What an excellent tribute to my absolute hero. Le Guin began to influence my life in the early 70s, and I still read her to this day. I was fortunate enough to be one of her students in the early 2000s in Portland when she was still teaching. My strongest memory is of spending a week at Malheur Field Station in the Oregon desert on a writing retreat with Ursula and a dozen writers. She took us to places near there which were the inspiration for the setting for The Tombs of Atuan. She was a remarkably giving teacher, I feel fortunate to have spent time on this earth while she was here. Please do more!
How strange, just yesterday I answered a question about the science-fiction book that made me fall in love with science-fiction, and while I can’t remember that actual probably short story book, The Lathe of Heaven was a very early actual full book that is the first I can remember loving.
You forgot to mention one of her greatest works: “Always Coming Home”. This book doesn’t fit into any genre, in fact it will perhaps one day be the founder of its own genre. Certainly, a great book worth mentioning.
I grew up a huge fan of Le Guin's Earthsea books, which I love as stories, as examples of gorgeous and immersive prose, and for their philosophical explorations and social critiques. I am hoping to correct the giant gap in my reading by reading The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed, and I appreciate the encouragement to do so in this video. Cheers, Jared!
Hey Jared, I really appreciate your editing. A lot of videos have wild visuals and complex transitions that feel almost over edited to me, and while there is value to that I feel it can distract from the point of the video. You have a more minimalist approach, simple graphics over a background with a sort of grain overlay - enough movement to not feel stale but not enough to distract from what you’re saying. Also you’re not sitting in front of rows of bookshelves that clutter the background, again helps the viewer focus on you and what you’re saying. I really appreciate your aesthetic, and as someone who edits videos here and there your style is something of an inspiration to me, an approach I want to shift toward in the future. Thanks for all the hard work!
Thank you very much. I've been working on my editing quite a bit, trying to make it exciting without overwhelming the viewer. It's nice to hear that it is appreciated.
Am currently reading LHoD for the second time in my life. Once as an early adult, very early. I really wasn't ready for smart sci-fi. Reading it in my 6th decade with massive changes in worldview and other perspectives it is a whole new experience and I am 'getting' her a great deal more. I plan on rolling directly from this to The Dispossessed. Cheers.
I would love if you made a long form video on New Wave Science Fiction. Would definitely watch that! Thanks for releasing consistently thoughtful content Jared.
Yo he dropped a Le Guin/Anarchist video! I remember asking for one a month ago not thinking it would happen. All my years on youtube I've never seen this sort of thing. Jared, its a really awesome well-edited video, and thank you for engaging with your community by making content some of us have asked for!
Thank you for making this video. LeGuin is one of my favorite authors, and I appreciate your foray into her works. Two other works of hers that I really like are Always Coming Home and The Telling. Along with the other New Wave sci-fi authors you mention, I would also add Frank Herbert and Philip K. Dick. Dick and LeGuin were actually both attending Berkeley High School at the exact same time. Apparently, they never met though. What a shame. It's sort of one of my alternative reality fantasies that the two do meet and strike up a friendship. It does make you wonder what they were serving in the school cafeteria, however.
Your channel introduced me to Le Guin, and she's now one of my favourite writers. The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed are towering feats of literature.
I'm in a reading group that uses sacred reading practices to read popular literature. (We started out by emulating the podcast Harry Potter and the Sacred Text.) Tonight, we are actually starting A Wizard of Earthsea (we had just finished Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman), so your video came out just in the nick of time, and I'm going to recommend your video to the group even though we tend to not focus too much on authorial intention. We're focused more on using the six practices we use (mostly a sort of allegorical reading) to help bring out meaningful content from the works we read.
I love the podcast Harry Potter and the sacred test. It definitely changed my reading practice for the better. Substantially for the better. And I'm sure it's why I like this RU-vid channel so much
Wonder overview, Jared! I don’t think it’s possible for me to overstate how much Le Guin informed my worldview. Ever since my initial encounter with Earthsea when I was 12 I’ve been thinking deeply about how I relate to a larger world, both the material planet and the social world. I’m always edified but her insights, inspired by the clarity of her thoughts, and overwhelmed by the beauty of her writing (though I didn’t realize that her writing was so exact and lovely until I was older).
