Downward to the Earth (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Robert Silverberg
- First Published: 1970
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Science fiction—alien civilization
- Time of Work: The distant future
- Setting: The planet Belzagor
- Genres: Long fiction, Science fiction
- Subjects: Colonialism, Future, Other worlds, Metamorphosis or transmogrification
- Locales: Fictional planets
The Plot
Earthling Edmund Gundersen returns as a tourist to the planet Belzagor. It had been a colony of Earth known as Holman’s World, and Gundersen had been its administrator, but it was relinquished to the dominant indigenous species, elephant-like creatures known as “nildoror” (singular, “nildor”). The nildoror have no written language, but they have a culture. They undergo rebirth and identify themselves by how many births they have had. They coexisted with the earthlings and allowed themselves to be used as beasts of burden. They share the planet with the...
[The entire page is 1001 words long]
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