Running Through Hugo's Back Yard 15: Dying Inside

[the_archfiend]

Hugo nominee: Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg, 1973

My view: There is no doubt as to what David Selig is in this book. He's a telepath.

He's also a complete and utter wreck of a human being because of it.

This is easily one of Robert Silverberg's darkest novels (at least of the ones I've read) because he pulls absolutely no punches about Selig's many psychological shortcomings or the supposed gift of telepathy.That "gift" has helped shaped Selig into an opportunistic, ethically void grifter who is just as incapable of any sort of real emotional connection to another human being as anyone suffering from severe Asperger syndrome or full-blown autism. He's not a particularly likable protagonist as a result, but that's the point: Silverberg's ultimate message is that taking the easy way out from real human emotional give-and-take (in short, normal human interaction) is no real gift at all - it's one of the worst curses anyone can suffer in life.

Nuggety?:  Only if you're into chewing gravel.