Downward To The Earth by Robert Silverberg - A Forgotten Classic?

I recently reread 'Downward To The Earth' by Robert Silverberg and was amazed how vague and insubstantial my original memories of reading it were. I suppose it must be coming up to two decades since, but I did have it in my head it was one of his better books and I think I was right.

You see, I've read a large number of his 'classic' novels like 'The Man in The Maze', 'Nightwings', 'The Book of Skulls' and 'Dying Inside' as well as an aborted attempt at 'Lord Valentine's Castle'. But I have to say 'Downward To The Earth' is the one that stayed with me, if not in detail, then in a stamp in my brain.

What is it about? well, it's about a man called Ed Gunderson returning to the planet Belzagor where he used to work on as an administrator years ago when it was occupied by humankind. As a colonial planet, it was relinquished to the sentient natives with a few humans staying behind and a rundown hotel in place for a few visiting tourists.

Ed has a certain amount of guilt in his system as to how he treated the native 'first' species, the Nildoror, a triple tusked elephant analogue who have their own language and culture, albeit a culture very alien to our own. They don't build cities, they don't read or write or have any interest in technology and they are not shy in eating loudly and savagely or even copulating in front of visiting humans. Initially Ed has told himself he was guilty of regarding them as intelligent animals and wants to address that, however when he has a drunken argument with an old colleague he is surprised and ashamed to discover that deep down his views haven't changed and his prejudices remain.

He begins a journey or pilgrimage with a group of Nildoror to attend what they call 'rebirth'. He slowly becomes close to his dedicated mount, Srin'gahar who fences with him about Earth's native elephants and the question of whether they have a soul and should not be treated like 'animals'. Ed has no proof and cannot defeat the Nildoror's argument but equally cannot attest elephants have souls either. The Nildoror and the second species Sulidoror, (A clawed, hairy biped analogue) are the only creatures on the planet that attest to having a soul. As such the vegetarian Nildoror are quite happy to let the Sulidoror hunt animals and eat their meat and even have their own ritual of sin purification that involved killing animals. While Ed initially believes the Nildoror are too noble to 'lower' themselves to killing, he realises he is wrong, and he is ascribing some sort of higher human values to them that don't apply.

As his journey continues Ed meets other humans, two that are dying after being invaded by some sort of parasite, the whole process seeming to be about them becoming part of the planet. Another human, Kurtz, has undergone the Nildoror rebirth himself and become grotesquely disfigured and mentally damaged. There is this sense that the book is about the process of yielding to the planet, to the alien until it is not alien, to giving up being human in the search for something, if not better, then different. Ed comes to understand himself, and the Nildoror as well as discovering the secret of rebirth and how the Nildoror transform into Sulidoror and vice versa, enjoying near immortality.

In the end Ed undergoes his own rebirth, and understands that rebirth allows him to share a connection with others. None that are reborn are alone, they are linked through a psychic connection that allows them to grow and understand themselves and each other.

So what do I think? The book has aged remarkably well considering it was published in 1970, staying away from scientific concepts that might have dated it. There are no screens, or data transfers, or gadgets, there is only the progressive travel through a beautiful changing landscape. There is also the concept of someone seeking enlightenment, of being open to new ideas and accepting of their own faults and failures in an effort to overcome them. That in itself is quite uplifting, Ed is not a bad man but he has made mistakes and he wishes to atone for them.

Some minor issues with how women are portrayed. There is only one female character, Seena, and of course she is beautiful and willing to sleep with the main character very quickly even after an eight years absence and the fact that she seems to be married to two other men at the same time. It is fair to say that Seena is not as well developed as perhaps she could be, and serves the purpose of reminding the reader that Ed is a real man with a man's needs.

All in all I enjoyed the book, and enjoyed the idea of an alien culture that challenges my concept of what my culture is all about and what it really means. Perhaps in another decade I will read 'Downward To The Earth' and get something new from it again.