Sailing to Byzantium: Library Edition

by Robert Silverberg, Tom Parker (Narrator)

Their hotel was beautifully situated with a view of the Palace of Hadrian, the Temple of Poseidon, and the royal lodge of Mark Antony. It looked like the past, on Earth. But times had changed, and there were ghosts and chimeras and phantasies everywhere.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasy, Fiction, Audiobook, Novella, Time Travel

Audio Cassette

First published February 1, 1985

About the author

There are many authors in the database with this name.

Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.

Reviews

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Silverberg’s 1985 collection of six award winning novellas ranks high on a list of excellent publications for this Grandmaster of the genre. His mastery of this short medium is akin to Ursula K. LeGuin.

Silverberg’s magnificent title novella, “Sailing to Byzantium” reminded me of his 1966 novel Son of Man (which I did not get or like) but done much better; in both he had an excellent concept, also reminiscent of Poul Anderson’s oddly misunderstood Harvest of Stars.

“Thomas the Proclaimer” is a theologically based account of a futuristic John the Baptist, coming to herald a new age, but told with Silverberg’s quirky charm.

“Born with the Dead” is a Bradburyesque, somewhat disturbing story about a future where a dying person can elect to be “rekindled” and begin again, in a life related to, but distinctly different from the life they lived before.

“Homefaring” is one of his most original stories … hell one of THE most original stories I’ve ever read. Part H.G. Wells, part Philip K. Dick and ALL Silverberg, this is a lobster story, yes a lobster story, that must be read to be believed. Silverberg pulls it off.

“We are for the Dark” is another theologically based story where, Philip K. Dickian like, Silverberg blends elements of organized religion with a far flung space colonization musing.

In Robert Silverberg’s 1970 novel Downward to the Earth, Silverberg pays tribute to Joseph Conrad’s signature novella Heart of Darkness. In “The Secret Sharer” Silverberg reboots Conrad’s short story about a secret relationship between a vessel’s captain and a stowaway.

[James Field · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Silverberg is another prolific sci-fi author that I didn't know about until I read one of his short stories in an anthology. Again, I wonder what I have been missing all these years. Eager to read more of Silverberg's works, I bought Sailing to Byzantium, which includes six of his novellas. All of them were great.

The style of writing is as engaging and competent as Asimov's, but Silverberg's sci-fi isn't as hard as Asimov's and his plots are so out of this world I wonder if he takes drugs!

I'll be reading more of Robert Silverberg's books.

[Nikola Pavlovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ima nesto kod ovog Roberta Silverberga, nesto tako jednostavno a tako zarazno.
Pise sa tolikom lakocom!

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Sailing to Byzantium, winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novella in 1986, Silverberg weaves a poetic and gripping tale about a man from 1984 called Phillips who mysteriously finds himself in the 50th century. The people in this future epoch (called citizens) do not age and amuse themselves by recreating great historical cities, such as Alexandria, Chang-an and Tumbuctoo, and even mythical ones, such as Asgard. The cities are populated by temporaries, creatures who resemble and seemingly act like human beings, but are nothing more than zombie-like ‘props’ designed to enhance the illusion of grand, inhabited cities. Phillips is in love with Goia, a citizen, and follows her everywhere as they travel from city to city, enjoying all the magnificence and splendour they have to offer.

When they move on to Chang-an, he notices that Goia is starting to show signs of aging. That night they both attend a banquet and afterwards Goia suddenly disappears without giving Phillips any explanation as to why. As Phillips desperately goes in search of her, he starts to question why he was brought to the 50th century and what the point is of this utopian illusion.

There is a great twist at one point, which really keeps you turning the pages. Sailing to Byzantium is a SF love story that is beautifully written and explores some interesting themes, such as mortality, one’s sense of belonging and the nature of reality. Recommended.

[Akemi G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the first story, Sailing to Byzantium. The prose is elegant, and I like the ending, too. A few times during the reading, I had a sneaking suspicion that the plot might be quite predictable, and in part, it was, but I still like it. I love how the namesake poem by William Butler Yeats is used throughout the story. And it's a good love story. I'd say this is one of the best stories I've read this year.

