Charles Walkins, un hombre condenado a navegar por las corrientes que llevan al mar de los Sargazos, recala en una isla paradisíaca poblada por seres antropomorfos. En ese lugar inhóspito, Walkins halla el Cristal de Luz con el que emprende un viaje astral: un recorrido por las profundidades del cosmos en el que tropieza con seres mitológicos, con personajes hostiles que le conducen a un extraño juicio, a un proceso en el que deberá enfrentarse a su propio pasado a través del testimonio de las personas que han sido cruciales en su vida. Se trata de un litigio en el que se examina su experiencia como partisano en Yugoslavia... Se trata, quizás, del delirio del catedrático de literatura clásica Charles Walkins, ingresado en el área de psiquiatría del Central Intake Hospital de Londres.

Noble prizes in literature to my mind seem like the book Oscars and Oscar winning films are rarely enjoyable. The same in my experience applies to Noble prize books. Occasionally however there are exceptions in both cases and this is one of them.
Some gods travel to earth to warn of an impending disaster but to exist in our reality they have to play by our rules and effectively be human. Its a bit like '12 Monkeys' were the protagonist is often unsure whether they have really been sent on a mission or whether they're simply insane.
Nothing i can say can properly describe this book. All i can say is, that its got good descriptive writing perhaps a little too descriptive for some but i thought it was good and i plan on reading it again sometime. ( )

An exploration of "inner space," Briefing for a Descent into Hell has some really nice moments. The novel centers on the recovery of a professor who has had a break from reality and remembers nothing of his previous life. His visions of shipwrecks, alien abductions, strange rituals, and celestial meetings of mythic gods hint at some Gnostic revelation that never fully arrives. In the meantime, doctors debate whether to give him shock therapy, dope him up, or kick him out of the hospital. Eventually, we find out more about the poor professor, but honestly I missed the fever dreams once they were replaced with the patchwork of his real life. The promise of the first half of the novel was never really fulfilled, and I was left feeling a little underwhelmed. It was refreshing to read Lessing's prose, which was of a quality rarely found in a science fiction novel. I especially enjoyed her use of doctors' notes, correspondence, and interior monologue to deliver the story piecemeal, but her narrative lacked something that I love about a lot of sci-fi: a thought provoking concept or theme that is clearly articulated and (often amateurishly) driven home. Briefing made me miss the propulsive plots and straightforward delivery of [author:Philip K. Dick|4764]'s [book:Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said|22584] and [book:Ubik|22590], contemporary novels that explored similar themes. While Lessing's prose is more consistently satisfying, PKD's stories were simply more interesting and immediate. Still, I'd recommend Briefing for anyone looking to read something atypical in the sci-fi genre. ( )

969, un tizio dall’aria confusa viene ritrovato sul lungotamigi in preda al delirio e all’amnesia. Ricoverato in un centro di prima accoglienza verrà assistito da due psichiatri che nel corso di un paio di mesi, grazie alle testimonianze della moglie, amici e conoscenti, risalgono alle sue generalità: si tratta del prof. Charles Watkins, insegnante a Cambridge. Questa la trama in poche parole, ma raccontare “Discesa all’inferno”, che corrisponde ad un viaggio interiore, è difficile perché, proprio come nei viaggi, andrebbe vissuto in prima persona.

I'm one of the ones who found this laborious. The first third of the book, especially, felt like a slog--a pointless slog, with no promise of anything not quite sloggy to come.

There is a hint of an interesting idea in the late-middle section that didn't end up as developed as I had anticipated, but regardless the hint and the interest were not enough to compensate for the truly laborious opening sequences.

I've tried to read Lessing before (notably The Golden Notebook) and will have to conclude that her style is just not something I appreciate. In the abstract they all sound fascinating, but when I make the effort they just don't appeal. (And they aren't too hard, so to speak--I read Georges Perec, for God's sake--they just don't go anywhere). ( )