Robert Silverberg's Downward to the Earth

In my list of The 10 Best Science Fiction Stories About Religion, I described Robert Silverberg as "the master of contemplative SF," and his 1969 novel Downward to the Earth provides further evidence for that description. Downward is the story of Edmund Gundersen, a former colonial administrator on the planet Belzagor. There are two intelligent races on this planet—semi-bestial primates called the sulidoror and the more intelligent, elephant-like nildoror. These creatures have a complex society, but it shows few signs of what humans consider "civilization". They have no technology, no domesticated animals or cultivated food, and, for the more-intelligent nildoror, no villages or permanent abodes of any kind. When humans first came to Belzagor they seized control and exercised a presumptuous dominion over the nildoror, seeing them as little more than talking beasts. For decades, the nildoror were essentially enslaved to the humans. But gradually the nature of nildoror intelligence and society became apparent, and the human colonists gave control of the planet back to its natives.

It is now nine years after this "relinquishment," and Edmund Gundersen, who once served as a colonial official, has returned to Belzagor to learn more about the nildoror and to exorcize the demons of his past. He hopes to learn more about the natives, and particularly about their mysterious religious rituals. At some point in their lives, all nildoror make a pilgrimage to a region called "the mist country" for a cryptic "rebirth." The mist country is a forbidden zone—some sulidoror live there, but nildoror may only travel there at the time of rebirth, and humans are not allowed to enter without permission. The nildoror allow Gundersen to travel there on the condition that he bring back Cedric Cullen, a human who broke an unspecified nildoror law and has been hiding in the mist country to avoid punishment.

The story's debt to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is clear—there's even a character named Kurtz—but it's far more than a simple SFnal transposition in the vein of Robinson Crusoe on Mars. Downward is a powerful tale in its own right, a thoughtful exploration of guilt, forgiveness, and the sins colonialism.

The story centers around confessions. During an argument with a group of human tourists, Gundersen reveals the sin of his colonial career, the transgression he wishes to set right by learning about the nildoror. At the novel's end, we learn what Cullen's sin against the planet's natives. And in between the two, Gundersen meets a character whose experiences of nildoror religious rituals has rendered him incapable of confessing—but the nature of the character makes him a living confession; his sins are apparent rather than hidden. Regardless of what meaning the rebirth ceremony has for the nildoror, for Gundersen it becomes symbolic of the redemption he hopes to achieve. Silverberg is in top form in Downward to the Earth, and the novel's approach to its moral questions is unflinching. It's a story every bit as powerful as "Feast of St. Dionysius" or Dying Inside, and, though it's been largely forgotten, it's a fine example of SF at its best.

Comments

[DB Ellis]

One of my all-time favorite science fiction stories--and my favorite Silverberg story by far. Glad you've brought it to people's attention.

[d c]

Anyone have film-rights?
I haven't thought about this story in years. I'm pleased to see folks discussing the book.