epub, 341 pages
English language
Published June 30, 2000 by Penguin Publishing Group.
**50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION—WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY DAVID MITCHELL AND A NEW AFTERWORD BY CHARLIE JANE ANDERS
Ursula K. Le Guin’s groundbreaking work of science fiction—winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards.**
A lone human ambassador is sent to the icebound planet of Winter, a world without sexual prejudice, where the inhabitants’ gender is fluid. His goal is to facilitate Winter’s inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the strange, intriguing culture he encounters...
Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.
I feel like I need to read this again some time. So many ideas to think about. Probably missed half of them. Found the start a bit difficult to get into, but couldn't put it down after the first half. My edition has an afterword with some valid critique in it as well but considering it was written such a long time ago it still feels very relevant today.
I last read this book something like twenty years ago. I thought it was a good book, not a great book, but it did stick with me. My book club selected this as our read for August... I was a little disappointed because I wanted to read something new for me. Well, turns out I got quite a lot more out of reading this the second time... and I'm now convinced that it's Le Guin's best book.
This book kind of gets flattened to being about gender in popular discourse and it is about gender... but it's also about politics and trust and survival. It's also about how gender impacts all of those things... Gender as a material condition.
I also feel that it's the case that all of the parts of this book come together very well. The asides into folk tales strengthen the illusion of the world Le …
I last read this book something like twenty years ago. I thought it was a good book, not a great book, but it did stick with me. My book club selected this as our read for August... I was a little disappointed because I wanted to read something new for me. Well, turns out I got quite a lot more out of reading this the second time... and I'm now convinced that it's Le Guin's best book.
This book kind of gets flattened to being about gender in popular discourse and it is about gender... but it's also about politics and trust and survival. It's also about how gender impacts all of those things... Gender as a material condition.
I also feel that it's the case that all of the parts of this book come together very well. The asides into folk tales strengthen the illusion of the world Le Guin has built.
BBC radio 4 version, which is barely 2hrs. I didn't realize I'd gotten this version but oh well, it kind of reads like a short story which is fine. I'm not sure I'd bother re-reading the unabridged now.
A bit hard going at the start but well worth it!
Having really liked Lathe of Heaven (it would make s great play) I was really looking forward to this book. It comes very highly recommended on the Internet but it just fell flat for me. Imagining a world without genders was an interesting thought experiment that didn't get explored with the depth that I would have liked. Much more time was spent on the struggle to survive the planets harsh winter. I suppose that was the point; the universe is hard to survive for all humans.
This is the first Ursula K. Le Guin book that I have read, and I enjoyed it. This book is the epitome of sci-fi. It has all the features of a good sci-fi novel: an alien race on an alien world, space-time travel, and the interaction of the familiar with the unfamiliar.
I liked the overlying question that Le Guin weaved throughout this book: What defines humanity? In a world without gender, does the human race lose its defining spark? Or is there still something under the surface that defies minor differences such as gender? Le Guin brought up the dualities that usually define the human experience: yin and yang, male and female, light and dark; she questioned the existence of such dualities in a world lacking the male and female distinction, and theorized the effect this lack would have on the growth of a culture.
To explore this question, …
This is the first Ursula K. Le Guin book that I have read, and I enjoyed it. This book is the epitome of sci-fi. It has all the features of a good sci-fi novel: an alien race on an alien world, space-time travel, and the interaction of the familiar with the unfamiliar.
I liked the overlying question that Le Guin weaved throughout this book: What defines humanity? In a world without gender, does the human race lose its defining spark? Or is there still something under the surface that defies minor differences such as gender? Le Guin brought up the dualities that usually define the human experience: yin and yang, male and female, light and dark; she questioned the existence of such dualities in a world lacking the male and female distinction, and theorized the effect this lack would have on the growth of a culture.
To explore this question, the story follows the interaction between the Envoy, Genly Ai from the Ekumen, and the ex-Prime Minister of Karhide, Estraven. Estraven rescues Genly from a prison in Orgoreyn, and for me this is where the story really begins. They must cross the wastes of the land back to Karhide, without encountering anyone from Orgoreyn, who will capture Genly and Estraven who do not have papers which will pass inspection. Estraven is a surprising resource at this point, especially to Genly. Estraven prepares them for their journey, calculating how much food they will need and how quickly they will complete their journey. Of course, they run out of food and go several days over their initial calculations because of unforeseen problems during their journey. But during this time, they learn much about each other and become as close as they can be. It makes a profound change to the both of them.
The rest of the story is very political, and the plot wraps up quite nicely. The Envoy's mission is completed; Karhide is convinced to join the Ekumen by Genly's timely return. The story ends with Genly visiting Estraven's family to deliver his journals to them.
There were a lot of elements to this story that went unexplored; I admire Le Guin's ability to display the depth of culture in a people without overly describing it. Genly, of course, explores this society as much as we can, and we learn much through his perspective, but much else goes unexplained (or at least, explained in less detail than my curiosity would like). I wanted to know more about the Hearths and the family system--Le Guin hints at this a lot throughout the book. Shifgrethor is talked about a lot, but I don't think I ever truly understood it, and this is probably because Genly never truly understood it either. Le Guin does an excellent job of describing her world through the eyes of a stranger, one who can never fully explore or understand the depth of the culture he has entered into.
