Dying Inside

This novel is the internal angst of a telepath. He describes his ability as a separate identity, one which is dying away as he ages. No science or reason is given, and this is barely science fiction, but it is interesting, short, and hard to put down.

One interesting contrast is another telepath who considers this ability part of himself - how would he deal with it going away? These sorts of questions come up frequently for the reader, connecting to the ponderings of the main character. Through flashbacks he describes a rough life, with guilt and paranoia often mentioned. I'm reminded of the bedraggled Kzin Telepath from Star Trek the Animated Series.

Our main character is also a bit of literary snob, at one point thinking of his computer programmer girlfriend as "you had trouble distinguishing Lord Jim from Lucky Jim". Coincidentally I am reading Lucky Jim at the moment, but this and other references would be lost on less literary readers.

Is it good? It was nominated for SF awards for 1972, and is now a Masterwork and included on many "best of" lists. Was that just for portraying telepathy? No, I think there's more than that. This novel is mostly timeless, and I really enjoyed it.