Why Ursula Le Guin was a truly great writer
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AT THE AGE OF 88, one of America’s greatest female authors and foremost female science fiction writer has passed away. Throughout her career, she received numerous literary awards and inspired countless younger writers. While her work spans journalism, essays, poetry, and children’s books, it was in the realm of science fiction where she truly shined, using the genre as a vehicle to interpret social reality, its contrasts, gradations, and its interplay with the technological and existential challenges of our species. To the end, she remained a free spirit and active citizen. Here’s why her work was so impactful:
– She made her mark in the predominantly male-dominated field of science fiction, often featuring female or even gender-neutral characters in leading roles. Her male protagonists, often people of color, broke free from the macho intergalactic hero stereotype, typically imposed by force or fear. In her works, the focus is on values such as dialogue, mutual understanding, concession, sacrifice, and forgiveness.
She was a vocal critic of the commercialisation of books, even accusing her own publishers of “greed and ignorance” due to the exorbitant charges they imposed on public libraries for acquiring e-books.
– She was a forerunner in addressing politics of contention, counterculture, ecology, multiculturalism, feminism, sexism, pansexualism, and gender identities, as early as the 1960s. Her work was heavily influenced by Kropotkin, Karl Jung, and Eastern philosophies, particularly Taoism and Buddhism. Despite being a professed atheist, her books harmoniously blend sound reason with spirituality and empathy, as well as the vigor of change and subversion with the art of solidarity, coexistence, and symbiosis.
– Books such as “The Anarchist of Two Worlds”, “The Left Hand of Darkness”, “The Word for the World is Forest”, and “The Epic of the Geothermal Sea”, are among the greatest masterpieces of science fiction literature. The protagonist of the latter, a young apprentice wizard, is even thought to have inspired J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter.
– She recently mocked the “alternative facts” analogy made by Trump’s press secretary to science fiction in an effort to lend credibility to White House lies. She quipped that in science fiction, “some events are completely unlikely, some are plausible, but all are made up… imagination is as innocent and harmless as Santa Claus, conscious lying is not.”
– The daughter of renowned anthropologist-ethnologist Alfred Louis Kruber, she studied anthropology herself, and was married to historian Charles Le Guin.
From her early years, she was a prominent figure in the libertarian left, actively engaging in feminist and anti-war movements. Despite her involvement, she maintained a critical stance – her work, ‘The Anarchist of Two Worlds,’ serves as both an allegorical and realistic contrast between a capitalist-anarchist-technocratic society and an ataxic-communitarian-self-directed society. This work debunks all absolutes while staying true to her social vision. She also argued for the mainstreaming of anarchist ideology, believing it could radicalize society from within.
She remained politically and socially active in her later years. Just last year, she publicly condemned the armed Oregon militiamen who had set up camp in a wildlife refuge, labeling them as “crazy right-wing squatters.”
She was a vocal critic of the commercialization of books in the market. She did not shy away from accusing her own publishers of “greed and ignorance” due to the high fees they charged public libraries for e-books. She also expressed her concern that companies like Amazon were trivializing the publishing industry.
Here are some insights I’ve gleaned from her words:
– The power of imagination, when used to its fullest, can liberate us from self-absorption and make us realize – whether with relief or horror – that the world does not belong solely to us, in fact, it doesn’t belong to us at all.
– We will never comprehend the injustice we face if we can’t envision justice, nor can we be free if we cannot imagine freedom. It’s unreasonable to expect someone who has been denied the opportunity to imagine justice and freedom as achievable to fight for these ideals.
– In most parts of the world, throughout most of history, the majority of people have occupied lower social positions, accepting this status quo as eternal, natural, and necessary.
– The more you resist something, the more you perpetuate it.
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– We women are like volcanoes. When we present our experiences as universal truths, the world’s geographical maps are altered. New mountains are discovered.
– The only thing that makes life possible is its constant, unbearable uncertainty.
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– Maturity signifies growth, not decline. An adult is not a deceased child but a child who has survived.
– I don’t pursue any absolute truth because I don’t believe it exists. I prefer a more playful approach to life.
I relish the exploration of ideas, yet I am not one to impose my beliefs on others.
A quote from The Left Hand of Darkness that particularly resonated with me is: “The most terrifying answers are those that render the questions irrelevant.”
