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Annael
Immortal
Jan 24 2018, 8:03pm
Post #1 of 14
(4880 views)
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Favorite book by Ursula Le Guin?
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in honor . . .
If you like a specific book or essay from a series or her collections best, do tell us which one.
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Darkstone
Immortal
Jan 25 2018, 1:05am
Post #2 of 14
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Light is the left hand of darkness,
and darkness the right hand of light.
Two are one, life and death, lying
together like lovers in kemmer,
like hands joined together,
like the end and the way.
Just wow...
Really messed with this poor dumb country boy's sixteen year old mind, but I'm glad it did.
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Jan 25 2018, 4:45pm
Post #3 of 14
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 I've got a soft spot for that one...
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Annael
Immortal
Jan 29 2018, 4:36pm
Post #4 of 14
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you have such a huge treat in store for you . . .
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Feb 1 2018, 6:34am
Post #5 of 14
(4610 views)
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It's her essay about the voice an author uses in writing fantasy. There's a lot about Tolkien in it (she approves) and some other authors she is less approving of. It's snarky and funny and true.
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The Grey Elf
Grey Havens
Feb 1 2018, 2:25pm
Post #6 of 14
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Embarrassed to admit I have not read her ... yet
[In reply to]
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The more I’ve read of the many tributes she’s received, the more I’ve realized I’ve been missing out. Hoping the results of this poll give me some idea where I might start with her books.
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Feb 1 2018, 3:22pm
Post #7 of 14
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I have a collection of essays on fantasy, Fantasists on Fantasy (1984; Avon Books), that includes that piece; it also includes two entries by Tolkien: "Fantasy" and "To W. H. Auden". Other contributors include: George MacDonald; G. K. Chesterton; H.P. Lovecraft; Sir Herbert Read; James Thurber; August Derleth; C. S. Lewis; Felix Marti-Ibanez; Peter S. Beagle; Lloyd Alexander; Andre Norton; Jane Langton; Mollie Hunter; Michael Moorcock; and, Susan Cooper.
(This post was edited by Otaku-sempai on Feb 1 2018, 3:24pm)
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Annael
Immortal
Feb 1 2018, 5:37pm
Post #8 of 14
(4572 views)
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The Earthsea series is a great place to start: A Wizard of Earthsea is the first. She evolves in her thinking over the 30 or so years she took to write them all, however. The first three are young adult hero quest stories in which she makes certain statements about magic that seem sexist. She started to rethink these ideas in Tehanu, which is for adults, and refined her new thinking later in Tales from Earthsea and The Other Wind. Yet she makes it all hang together and work by very cleverly making the assumptions of her first books INTO the problem that everyone must come together and solve in the last one. And you still love all her protagonists. (There's no truly evil villains in her works.)
The Left Hand of Darkness is my favorite of her "Hainish" novels, her sci-fi works set in a future 'verse where it turns out Terrans as well as most other humanoid races on other planets were seeded millennia ago by the Hainish, a benevolent and curious race. In this particular novel, they seeded one planet with humanoids who are hermaphrodites--neuter most of the time, male or female during their fertile periods (and can go either way). Her sci-fi is true speculative fiction, where she asks "what if life were like this? How would human beings behave?" She wants to get at the essence of what it means to be a person.
And she does it all in the most beautiful prose.
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Annael
Immortal
Feb 1 2018, 5:39pm
Post #9 of 14
(4569 views)
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The Language of the Night. I do love her essays on writing. I was in a writing group once that worked through her book Steering the Craft and found it most useful.
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Attalus
Lorien
Feb 1 2018, 11:03pm
Post #10 of 14
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...is my very favorite. I also adore the short story "The Ones Who Walk away From Omelas". As I have previously stated, I do not find The Left Hand of Darkness my dipper of Oolong.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Feb 2 2018, 1:19am
Post #11 of 14
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There's a lot of good stuff in there. But I like LeGuin's essay the best.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Feb 2 2018, 1:21am
Post #12 of 14
(4529 views)
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I just recently (since her death) discovered that her website has links to several shorter ones that are available online. http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Index-Work.html
(This post was edited by Aunt Dora Baggins on Feb 2 2018, 1:27am)
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N.E. Brigand
Half-elven
Feb 8 2018, 11:41pm
Post #14 of 14
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Guy Gavriel Kay prefers "The Language of the Night".
[In reply to]
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You can read why Christopher Tolkien's collaborator on The Silmarillion chose that book here, along with the choices of four other Canadian writers.
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