A Sea of Faces by Robert Silverberg

"A Sea of Faces"

by Robert Silverberg

Form: Short story

Year: 1974

ID: 975

Publication history:

Comments:

The celebrated young American therapist Richard Bjornstrand commenced his experimental treatment of Miss April Lowry on the third of August, 1987. Within fifteen days the locus of disturbance had been identified, and Dr Bjornstrand had recommended consciousness-penetration treatment, a technique increasingly popular in the United States. Miss Lowry's physician was initially opposed to the suggestion, but further consultations demonstrated the potential value of such an approach, and on the nineteenth of September the entry procedures were initiated. We expect further reports from Dr Bjornstrand as the project develops.

This consciousness-penetration therapy somehow puts the therapist into the patient's mind. The mechanics of it are not explained, only the experiences Bjornstrand has in the very strange landscape (seascape, mostly) of April's psyche. The whole thing is very disorienting and interesting, and if Silverberg had gone for the obvious thrills, he could have made the patient a serial killer and the therapist a beautiful young woman and called it The Cell and made a lot of money off a movie version. But he didn't.

Other resources:

[None on record]