In the far future, Earth is a worn-out backwater and humanity is spread across the galaxy on worlds that began as colonies, but now feel like home, each with its own long history of a thousand years or more, and each with its own unique culture. One of the strangest is on Borthan, where the founding settlers established the Covenant, which teaches that the self is to be despised, and forbids anyone to reveal his innermost thoughts or feelings to another. On Borthan, the filthiest obscenities imaginable are the words “I” and “me.” For the heinous crime of “self-baring,” apostates have always paid with exile or death, but after his eyes are opened by a visitor from Earth, Kinnall Darival, prince of Salla, risks everything to teach his people the real meaning of being human.
With a new introduction by the author, and the first-ever map of Borthan, this classic, out of print since 1992, is a fantastic new addition to the Orb imprint.
A Time of Changes
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"Robert Silverberg's versatile, skeptical intelligence controls a lavish and splendid imagination. A Time of Changes is a canny fable of freedom and the ecstatic communion of souls."--Ursula K. Le Guin
"No matter if Silverberg is dealing with material that is practically straight fiction, or going way into the future . . . his is the hand of a master of his craft and imagination."--Los Angeles Times on A Time of Changes
About the Author
A SFWA Grand Master and the winner of five Hugo Awards and five Nebula Awards, ROBERT SILVERBERG author of the bestselling Majipoor series and dozens of other books, is one of the giants of science fiction and fantasy. He lives in Oakland, California, with his wife, writer Karen Haber.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hallucinogenic drug to loosen up closed society?,
By
This review is from: A Time of Changes (Paperback)
The author's 2008 introduction to this 1971 SF novel indicates that it was written as he was working through his decision to move from the staid East Coast to swinging California at the height of the countercultural movement. Set on a planet settled by colonists from a mostly-destroyed Earth, the culture there is closed and bureaucratic and apparently unchanged for thousands of years. The main character, Kinnall Darival, is a man from the ruling elite who is exiled from his own kingdom, but after some adventures he easily takes on a leading role in a nearby kingdom. The society reminded me of Asian cultures, where people refer to themselves as "one" rather than "I", and are generally extremely reticient to reveal anything about their inner lives even to family members. Still, everyone there has the benefit of the confessional and both a bondsister and brother to whom it is socially acceptable to be more emotionally open. Written in the first person, Darival describes what has led him to experiment with a mind-altering drug and write a book designed to change his society. I found his motivations less than convincing, and the similarity between the society of Borthan and that of the U.S. in the 60s remote. The writing was great, and the Darival's personality was complex; he was no hero and possessed no deep insights into his culture. The book is absorbing and interesting, but I think that the author's claim that it reflects the dynamic of the 60s did not help me to understand it. At the end, however, I wanted very much to know how that culture was going to change (if it was at all) because of Darival's actions or writings.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Story,
By M (Washington DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Time of Changes (Paperback)
I wasn't around for the 60s and I don't remember anything from the 70s--being only an infant during the glorious years of the Carter Administration. So I can't claim to have "been there" when the country was turned on its head and flower-child values became a part of America's social fabric. However, I have suffered through college lectures from people who don't seem to realize that they are walking stereotypes and I have had a taste of that period's philosophy and art. Generally speaking, it's a taste I don't care for--like a pungent cheese with little seeds of unknown origin embedded in it. The two exceptions to my general disdain for the cultural and intellectual products of the 60s and 70s are music and science fiction literature. The 1960s and 1970s were a golden age for science fiction and Robert Silverberg's 1971 Nebula Award-winning novel A Time of Changes is one of those novels that distinguishes itself as both a product of its troubled times and a timeless work of art that can be enjoyed by anyone--even people like me who probably would have voted for Nixon. A Time of Changes takes place millennia in the future during a time in which humans have colonized extra-solar planets. One of those colonies is established on a planet called Borthan by members of a religious sect that follow a set of theological guidelines called the Covenant. The Covenant requires one to wall off both heart and mind from others. This denial of self is intended to prevent individuals from placing their personal burdens on others and it is such a fundamental element of life on the planet's northern continent, Velada Borthan, that the inhabitants have banished first-person pronouns (I, me, myself, mine, etc.) from their vocabulary. Use of a first-person pronoun is considered a terrible breach of manners and can even lead to a charge of "self-bearing," which is the ultimate sin among the people of Velada Borthan--a sin that can have both social and legal consequences. Not everyone on Velada Borthan cherishes the Covenant. However, few have the courage to resist and still fewer have the resources to make their resistance anything more than a personal act of defiance. Then along comes a flawed hero named, Kinnall Darival. Kinnall is a prince from a province called Salla. As the younger son of Salla's prime septarch (i.e. king), Kinnall has little chance of becoming septarch himself and chooses to depart his home province upon his father's death. He wanders Velada Borthan for years before making a home in the continent's southern province. It is there that he makes contact with a man from Earth who challenges Kinnall's assumptions about his world and encourages him to try a drug that breaks down the barriers between human minds. The intimacy that Kinnall experiences during his telepathic experience changes him and leads him to become a prophet of self-bearing, or rather self-sharing as he calls it. A Time of Changes is a wonderfully simple story that deals artfully with a variety of complex issues. Although the book focuses on the question of what is the source of love and how to create a happy society, it also forces the reader to consider the question of what responsibilities we have to those who care for us and what motivates a person to become a revolutionary. One of Siverberg's