found the world-building vivid and compelling. I loved Silverberg's descriptions of strange alien ecosystems, which at times reminded me of Scavenger's Reign (the best animated depiction of an alien world I've ever seen). Gundersen's curiosity and ambivalence make him an effective protagonist. His complex feelings about the planet's past and present are depicted with nuance. His sense of superiority over tourists and embarrassment on their behalf is particularly notable. The difficulties he has with the nildoror language are also cleverly done. The ending is of the mystical kind that isn't unusual in 1960s sci-fi. It wasn't the strongest part of the book, but tied the plot up suitably. To me, the details of the planet were the greatest strength of Downward to The Earth. Gundersen sees them in an interesting doubled fashion: via his memories of exploiting the planet and his present quest for knowledge, possibly even redemption for past sins.

[Graham P · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really can't add much about this classic of SF. It's everything it was hyped up to be. Hearts of Darkness on an alien planet. Written with a redemptive verve that transcends its own modernity - should be up there in the shelves with Robert Louis Stevenson and Joseph Conrad. Ape creatures with claws and snouts enact in ceremonies with multi-tusked elephants who see transformation as essential to both faith and evolution. Discourse on accepting alien religion and ceremony in lieu of human bravado and industrialism. Action in the high adventure mold, where each setting is one of absolute wonder - whether the mountains of mist, or the arid plateaus where survival equates with transcendence. And surprisingly, some really gruesome body horror that outrivals Jeff VanDerMeer's Area X quartet.

(of course, the one derailment is how Silverberg embellishes the main protagonist's ex-lover. There are more descriptions of her ripened boobs than one can take seriously).

Perhaps one of the most religiously sound books on religion that doesn't once mention Christ.

[Nate · Rating 4 out of 5]

A science fiction retelling of heart of darkness.
This was a somber tale with lots of symbolism and psychedelic wackiness , there’s a twist that I saw coming from the beginning but the journey was so well written I couldn’t put it down.
This is the second silverberg book I’ve read, the first was dying inside, his best known work so I was worried it would be a letdown. It was great in a completely different way and I’ll definitely read more of his work.

[Adela · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5*