SOURCE: “Whose Castle?: Speculations as to the Parameters of Science Fiction,” in Essays in Arts and Sciences, Vol. IX, No. 2, August, 1980, pp. 139-43.

In the following essay, Clareson speculates on various generic distinctions of Lord Valentine's Castle.

Those who have seen the June, 1980, issue of Extrapolation already know how much I welcomed the appearance of Robert Silverberg's Lord Valentine's Castle (Harper, 1980) serialized first, in somewhat briefer form, in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. I should like to return to a consideration of that narrative, because it raises serious questions for anyone interested in the field of science fiction.¹

I imagine that many of us have recently returned from Majipoor, and I will wager that few of us will quickly forget the rich diversity of landscapes and cultures of that immense planet which Silverberg created in what has been called, variously, his epic novel and his tour-de-force...