The book contains 5 other stories:
Thomas the Proclaimer
Born With the Dead
Homefaring
We Are For the Dark
The Secret Sharer

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a classic Silverberg novella which I have been planning to read for a very long time. It’s a sad but beautiful story of a man from 1984 who has been pulled into the world of the fiftieth century—a strange place where people spend their lives sightseeing recreated wonderous cities of the past. He has fallen in love, but the woman he is in love with abandons and hides from him leaving him to determine the problem that has grown between them and find a way to bring hope to two lives in the far future. It’s really a lovely tale.

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title novella, Sailing to Byzantium, is PKD like, question your reality, in concept. Wrapped in a neat little wonder inspiring, beautifully crafted tale by Silverberg. Lovely through and through!

[George K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read the story "Sailing to Byzantium".

"Αρμενίζοντας για το Βυζάντιο", εκδόσεις Alien.

Πρόκειται για μια αρκετά ενδιαφέρουσα και πρωτότυπη νουβέλα, μείγμα φαντασίας και επιστημονικής φαντασίας. Ο Τσαρλς Φίλιπς είναι άνθρωπος του εικοστού αιώνα, που βρέθηκε ξαφνικά στον πεντηκοστό, σε μια Γη εντελώς διαφορετική από την δική του, όπου το φυσικό περιβάλλον έχει για τα καλά αλλοιωθεί και η γεωγραφία εντελώς αλλαχτεί. Μόνο πέντε πόλεις υπάρχουν ταυτόχρονα, πόλεις από διάφορες εποχές, οι οποίες δημιουργούνται με σκοπό την διασκέδαση και την ψυχαγωγία, θα έλεγε κανείς, των λιγοστών κατοίκων της Γης, και μετά από λίγο παίρνουν την θέση τους άλλες πέντε πόλεις, και πάει λέγοντας. Ο Φίλιπς είναι κάτι σαν επισκέπτης, ο οποίος συνήθισε τον περίεργο τούτο κόσμο...

Τραβηγμένη η κεντρική ιδέα, όμως σίγουρα όμορφη. Φυσικά δεν υπάρχει ο χρόνος και ο χώρος για εξηγήσεις και απαντήσεις σε καίρια ερωτήματα, όμως μου άρεσε η όλη αίσθηση, η κοσμοπλασία, η ατμόσφαιρα και η γραφή, η οποία ήταν ωραία και ευκολοδιάβαστη. Με λίγα λόγια η νουβέλα αυτή βασίζεται περισσότερο στην πρωτοτυπία της κεντρικής ιδέας, στις περιγραφές των διάφορων τοπίων και στην ξεκούραστη γραφή, παρά στην πλοκή αυτή καθαυτή. Ο Σίλβερμπεργκ θα μπορούσε σίγουρα να επεκτείνει την νουβέλα σ'ένα μυθιστόρημα με τριπλάσιες σελίδες, για μεγαλύτερη εκβάθυνση σε χαρακτήρες και κοσμοπλασία, και με περισσότερες εξηγήσεις για σημαντικά ζητήματα της ιστορίας. Πάντως πέρασα καλά. (7/10)

[Jon Von · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's always an odd feeling when you revisit an old favorite to find it hasn't aged quite as well as you'd like. The fact that I can more clearly see the sexism in this story is interesting; although I do quite like that it has a sort of "male/female" dynamic. It is a story about a pursuer, a man chasing a woman who is afraid of commitment across a fantastical future landscape. I still think it's a romantic story, and likely a personal one, a metaphorical love story more about the realities of marriage than starstruck desire.

One of the reasons I had initially loved this one was the setting. A far future 50th century seemingly gone mad in some way. A set of 5 massive cities, a rotating cast of ancient Rome, futuristic cities, lost worlds, and all time in between. Worlds populated with millions of artificial people play elaborate games and offer endless pleasures. It's a world of plenty so bountiful, life has taken on a sort of pointlessness. And two lovers, feeling lost, negotiate their identity and uncertain futures.

It's sort of simple and perhaps too abstract. The climactic reveal that a woman is afraid of her partner seeing her age feels like a weird choice but I can also appreciate it's chosen for simplicity. It's not quite as clever as I remembered, but there is a sort of naive sweetness to it; a well-meaning husband's love letter, a reminder of the unique experiences of the sexes.

