From: marotta@hannah.enet.DEC.COM ("Hurt not the Earth, neither the sea, nor the trees.   17-Dec-1992 1046", Revelations 7:3)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Silverberg's "Face of the Waters"
Date: 17 Dec 92 16:46:02 GMT

Robert Silverberg's  "Face  of  the Waters" is perhaps the very best science
fiction  book  I  have ever read. I have not seen much of Silverberg's work,
just  "Lord  Valentine's Castle." I was not expecting too much from this new
book.  Needless  to  say,  my  delight  in  finding  such artistic depth and
complexity  in  a  science fiction novel is compounded by the fact that such
high standards are so rare in the science fiction arena.

If you  have  read  a lot of "literature," you really must read "Face of the
Waters."   This  is  Silverberg's  answer  to  Dante's  "Inferno,"  Milton's
"Paradise  Lost," and all those other masterpieces that treat the subject of
man's  search  for God. The science fiction setting puts this novel squarely
into  the  world  of modern fiction, but it contains the elements of classic
fiction: metaphor, introspection, unseen and immutable forces, and the power
of the will of the individual.

"Face of  the Waters" is cleverly set on a planet of water where humans have
colonized tiny floating islands. The humans have no contact with the rest of
the inhabited planets in the Galaxy and can never leave the planet (Hydros).
They  are limited to tools and materials from the sea, and for the most part
they  lead  simple  lives.  The main character is the doctor of one of these
island  communities,  and  his occupation allows us to share his feelings of
both  belonging  and  distance from his community. When the local alien life
forms  (who are, of course, much less the aliens than the humans, since they
evolved  on  Hydros)  force  the  humans  to leave the island, the community
becomes  fragmented  and  homeless.  They  are forced to sail (literally) to
another island.

At the  start,  the  doctor  has no emotional contacts with the other humans
except  as  his  patients.  The  most  important  people  in his life at the
beginning  of  the  voyage  are  Delagard,  the shipmaster, and Quillan, the
priest.  Now,  since  Delagard  caused  the  problems  that  resulted in the
expulsion  of  humans  from their island, and he also provides the ships and
navigation  capable  of finding another island, he is the "mover and shaker"
of  the  novel.  He  might  be  seen  as  representing  the "id" part of the
personality, while the priest represents the "super-ego". The doctor neither
likes  nor respects either of these men, but they control him in subtle ways
and help him define himself.

The other theme of this novel is the need to belong. The doctor is alone and
lacks  contact with others at the start of the novel. During the voyage, his
emotions  are  unlocked  by  the privations and losses endured by the entire
community.  He  even find contact with a woman and learns to share something
of  himself despite his lack of of a sense of self-worth and his attempts to
armor himself against caring for others.

The end  of  this  novel  is  exactly what you might expect if you have read
enough  classic  literature,  but  getting  there  is  great  fun and highly
interesting.  It  is  possible to draw parallels between this and many other
classic stories; Silverberg is truly a master of his craft.
Xref: sparky rec.arts.sf.written:16288 rec.arts.books:22559