Dying Inside

Rating:
Summary: Dying Inside, A Forgotten Masterpiece on Alienation
Review: "Dying Inside," by Robert Silverberg, is an amazing masterpiece on the subject of alienation which, unfortunately, seems to have fallen out of the public consciousness in the 1990's. David Selig is a telepath who is losing his power. He is also losing his only source of feedback for human emotion and real contact with other human beings. Reduced to hacking out term papers for otherwise engaged Columbia University students, Selig's superhuman powers serve only his prurient, voyeuristic interests. Selig has never realized the potential of his power and his regrets are underscored by his constant referral to T.S. Eliot's masterpiece of modern anti-heroic poetry, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Although he is becoming trapped within himself, Selig has a reconciliation with his normal sister and his fading power, which is ultimately affirmative and uplifting. Silverberg won the Hugo Award for "Dying Inside" and the book secured his place as a master of modern fiction. Although Selig is superhuman, he is really Everyman, trying to define himself in a vast and confusing world. His story is a personal and painful, yet rewarding, trip into the human conscience. While exploring basic questions from the entire range of man's emotional experience, "Dying Inside" remains grounded in the eternal modern question of the consequences of action, inaction and the value of human existence. In interviews, Silverberg has revealed how emotionally draining it was to write this book. His personal sacrifice should be rewarded with a periodic reprinting of this powerful and urgent portrait.

Rating:
Summary: Dying Inside, A Forgotten Masterpiece on Alienation
Review: "Dying Inside," by Robert Silverberg, is an amazing masterpiece on the subject of alienation which, unfortunately, seems to have fallen out of the public consciousness in the 1990's. David Selig is a telepath who is losing his power. He is also losing his only source of feedback for human emotion and real contact with other human beings. Reduced to hacking out term papers for otherwise engaged Columbia University students, Selig's superhuman powers serve only his prurient, voyeuristic interests. Selig has never realized the potential of his power and his regrets are underscored by his constant referral to T.S. Eliot's masterpiece of modern anti-heroic poetry, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Although he is becoming trapped within himself, Selig has a reconciliation with his normal sister and his fading power, which is ultimately affirmative and uplifting. Silverberg won the Hugo Award for "Dying Inside" and the book secured his place as a master of modern fiction. Although Selig is superhuman, he is really Everyman, trying to define himself in a vast and confusing world. His story is a personal and painful, yet rewarding, trip into the human conscience. While exploring basic questions from the entire range of man's emotional experience, "Dying Inside" remains grounded in the eternal modern question of the consequences of action, inaction and the value of human existence. In interviews, Silverberg has revealed how emotionally draining it was to write this book. His personal sacrifice should be rewarded with a periodic reprinting of this powerful and urgent portrait.

Rating:
Summary: 1 of the BEST SF novels of the 70s
Review: Along with THE BOOK OF SKULLS and DOWNWARD TO THE EARTH, this is 1 of Silverberg's very best novels, & 1 of the finest science fiction novels of the 70s. An intimate portrait of a telepath losing his powers, the book Dscribes the depression of that loss, as well as the exaltation of David Selig's gift. The brilliant writing U can almost take 4 granted -- it's Silverberg. What's really stunning is the painfully up-close, intimate, personal portrait U'll get of Selig & the people in his life. It's so vivid, indelible -- U'll feel like U've met this person. There's even a happy ending. It makes 4 an amazing, rewarding mind-movie. An all-time classic -- the fact that it didn't win either a Hugo or a Nebula Award (which both went to Isaac Asimov's 2nd-rate THE GODS THEMSELVES) is 1 of the major lapses of R time.

Rating:
Summary: Out of print? WHY?
Review: Bear with me briefly while I go on a bit of a rant (part one of it at least) here, this book here represents only a very small part of what may be one of the greatest single spurts of output science fiction or the literary world has ever known. You see, during the seventies, Mr Silverberg came up with no less than thirteen masterworks of science fiction, not a sequel or connected book in the lot, each one a completely unique and searing study of people and the possibilities of science fiction as a whole. Once I heard about these, I knew that I had to get as many as I could and so I go to find them and lo and behold, how many do I find in print. Exactly none gentle reader. None at all, and the horrifying part is that at least two of these are Hugo winners (Time of Changes and the book I'll be reviewing in a moment). Why is this? What is this? Oh well, more on that as I chug along with the four classic period books that I own. This is the first one I read here, Dying Inside in case you've forgotten and it simply made my mouth drop open. The story is one that we're partly familiar with, man has great powers, uses them in a silly fashion and then realizes that he's losing them. Flowers for Algernon is another gem on this theme but in a lot of ways David Selig is even more of an innocent than poor Charley. No matter how many women he beds, no matter how many minds he reads and lives he lives vicariously, no matter how much he can shield himself with his armor of cynicism, inside is a man crying for the release of his power so he can be a normal man and yet he's desperately afraid of what will happen to him if he loses it because it has defined him and made him who is his entire life, he fears that instead of becoming a normal man, he will become even less than the rest of us. And Silverberg portrays this all and lets us into the head of this tormented man with pointed, searing prose, with a focus and poetry that is rarely seen in his work and an intensity that is rarely seen anywhere. You may not like David Selig and you may not agree with him but you will know him more intimately than almost anyone else by the time you close the pages on this all too brief book. The thing that to me is the most poignant is the closing to the book (hint: stop reading if you don't want an even vague idea of how it ends) with David having lost his powers and considering his place in the world, he has to start all over again, and a lesser writer would have gone the easy way and given us the hint of a new love in his life, or some ray of hope. But David has to start over and just like the rest of us, he's unsure and cautiously hopeful but unsure nonetheless. In the end he's more like the rest of us, both before and after, than either him or everyone else would care to admit.