[Dalibor Dado Ivanovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ovdje su stvarno najjace price od Silverberga, medju kojima meni Plovidba za Bizant i Sa kim dijelis tajne su stvarno vrh. Homefaring je zanimljiva prica o covjeku ciji su um poslali daleko u buducnost u tijelo jastoga (zvuci glupavo, al stvarno je zanimljivo). Thomas i Mi smo za tamu su onako teoloski filozofske price.

[Josh Hedgepeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5-5 star (closer to 5, I think)

This might be the first book (or novella technically) that I've loved this year. I really didn't expect this, but I'm very happy for it.

Imagine a far future where society lives in prehistoric cities, recreated for the joy of the populous. Except, you are not a member of this society, you are member of the past (our present), plucked from your time and forced to live, more as an artifact for their enjoyment than an actual person.

The book is under 100 pages, and I wish it was much longer. Nevertheless, what's there really packs a punch. I was very satisfied with the way the world was created, and the rules slowly divulged to the reader (there is a bit more than what I've described here).

[Oziel Bispo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine você acordar no século L, onde existem apenas 4,5 milhões de pessoas, apenas 5 cidades temporárias , que vão sendo substituídas de tempos em tempos, onde há inúmeros tipos de pessoas, robôs, habitantes temporários !? É nesse mundo que acorda um dia Charles! Solidão, paixão, surpresas é o que ele vai descobrindo com o passar do tempo ali, muitas surpresas!!

Uma história magnífica de Silverberg, me prendeu completamente!!  Simplesmente incrível.!!

[jaroiva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zdá se, jako by se cestovatel časem projížděl po uměle vybudovaném světě. Ale ono je to nakonec možná trochu jinak...
Možná je víc v hlavě čtenáře, než na papíře. Otázky, které autor předkládá, jsou spíš filozofického rázu. Ač čistá sci-fi, při čtení se to tak nejeví.

[Raphael]

https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comm...

[Paul Medlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice twist as you think this is another story from Silverberg about time ravel

[Ευθυμία Δεσποτάκη · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ακόμα μια φορά προσπαθώ με ανοιχτό μυαλό να απολαύσω τον Σίλβερμπεργκ. Ακόμα μια φορά επιβεβαιώνεται η άποψή μου ότι είναι ο πιο βαρετός συγγραφέας εφ που έχω διαβάσει ποτέ. Τελειώνω τα βιβλία του μόνο και μόνο γιατί είναι μικροσκοπικά (των 100 σελίδων) κι επίσης επειδή η ιστορία που περιγράφουν είναι καταπληκτική. Εξ ου και τα 4 αστέρια, παρά τη βαρεμάρα που με δέρνει.

[Ayn Bland · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun take on the fish-out-of-water time traveler trope.

[Tim Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites novellas ever, I read it years ago in an anthology, back in the 1980s when it first came out, and was excited to listen to it read again. I was pleased it was even better than I remembered it and I had forgotten just enough to still have a few surprises.

The setting is one of my favorites of all time, the 50th century on Earth, all the world is reduced to five cities at any one time, each city a wholesale reconstruction of some fabled city from Earth’s past, be it Alexandria of the Ptolemies (where the story begins) or the Saharan trade city of Timbuktu or Rome of the Caesars or completely fictional cities like Asgard (but based on Norse mythology). A relatively small number of Citizens exist, who live lives of untroubled leisure as they travel from city to city, spending days, weeks, months (no one seems troubled to keep track of time) partying, resting, taking in the sights, gossiping with each other, no one actually working nor particularly curious as to the source of the lovingly crafted cities. They spend time in the Chinese imperial capital city of Chang-an for a time, then move on to 25th century New Chicago for days or even months, then go to other places as they or their friend group wish, no money required, their every need fulfilled, doing whatever they like, whether luxuriating in the city’s baths or being the guests of honor of imperial feasts or climbing the lighthouse at Alexandria or anything they like. After a time, months, maybe years, each city is eventually torn down and replaced by another city, with Rome one day being replaced by Venice or Byzantium.

