

Hopping Through Time with Ursula K. Le Guin - wrongc0ntinent
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ursula-k-le-guin-on-amazon-and-the-limitations-of-dystopia_55df771ee4b0b7a963386367

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adriand
I love some of Le Guin's works, although I found that some are much better
than others. I would definitely recommend reading The Left Hand Of Darkness, I
think it stands out among her best.

The follow-up, The Dispossessed, I thought was much weaker and less
interesting and in fact I couldn't even finish it, which was odd given how
much I loved Darkness. But in general she's a more intelligent, perceptive,
engaging and literary writer than many of her (usually male) science fiction
counterparts, whose work is often barely readable (flimsy characters, lousy
dialogue) or is reminiscent of what you'd expect if you asked a teenage boy to
write the plot to a science fiction action movie (e.g. much of Neal
Stephenson's work).

I read The Telling quite recently and enjoyed it as well. The Earthsea fantasy
series is also excellent.

~~~
djur
The Dispossessed is one of my favorite books; different strokes, and all that.

I thought her recent book Lavinia was superb.

~~~
adriand
> The Dispossessed is one of my favorite books; different strokes, and all
> that.

Interesting. Did you like The Left Hand Of Darkness as well? How do you feel
they compare?

I will check out Lavinia - thanks for the reco.

~~~
foobarbecue
The Dispossessed has always been one of my favorites, and I was incredibly
disappointed when I read LHoD! I found LHoD sort of boring. So much focus on
this gender-bending stuff which I found pointless... I actually thought there
was a lot in there that was downright mysogenistic. In fact, I made a list of
quotes a few years ago when I read it. These are mostly said by the narrator,
who's supposed to come from some elevated society where they've got everything
figured out. I've been waiting for someone to explain to me how exactly U. K.
LG is a feminist, maybe the article above will help, going to read now. Here's
that list... please read:
[http://files.aaroncurt.is/lhodGender.txt](http://files.aaroncurt.is/lhodGender.txt)

~~~
djur
Genly Ai, the book's narrator, is pretty sexist and arrogant. He is repulsed
and confused by the way gender works on the planet. He observes what he sees
like an anthropologist from an "enlightened" Earth society, comparing their
folkways to his own and finding them insufficient. The other Hainish Cycle
books make it pretty clear that the Ekumen is not a utopia, and Genly's faith
in it is naive. By the end, Genly has a deeper understanding of Gethenian
society, contrasted with his earlier arrogance.

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vessenes
As a young man, Wizard of Earthsea was my favorite book, and it remains one of
my all-time favorite series. Focus on language, toying with both fantasy and
coming-of-age tropes, and mortality as something to be fought and, ultimately
accepted and perhaps desired. It's truly great.

~~~
kedean
Wizard of Earthesea always stuck out to me as one of the few coming of age
stories in which the main character severely fucks up. He makes a HUGE
mistake, owns up to it, and deals with it. Nobody kisses his wound and makes
it better, he betters himself. It's a story about bootstrapping life and
dealing with your problems head on, I've never read another big story that
deals with that idea. The base conflict in the book is Ged's fault and nobody
elses.

~~~
vessenes
She keeps at it in the later books. Ged's end of life is the polar opposite of
wish fulfillment fantasy, and meaningful in its own right.

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Jun8
"After all, she was raised on the hard sci-fi of male physicists and
engineers."

Not completely so! As usual in articles like these there's no mention of James
Tiptree Jr.
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Tiptree,_Jr.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Tiptree,_Jr.))
who contributed immensely to the genre of using sf as a lens to investigate
feminism, gender, and related issues. Unfortunately she's largely forgotten
now. It's interesting that Le Guin doesn't mention her more often, since it's
fairly obvious from their letters that they influenced each other very much.

I always wonder what would have happened if Sheldon had not succumbed to
depression and lived as long as Le Guin has, perhaps she would be as/more
famous.

If you have not done so, please read the stories _The Screwfly Solution_ ,
_Houston, Houston Do You Read_ and (my personal favorite) _Love is the Plan
the Plan is Death_ ([http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/love-is-the-
plan-t...](http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/love-is-the-plan-the-
plan-is-death/)). They will stay with you for a long time.

(from _The Double Life of Alice Sheldon_ ,
[http://www.tangentonline.com/articles-
columnsmenu-284/1094-j...](http://www.tangentonline.com/articles-
columnsmenu-284/1094-james-tiptree-jr-the-double-life-of-alice-b-sheldon-by-
julie-phillips))

Excerpts of the letters show two women, whose work has had a major influence
in science fiction, facing great challenges. Le Guin moved forward, with
purpose and determination, and demonstrated that being a woman, wife, and
mother didn’t mean she couldn’t make major contributions to culture and to
literature. And Sheldon rocketed towards the brink, churning out
autobiographical work such as “Painwise,” “Love Is the Plan the Plan is
Death,” and “The Women Men Don’t See.”

After her secret was revealed in 1976, ending a run of nearly nine years,
Tiptree wrote to Le Guin:

“Ursula, Ursula, I am petrified. All the friends, the sf world—will they take
it as deception? […]Will the women who mean so much to me see it all as an
evil put on? […] Well dear Starbear an old age is dead and time to begin a new
one. But I think I’m finished. Tip says goodbye to a very dear friend and all
this is hers.” Le Guin responded:

“oh strange, most strange, most wonderful, beautiful, improbable—Wie geht’s,
Schwesterlein? sorella mia, sistersoul! […]I suppose there are some who resent
being put on, but it would take an extraordinarily small soul to resent so
immense, so funny, so effective and fantastic, and ETHICAL, a put on.”

~~~
NoGravitas
"Love is the Plan the Plan is Death" is one of my absolute favorite science
fiction stories. "The Screwfly Solution" is along the same themes but harder
to take in IMO because you're less emotionally distanced from it. Tiptree was
definitely one of the best SF writers of her generation.

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lukegiuliani
"Most important skill to be a writer: Commitment". Same for composing, same
also true for entrepreneurship.

