Born with the Dead
- Form
- Novella
- Year
- 1974
Publication history
- 1974: Born with the Dead, Random House Hard cover book, 267 pp.
- 1974: Fantasy & Science Fiction April 1974, Magazine, 162 pp.
- 1975: The Best Science Fiction of the Year Vol. 4, Ballantine Mass market paperback
- 1975: Born with the Dead, Vintage Mass market paperback, 257 pp.
- 1975: Nebula Award Stories 10, Harper & Row Hard cover book
- 1977: Born with the Dead, Coronet Mass market paperback, 219 pp.
- 1978: The Best of Robert Silverberg Volume 2, Gregg Hard cover book
- 1978: Born with the Dead, Gollancz Hard cover book, 267 pp.
- 1979: Born with the Dead, Berkley Mass market paperback, 242 pp.
- 1979: Mit den Toten geboren, Heyne , in German as Mit den Toten geboren
- 1979: Signaux du silence, Casterman Mass market paperback, 242 pp., in French as Né avec les morts
- 1980: The Arbor House Treasury of Great Science Fiction Short Novels, Random House Trade paperback, 768 pp.
- 1981: Science Fiction Hall of Fame [UK] Volume 4, Gollancz Hard cover book
- 1984: Born with the Dead, Bantam Mass market paperback, 246 pp.
- 1986: Die Mysterien von Belzagor/Schadrach im Feuerofen/Mit den Toten geboren, Heyne Mass market paperback, in German as Mit den Toten geboren
- 1988: Born with the Dead/The Saliva Tree, Tor Mass market paperback, 183 pp.
- 1988: The Masks of Time/Born with the Dead/Dying Inside, Bantam Mass market paperback, 561 pp.
- 1989: Worlds Imagined,
- 1991: L'Appel des ténèbres, Denol Mass market paperback, 320 pp., in French as Né avec les morts
- 1992: The Mammoth Book of Fantastic Science Fiction - Short Novels of the 1970s, Robinson Mass market paperback
- 1998: Voyage au bout de l'esprit, Omnibus Mass market paperback, 904 pp., in French as Né avec les morts
- 1999: L'Appel des ténèbres, Denol Mass market paperback, 316 pp., in French as Né avec les morts
- 2000: Fictionwise, Fictionwise On-line
- 2001: Born with the Dead, Peanut Press On-line
- 2004: Phases of the Moon, iBooks Trade paperback, 623 pp.
Blurb
(None on file)
Comments
This story was written for a special Silverberg issue of F&SF and won the Nebula Award for best novella, 1975.
In the 1990s, doctors have discovered how to rekindle
dead people, re-animating the bodies and minds. But the deads
are different, aloof, unconcerned with the matters of warms
— those still alive — and mostly keep to the Cold Towns. Jorge Klein finds that he cannot let go of his dead wife Sybille, and seeks her out obsessively, following her around the globe. This is just not done, but Jorge can't stop himself.
One interesting scene involves an African preserve set aside for vacationing deads, where they must leave the native animals alone and hunt instead genetically recreated extinct species — aurochs, ground sloth, quagga, passenger pigeon, dodo. Many aspects of the situation are explored, including the attitudes people of different cultures have towards death. Definitely one of the high points of Silverberg's career and the culmination of his intense and intimate
writing of the 1970s.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to Science Fiction has a number of listings dealing with Born with the Dead
.
Other resources
(None on file)