Though there are relatively small number of citizens, maybe a few million at most, the cities are bustling, but not with living humans, but rather Temporaries, who look exactly like humans that would have inhabit the city and the role they are assigned, but aren’t actually human, just sentient enough to fulfill whatever role is needed to maintain the illusion of the real city, whether as dancer or lighthouse keeper or street sweeper or gladiator or servant or emperor or whatever is needed. They aren’t real people, they don’t have any real autonomy, they aren’t self-aware, and they have no capacity to do much of anything beyond their assigned role.

And then there is Charles Phillips, a man from 1984 New York, unsure of how he got to the 50th century, continually surprised by this world, at a loss to explain what happened between the 20th and 50th centuries, a man very much of his time. Most Citizens look nearly alike (to the point Charles often confuses them, as they all look like shorter than him, slim, dark-haired, Mediterranean types who never, ever age past what looks like late teens). Charles is with one of the Citizens, a woman named Goia, who starts out the book experiencing Alexandria with Charles, a woman frantic to take in as much of the sights as she can, to see everything today if at all possible, seemingly unaffected by the timeless and endless patience of the other Citizens who know there is all the time in the world to see all they want of each city.

The novella focuses on both Charles coming to understand the world he is in, how it works, are there others like him, can he return to 1984, and with understanding Goia, why she is different from the other Citizens, how much she is like him and why, and how much they both mean to each other despite the 50th century’s very casual attitudes to commitment and monogamy. I enjoyed all the loving detail of each city that Charles visits, both their striking attention to detail (surprising in that the average citizen often seems to know relatively little ancient history, though someone in the world clearly does) and their occasional anachronisms, whether a Christian church or a mosque in Ptolemaic Alexandria or in the Alexandrian zoo mythical creatures like hippogriffs and unicorns alongside the real world camels and hippos (though all equally fascinating to the Citizens as are all equally mythical). You don’t get a lot of answers as to how the world works, though some is revealed as the book progresses, especially when Charles finds more people like himself. The heart of the book though is Charles and Goia and what they mean to each other.

[Joe Kraus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: I have read just the novella, not the full collection.

Silverberg has been on my list for a while. He has a reputation as a fairly literary fellow, and – or so at least I wondered – he seemed someone who might bring a Jewish sensibility to a sci-fi scene that didn’t seem to have that much of it (Asimov aside).

This one is a modest novella, about a man who mysteriously finds himself in the 50th century, though 50th century after what no one seems to know. In this distant future, “citizens” enjoy themselves by visiting one of the no more than five extant cities of a particular moment. With their advanced technology, they revive a different ancient city every few years – though “years” seem hardly to count in a world where most are essentially immortal – whether it’s New Chicago, Asgard, Mohenjo Daro, or the titular Byzantium.

As becomes gradually clear, they are like the characters in W.B. Yeats’s “Sailing to Byzantium” before they are metamorphosed into the perpetual world of art in its sequel, “Byzantium.” They linger in cities that are works of art themselves, tended to by “temporaries,” effectively the non-player robot characters of their world.

The drama of the story, such as it is, comes when our protagonist discovers that the women he loves is afflicted with a rare condition leaving her mortal. All others will endure, but she has to pluck grey hairs and eventually leaves him for fear of his disliking her as old.

Overall, this seems to me classic silver age sci-fi (and without anything that suggests that Jewish sensibility). It asks a thoughtful question – how will we relate to art in a future when we have met all our bodily needs – and it stages an elaborately imagined world in which to answer it.

I like the premise, but I miss what subsequent generations of writers now take as a necessary component: characters who feel as if they are somehow human. [SPOILER: when we learn that Charles, known often as Char-les, is actually just a replica of his true self – that he is more or less software loaded into this distant future with all his knowledge of our time intact – it’s not a surprise. Instead, it seems to confirm the sense I’ve had of him all along as someone constructed to fit the situation rather than someone with sufficient individuality to drive that story forward.]

In the end, this hews almost too closely to the Yeats’s poem. They head to where they can gather into the “artifice of eternity.” For Yeats, that meant understanding his death as leaving him the disembodied voice of the poems he’d written – and, for all of my long and vexed reading of Yeats, I still find that compelling. Here, for Silverberg, it’s a clever conceit but not ultimately a fulfilling one.

