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Shadrach in the furnace of Robert Silverberg

Robert Silverberg, Shadrach in the furnace, Urania Collection 095, December 2010, p.. 375, € 5.50

The 8 September 1976, the Great Helmsman ended his earthly existence in the arms of one of his many "friends." It is no coincidence that the great Robert Silverberg (1935-living) to give prints Analog August and October of that year, the story of Shadrach Mordecai, personal physician to Mao II Genghis Khan IV. We are in 2012 and the organic degeneration, a disease that affects the human body by destroying it, left in the hands of Genghis II Mao IV the fate of the world, and became the capital Ulan Bator, while the affected people are dying from the disease, with only who has access all'antidoto escapes, the dictator tries to live eternally changing parts of his body (as, indeed even the Great Helmsman, sick of Lou Gehrig's disease had attempted to do, including acupuncture, traditional medicine and pretty girls) in preparation for various projects through the "exchange" the souls of all the Avatar Project (to say the cinema today did not invent anything).

death and immortality are one of the obsessions of Silverberg, one of the "grand old men" survivors in the world of science fiction, author of some of the most important works in the history of science fiction (think night Ali, 1969; Dying inside, the second trip in the desert holidays, all published in 1972; Love in the time of the dead , 1974; Man stochastic , 1975), and of which Giuseppe Lippi track to end a brief but decisive part. But with interest thanatological Silverberg has always considered science fiction as a political weapon, and again drawing of a dark and personal future, which (with some ambiguity) will remedy Shadrach, in direct and constant contact with Mao, through a very sophisticated system to help monitor their conditions, will find a way to influence his decisions (which most hospital policies) acting on his health.

We are in the seventies and the American public that novels come off significantly from the average of the time (and today), large space psychology, twists but drowning in the middle of the plot, good feelings (political and generalized) and excessive didacticism period are the backbone of this dystopia. Together, of course, a shift away from tradition and a beautiful series of reflections on death.

Francis Emery