Rating:
Summary: The Science Fiction Novel of Character
Review: Here Silverburg achieves what many thought possible a science fiction novel of character. The novel is told in non-linear structure and often swithces between 1st and 3rd person veiw. It could have easily become a mess but Silverburg manages to make it work by using the non-linear plot to reveal character and makes the 3rd person seem as if the narrator is talking about himself in the 3rd.

Rating:
Summary: A Funny, Clever Look of a Guy Losing His Psychic Ability
Review: I first read this book over 20 years, and it has still stayed with me. Silverberg is a genius - he wrote this piece, set in Manhattan in the late 1960's, about a guy who was always able to read people's minds, and who benfitted greatly from his ability. Then - whammo - for no reason - he begins losing this central part of his existence. Nowadays, many are writing serious tomes about psychic ability, but Silverberg was showing how one guy loses it, and it is hysterically funny. One of the best pieces is about how he makes a living - writing term papers for students - and how even this is falling apart. The author also does a clever job of showing how the main character met women by using his ability to read minds, but how his relationships always somehow "fell apart". Anyway, if you want to read a clever, very funny, sendup of a schlemiel who happens to have an unusual talent, this is a good book to read. And, just like some of the other reviews, PLEASE someone put this book back in print!

Rating:
Summary: Worth finding...
Review: I have read almost all of Silverberg's novels written before 1980, and believe that "Dying Inside" is his best. It is unfortunate that it is out of print, but one can find it with a bit of effort. My daughter found a used copy in a small bookstore in NYC -- I have since re-read the book and found it even more poignant than the first time I read it. Readers not interested in science fiction should take the plunge into the genre with this book, as it explores the psychological aspects of alienation that can result from possessing a rare quality (or affliction). The main character of the story, David Selig, struggles with his relationships with others because of his ability to know exactly what they are thinking, feeling, etc. He learns that even his parents aren't always loving despite what they say. His unique loneliness is heartbreaking. Take the time to find this book. You may conclude that it is one of the most powerful science fiction novels ever written.

Rating:
Summary: Worth finding...
Review: I have read almost all of Silverberg's novels written before 1980, and believe that "Dying Inside" is his best. It is unfortunate that it is out of print, but one can find it with a bit of effort. My daughter found a used copy in a small bookstore in NYC -- I have since re-read the book and found it even more poignant than the first time I read it. Readers not interested in science fiction should take the plunge into the genre with this book, as it explores the psychological aspects of alienation that can result from possessing a rare quality (or affliction). The main character of the story, David Selig, struggles with his relationships with others because of his ability to know exactly what they are thinking, feeling, etc. He learns that even his parents aren't always loving despite what they say. His unique loneliness is heartbreaking. Take the time to find this book. You may conclude that it is one of the most powerful science fiction novels ever written.

Rating:
Summary: Classic novel about telepathy
Review: Not sure what else I can add that others haven't mentioned in their reviews, but I just wanted to be sure another 5-star review was out there. This is an amazing, sad book, just one of a whole series of thought-provoking novels Silverberg was turning out one after another in an amazing burst of creativity during the late 60s and early 70s. I was struck by the squalor and pettiness of Silverberg's narrator. I can't think of a much more lowly way to make a living than churning out term papers for college students. And this is a man who can read minds! He hasn't taken this gift and used it for any real purpose, whether for the good of mankind or to make a couple of bucks in Las Vegas. And now that the power is deserting him, he hasn't really learned anything from his past mistakes or come to grips with how he's alienated those around him. A great sci-fi parable of lost/squandered potential that anyone can identify with.

Rating:
Summary: A lost classic - we need a reprint!
Review: Robert Selig, a man born with the ability to read minds, tells his life story as his telepathic powers fade away in his middle age. Selig's struggle to cope with the loss of his power reaches the level of existential angst. Touches on themes of mid-life crisis, isolation, communication, love, loss, and death. Silverberg's exploration of telepathy is insightful, awe-inspiring and surprisingly emotional. Set in 1970s New York, the novel also contains some intriguing autobiographical elements. Silverberg's very readable prose is filled with lots of neat vintage 1960s and 1970s slang. Full of metaphysical yearning. Deeply moving and, ultimately, life-affirming.