[Karl Schaeffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written book of Silverberg novellas. Stretched my mind. Found some of the stories hard to read primary due to the way of interpreted the stories thru the lens of our current life. "Thomas the Proclaimer", set as a Y2K story talks about the breakdown of organized religion into fringe sects and cults that eat away at the fabric of society. Reminds me too much of today's white evangelical nationalists and QAnon-ers. Things don't end well. "Sailing the Byyzantium", the namesake novella of the anthology presents a depressing future of humanity. Humanity is at a narcissistic point in it's existence with a kind of "is that all there is" type tone. I enjoyed the lobster story. I also enjoyed Siverberg's intro's to the stories where he explained where his head was at when he wrote them. Kind of a look behind the curtain.

[Kevin Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite Silverberg to date. A soulful, melancholic work with a moving ending that really works for me, perhaps because its views on life and on the construction of meaning parallel my own. A well-crafted novella, its component parts thoughtfully balanced and complementary, each plot element is also a development in the protagonist's understanding of time, identity, value, and human happiness. Although this work succumbs to some of the clichés of utopian fiction (e.g., utopian ennui), Silverberg has, in my opinion, made some wise authorial choices, in particular, his choice to showcase imperfect characters uncharacteristic of the utopian society in question, precisely the kinds of characters agreeable to our jaded, cynical, mortal-all-too-mortal gaze.

[Xabi1990 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Le tengo en una d esas ediciones dobles de la Editorial Robel que no encuentro por aquí.

7/10 en 2006. Media de los 30 libros leídos del autor : 6/10

Leí mucho a Silverberg de chaval. Junto a joyas como "Tiempo de mutantes" o "El hombre en el laberinto" (o incluso la saga e Majipur) tiene libros normalitos o malos-malos. Este está bien.

En el futuro visitan el pasado (sí, una vez más). Y hay amores y manipulaciones en ese pasado que producen (o no) las famosas paradojas temporales.

Le dejo en tres estrellas porque es la media del autor y cuatro me parecen muchas para cómo está escrito.

[Andra · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Sailing to Byzantium" is an odd novella and not one I can say I immensely enjoyed. Sometimes these older sci-fi authors have this strange idea about the future - that if man could live without having to work and provide for themselves, all we would want is leisure. That we would lounge around all day, have feasts and orgies, and never pursue anything with greater meaning or depth. Wells has expressed similar predictions about the future and maybe it's a sign of their era, but I find the notion pretty silly. I didn't particularly like any of the characters presented and the world felt at odds with itself sometimes. It wasn't bad but not particularly good either.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine short novel set in the 50th C. In essence a love story, something SF generally does not do well or frequently. In Silverberg's hands the relationship between a man displaced from 1980's New York and a woman from the far future is the crux of the novel. The exotic setting makes it fun to read and provides an opportunity for an unexpected, poignant, plot twist. I really enjoyed this book, and it holds up well for a 40 year old genre novel.

[Shaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 2013 collection contains six novellas published in the 1970s and 1980s and I hadn't read any of them before. There is something a bit melancholy about all of them though they explore many different themes and ideas. My favourite is probably the titular Sailing to Byzantium.

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread. One of my favorites from Silverberg’s 1980s period. Rich in detail and observation, with smooth prose and acute insight.

[Ayn Bland]

A fun take on the fish-out-of-water time traveler trope.

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 5 out of 5]

A man from the 20th century wakes up in the 50th century where the population has recreated various cities of the past including Alexandria complete with people. Most humans are now immortal and their every whim is satisfied. Apparently this includes knowing down old cities and building new ones (from the past) as authentically as possible. It's like a moving feast... only something is wrong. The man from the 20th century has fallen in love with the woman from the 50th and all she can think to do is to run.

Any modesty issues? Well... there was a lot of sex and nakedness in the story. They didn't go into a lot of detail but clearly it happened... without benefit of marriage.

Great story. The ending was forced but still very good. I'd read this book again.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Novellas

Six novellas by Robert Silverburg. The Secret Sharer and Sailing to Byzantium, Homefaring, included. Highly recommended. One of the best writers of the 20th century writing in any genre

[Lana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sailing to Byzantium

This was well enough written; it just didn’t appeal to me. I finished it because one of the reviews said it was novella length and got better in the second half. For me, it didn’t.