Downward to the Earth

By: Robert Silverberg

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

A tale of transcendence, Downward to the Earth is a remarkable novel from one of the most imaginative minds in science fiction.

Edmund Gunderson—former Terran governor of the colony world of Belzagor—returns eight years after the planet has gained independence, drawn back for reasons he can’t quite explain. Things have changed significantly since he left, and he plays his part well—slightly pompous former government official—for the tourists he encounters on the way down.

But this is more than a simple sight-seeing visit. As Gunderson comes face-to-face with the consequences of his former attitudes and actions, he finds himself on a journey—both physical and spiritual—to the legendary mountain of rebirth.

©1969, 1970 Agberg, Ltd. (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Gorgeous story and writing style

Silverberg is a gorgeous stylist, creating a story with sophisticated social conscience and baroque characterization and themes. Drawing on Kipling and Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Downward to the Earth weaves a quest story on a lush planet with soulful natives and multifaceted creatures. Considered one of the best science fiction novels, this reader was absorbed and saturated.

Echoes and influences

I read this decades ago and enjoyed it, in part because I appreciated the resonances and bits of homage to Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness.' Gunderson, a Marlowe stand-in, is the source of a moral and thematic twist at the end that I found deeply satisfying.

"Downward to the Earth" feels a little like a spiritual descendant of Blish's 'A Case of Conscience,' published a decade earlier. And I can't help but believe that this brooding Silverberg classic provided a little DNA for later works as varied as Card's 'Speaker for the Dead' and VanDerMeer's 'Annihilation.'

This holds up remarkably after more than half a century. Silverberg's best is very good indeed.

Bronson Pinchot was perfect for this, and performed perfectly.

I may need to scoop up some more audio Silverberg work. By the way, he's one of the last representatives of the exciting, New Wave-inflected SF generation of the thrilling 60s and '70s.