great accomplishments is that the narrative is constructed in a such a way that reasonable people can disagree with the implications of Kinnall's transformation from restless bureacrat to self-bearing messiah. The Kinnall character is presented in a sympathetic light, but is hardly air-brushed. We see Kinnall as strong, courageous, inquisitive, and introspective. However, we also see him as arrogant, destructively selfish at times, as well as oscillating between total self-confidence and paralyzing indecision. In other words, Kinnall is portrayed as a human being, albeit a remarkable one, and is totally convincing as a social revolutionary. One of the greatest weaknesses of the book is that there is no effective counter to the protagonist. The opponents of self-bearing are protrayed as brain-washed victims. Silverberg comes close to creating a worthy counterpoint to Kinnall with Noim, Kinnall's "bond-brother" who rejects Kinnall's teachings and clings to the Covenant. Unfortunately, Silverberg discredits Noim by suggesting that his opposition to Kennall is rooted in a self-loathing that is a product of Velada Borthan's twisted society. It is impossible not to think of A Time of Changes as part of a larger body of science fiction works that deal with the conflict between individualism and communitarianism. However, Silverberg's book sets itself apart from novels like Ayn Rand's classic Anthem, because it offers a much more complex analysis of what it means to promote the interests of the individual. As in Anthem, the residents of Velada Borthan do not speak in the first-person. However, unlike in Anthem, the cure for denial of self is not to assert one's independence from one's community, but rather to forge a more intimate connection with others to the point of mentally merging with them. For Rand, collectivism and individualism are two very distinct things and their moral value is easily discerned. The former is bad the latter is good. For Silverberg, the lines that separate the two are blurry, with moral truth being somewhere between the two archetypal ends of the spectrum. For this reason, the message of the book is refreshing, if not entirely convincing. The notion that human intimacy is necessary to have trust and love seems like a no-brainer, but the argument that total intimacy is the best means of creating a peaceful, happy society seems like a naive product hippie idealism. Indeed, the whole notion of using mind-altering drugs to expand one's ability to understand and perceive the surrounding world seems a little quaint, while the contention that totally dropping our defenses and allowing others into our minds to study our innermost thoughts is more than a little disturbing. Because there is no serious effort by the author to make the opponents of self-bearing into anything other than pitiable figures who will never know true happiness the book only affords one-side of the story. However, it does not harm the narrative as much as one might expect, because Kinnall's behavior is described in such brutally honest detail that it is possible to see him as either a martyr or a drug-crazed fool despite the lack of an effective philosophical rival. The pacing of the book is rather good, although a few sections could have benefited from some trimming. There is enough adventure and intrigue in the story to keep the reader engaged and entertained, but the book's deeper mission is always apparent. The prose is generally excellent, although at first it can be difficult to determine when the author is being serious and when he is being facetious. For example... "Bulging muscles and a hairy hide do not a skilled lover make, nor is a massive genital member such as mine any guarantee of ecstasy..." Later on you can laugh with the author, rather than at him, but at first you'll wonder if you're reading a great work of science fiction or simply a juvenile pulp novel. Indeed, there were points early in the book where I could not help but picture Kinnall as Will Ferrell offering me "tickets to the gun show" and bragging about his "pubic mane." Good stories should always entertain and the best stories will teach you something about yourself and the world around you. By that criteria, Robert Silverberg's A Time of Changes is a great story. I can't say I agree with the message of the book, which struck me as a troubling tale of how self-repression can be replaced with self-annihilation, but it did challenge me and force me to engage in a little introspection. If you're looking for epic space battles, a large cast of complex characters, or a story that deals with hard science fiction themes then A Time of Changes is not for you. However, if you are looking for a science fiction novel that provides an in-depth character study, a fascinating and very personal exploration of an alien world, as well as a story that delves into perennial questions, such as what does it mean to love one's self and to love others, then A Time for Changes will not disappoint. This review came from the website Drink Your Kanar!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Uninspiring,
By wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (TOP 500 REVIEWER)
This review is from: A Time of Changes (Paperback)
Silverberg starts with a premise that's been used before, notably in Ayn Rand's Anthem: a society in which it's distasteful, even criminal to speak in the first person, to offer anything uniquely your own. And, as in Anthem, the protagonist (Kinnall Darival) breaks through that taboo and is hunted down as an enemy of the state.Despite similarities, this book develops in wholly different ways and for different reasons. Rand's hero fights the stagnation of a political system to gain intellectual and emotional freedom. Darival, on the other hand, seeks to break through the isolation implicit in being unable to say "I love you," or anything else in the first person. Where there's no "I" there's no "we" - every man is an island. Rand's story assumes technological innovation as a driving force; Silverberg uses longing for personal contanct, and echoes 1960s' drug culture. The endings differ, too: Rand's personal triumph versus the more ambiguous ending of this book. To my mind, though, both books suffer the same flaw: although they ban "I", they allow "you." Anyone can discuss me, even with me, except for me myself. I can discuss anyone else, even directly with that person, but that person can't. It's as if there were a roomful of people, where each one is prohibited from mentioning something obvious to all the others. For one person it might be chairs, lamps for another, and so on for each individual, resulting in odd circumlocutions that no one else needs to use, except when dealing with their own unique linguistic lack. I've enjoyed much of Silverberg's work, with his richly drawn cultures and believable characters. This one just doesn't do it for me, though. -- wiredweird
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