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I love the plain-spoken poetry of her writing. She had an amazing gift for immersively describing the natural world and the day-to-day business of living. It makes her stories feel more real to me than the majority of "fantasy" literature.
A few favorite passages in here:
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1322014-the-farthest-s...
Some of them feel more real to me than most main stream lit. too. Especially The Dispossessed.
Ursula Le Guin was the daughter of anthropologists Alfred L. Kroeber and Theodora Kroeber. Her parents are best known for documenting the life of Ishi, the last member of the Yahi tribe. Kroaber Hall on the UC Berkeley campus was named after Ursula's parents.
I believe this is why Ursula Le Guin is able to write empathetic descriptions of disparate cultures. Science fiction was a medium for her explorations.
Theodora Kroeber wrote two excellent books on Ishi.
Ishi: Last of His Tribe is a fictionalized narrative of his life (told as a novel).
Ishi in Two Worlds is a non-fiction account of his life from the time he first came into contact with Alfred to his death. Covers a great deal about his people's culture as well.
I'm not a sci-fi or fantasy reader but had heard so much about "Left hand of darkness" that I gave it a try. It was just okay for me, sort of underdelivered on a great premise.
If I read one more LeGuin, which one should I take on?
"The Dispossessed" was incredibly interesting abd my favorite novel from Le Guin so far.
A Wizard of Earthsea, and then The Tombs of Atuan.
Then read the rest of the series, which are all good, it is just the first two are particularly wonderful.
If we are doing short stories I think She Unames Them is another good work at a single page. https://www.bowdoin.edu/faculty/s/smcmahon/courses/hist249/r...
I see this story as a kind of thought experiment about the way in which societies treat minority groups. There have been many societies that felt the oppression of a minority was justified, or even necessary, in exchange for the greater good of the society. This story takes that idea to its logical extreme: a perfect society, with unlimited health and happiness for all, in exchange for the complete and utter oppression and degradation of the smallest possible minority -- a minority of one. Is it still justified? The people who feel it is not are "the ones who walk away from Omelas."
> There have been many societies that felt the oppression of a minority was justified
"have been"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_inequality
Wow, that's great and horrifying.
Lathe of Heaven is short and rather lovely. Wonderful characters.
If LeGuin disappoints but you enjoy a sociological take then may I suggest Samuel R. Delaney's "Triton" and Mary Doria Russell's "The Sparrow?"
Thanks for the tips. I loved the Sparrow, read it years ago and it left an impression.
I'm almost the same; for the book you mention I really enjoyed when the main character finally grok'd the concept of one's "shadow", and I also enjoyed "The Dispossessed". Other books of hers I've read were decent but I couldn't tell you their titles unless I was holding them in my hands.
I agree on "Left hand of darkness". "The Dispossessed" really is excellent though.
It's an interesting book but I think a lot of its theses have become less groundbreaking over the years. Agree with most of the other commenters that "The Dispossessed" was better
Grab Library of America's collection of Hainish novels, volume one. In that body of work -- Rocannon's World (mindspeech, ansible, empathy), Planet of Exile (forgetting one's history), City of Illusions (divided mind), Left Hand of Darkness (ambisexuality), The Dispossessed (collectivist anarchy, invention of the ansible) -- you can see Le Guin grow as a writer, in her ambition to explore themes from anthropology and her casual brilliance in building out a coherent scifi universe.
Everyone, many thanks for the tips. I think Dispossessed and collected shorts will be on my Goodreads want-to-read shelf and I'll go from there.
"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" is very excellent and only a few pages long (under 10 if I recall correctly)
As an anecdote, I couldn't finish Left Hand of Darkness, but "Omelas" is a long time favorite short story of mine.
For me these two are like night and day, in terms of overall quality, emotional impact, and style.
The Dispossessed.
Wow, I was just reminded the Ursula Le Guin died which in turn reminded me that Diana Wynne Jones also died not too long ago. Bittersweet, but at least serves as a reminder to go and re-read a couple favorites.