Ursula Le Guin

[Incognito]

Has anybody read anything by her?

I'm under the impression that she uses her stories as vehicles for her ideas and commentaries on sociological issues.

Sounds interesting - but how does she actually read?

 

[littlemissattitude]

Has anybody read anything by her?

I'm under the impression that she uses her stories as vehicles for her ideas and commentaries on sociological issues.

Sounds interesting - but how does she actually read?

I haven't ever read any of her work - have been intending to for years, and just haven't done it. However, I wouldn't be surprised if her work is full of sociological or anthropological commentary. Her father was Alfred L. Kroeber, one of the best known and most influential anthropologists in the first half of the twentieth century. He was an anthropologist at the University of California, Berkeley and, among other things, he worked with Ishi, considered to be the last Native American of his tribe, and possibly in all of California, to have grown to manhood completely outside the influence of western culture. He also was one of the first to advocate studying history through archaeology. LeGuin's mother, Theodora Kroeber, wrote the best known book about Ishi, called "Ishi: The Last of His Tribe".

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

I've read some of her novels and a book of short stories. She can write.


Try starting with The Left Hand of Darkness or The Lathe of Heaven. Her later works seem a little stale - her concerns havent changed and the freshness with which she couches them in early stories has obviously worn off, but she is still a worthwhie writer.

My favourite short story by Le Guin is The Ones Who Walk Away from Ormelas. It pretty much sums up a lot of her ideas, too.

 

[Incognito]

Thanks for the recommendations - I've had my eye on her for some time, but she seems a little prolific. I'll watch out for those titles, and get a handle on her ideas.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

I should add The Dispossessed to that list. It's one ofher best novels. it's also considered one of the most important sf novels and has been the object of much discussion outside the sf world as well, in what they call 'literary circles'.

Her Wizards of Earthsea novels are excellent juvenile fantasy, they deal with a student wizard in a school for wizards and....sounds kinda familiar, huh? Well, these were written long before Harry Potter and are at least as good!

 

[igneouscarl]

'Left Hand of Darkness' is an excellent introduction to Le Guin. The Gethenians are definitely an interesting race of humans and the concept of ambassadors from a league of planets; the Ekumen acts a great tool for exploring the culture from an outsider’s perspective.

I think Le Guin herself acknowledged her interests in an anthropological perspective in the foreword to 'The Birthday of the World' or somewhere else I'm not 100% positive but read it somewhere. Now 'The Birthday of the World' is a real Le Guin gem, which is a collection of short stories- many of them set in the Ekumen universe.

An incredibly long and detailed analysis of 'Left Hand of Darkness' can be found at http://www.angelfire.com/ny/gaybooks/lefthandofdarkness.html

Carl

 

[Princess Ivy]

Have only read earthsea, thanks for the recomendations.

 

[rune]

I tried reading the Earthsea series some years ago and couldnt get into it. However, I've since tried a more recent book by this author - Gifts.

She's written quite a few books and I thought I'd give her works another go to

Has anyone managed to read Gifts yet?

1 - i can't decide if this is a YA book or not. I feel it is, as the story is very simple. Well written mind, but nothing at all you have to think about.

2 - I read it very quickly, it's a nice easy walk through the life of Orrec, who has the gift of unmaking. One of the more destructive gifts. But at the end I couldnt see the point to the story I was left wondering - is that it!

 

[Elphineas]

rune-

I felt the same way. I own all of LeGuin's Earthsea books - and enjoyed them. Gifts was sort of a let-down. I enjoyed the story line, but at the end it seemed as though my "I want more" feelings were about to be crushed. It doesn't feel like there could be much more to tell about these folks, but maybe I'm wrong. It could turn out to be a sort-of series...

 

[GOLLUM]

Left Hand Of Drakness is brilliant and as a child/teenager The Earthsea novels were the first major fantasy series I ever read, so I have particularly fond memories of these. They were great! ...

 

[rune]

I still feel her works are confusing as to were they fall in the age range.

 

[GOLLUM]

I still feel her works are confusing as to were they fall in the age range.

Well that's interesting because I always felt they were targeted towards a younger audience as far as the Earthsea books go, but then I only read them once as a young teenager, 20 plus years ago. They could have a more adult feel to them than that but that's not something I probably would've picked up all those years ago. A reread now would prove instructive. I'm going to try to plan for that within the next 6 months.

 

[Maletbon]

We studied Wizard of Earthsea in English Lit class back in the day, as a great example of Jungian symbolism. I would definitely class LeGuin as a serious writer, though I sure haven't enjoyed her later work as much as her earlier stuff.