"The Descent Into Silence"

1984 Gilbert, G[arvin] R[obert] (b. 1917). “The Descent Into Silence.” G.R. Gilbert Papers, Macmillan Brown Library, University of Canterbury. MB 957, Box 5, item 15. The manuscript consists of a list of topics and two slightly different versions of an outline of the novel rather than the full text, which correspondence indicates was badly damaged in the mail when a publisher returned it with a rejection letter.

Dystopian novel set in the 1940s after a nuclear war with New Zealand collapsing and reverting to savagery. Initially the government establishes an Office of Public Co-ordination (OPC) with powers equivalent to the government to ensure the continued functioning of New Zealand, but it fails and moves to a military base where military dictatorship is established in the surrounding area. The protagonist leaves the military area and ends up joining a group of religious tribes which is also presented in dystopian terms. The manuscript is accompanied by correspondence with Wren Green, the project leader and principal author of the New Zealand Planning Council report “New Zealand After Nuclear War”. Green agreed to read the novel and reported back to Gilbert in 1987 that it was an accurate reflection of the issues New Zealanders would face. The Aotearoa/New Zealand author’s name is most often given incorrectly as Gavin.