I recently went to the UK, and one of my goals was to find Le Guin books, mainly because of the way you talk about them. I’ve never seen her books in my country, but I came back from the UK with an edition of the first four Earthsea stories in one book. Can’t wait to start it! Edit, now that I finished the video: thanks for another great video. Loved the editing.
Thank you for making this video. The Left Hand of Darkness is one of my favorite books of all time. I didn't know about the anarchy influence. I am an anarchist in the way that you describe, so it makes sense that I would be drawn to her work.
I enjoy these "lessons" about authors and books very much. Concise and informative. I take notes in my Commonplace book to refer back to and to take to the library with me. Thank you for broadening my literary horizons. More like this would be most welcome.
Thanks so much for this wonderful exploration, Jared! I'm hoping to take on Earthsea this year, after loving Lathe, Left Hand, and Dispossessed. For what it's worth, I also think that Le Guin wrote the greatest "intimate" scene I've ever read in The Dispossesed. It captured a powerful mix of emotions, and a vulnerability few can ever hope to match.
I'm reading The Left Hand of Darkness right now--about 60% done with it. It's my first Le Guin novel and I'm absolutely loving it. Can't wait to read The Dispossessed, but I'm trying to check out Earthsea as well...before or after that, I'm not sure yet. Thanks for making this video.
A video about NEW WAVE Science Fiction authors is a splendid idea !!!! Great work !!! I recommend a Science Fiction author called ANGELICA GORODISCHER, from Argentina, who was considered by Ursula like her literary sister.
G'day Jared. I'll meet you properly later today on Philip's chat, but just wanted to say I LOVED this video, and strongly urge you to make more like it. ♥
I know novels are all the rage, but even before getting a novel, Cele Goldsmith Lalli, then editor of Amazing and Fantastic, published Le Guin's first piece of fiction (Lalli being younger than Le Guin actually, I read a good article on her recently and her help in reviving the two magazines and S&S in particular). Great video, Jared!
I had to check the date Lathe was written considering a lot of the issues presented are very relevant today. I have read three - Lathe, Dispossessed and Left Hand. The first two read very much like what if thought exeriments. Characters are secondary to the themes and ideas presented. Her writing is also very economical - not a lot of fluff and she says what she wants to say and then stops. But yes, you do see shifts in writing around this time much like veterans who became authors like Tolkein and Cook.
@Jared I think your channel ended up in my recommends for the philosophy output but your content is so interesting and well expressed that I've stayed for the philosophy-adjacent stuff (such as this) and even the more purely genre-related sci-fi and fantasy output. Have you read Kazuo Ishiguro? A phenomenal writer who combines prose of the highest literary calibre, with big ideas, depth of thought and genuine humanity, yet at the same time somehow manages to keep his work very accessible. He clearly also respects sci fi and fantasy as genres. If you haven't read him, he might be up your street.
This was a great video. I'm always so happy when I see someone sharing about Le Guin. She has been a life-changing author in both my creative and personal life. I still feel moved whenever I think about the final pages of The Dispossessed. Thank you for putting together this wonderful video about the mind-expanding works of this incredible woman and author. Your video mentioned China Melville, and I'm wondering, do you have a recommendation on where to start with his work? I look forward to seeing more from you. A video about new wave sci-fi would surely get a view from me!
Thanks for the great video! You have mentioned several influencial science fiction authors throughout the 20th century, but if I am not mistaken I haven't heard the name of Philip K Dick. Could you please share your view and opinion about Philip Dick? Thanks!
important? no. but best? yes... she was a grown up in a field of juvenile writers, and helped many others to grow up. I simply point to Tehanu, a fantasy with dragons (from earthsea series) beginning with a character taking a sexually abused burn-victim child into her care. I literally teared up at the end. am I pushover? was she a great writer? yes and yes
Politics and philosophy aside, her command of the English language is the greatest I've ever seen. No other writer's prose comes close except maybe Steinbeck.
Earthsea based on Jungian ideas? Perhaps a little, although I really don’t see that. Earthsea is totally based in Taoism! It’s all about not disturbing the equilibrium.
I finished "The Left Hand of Darkness" a few months ago, and I didn't enjoy it. While the idea of a world with one sex is intriguing, in my opinion, the author didn't delve deep enough into it. It felt like just skimming the surface. Additionally, the plot surrounding the coup was hard to understand and follow. I might give some of her other novels a try.
I hated her books. I’m not quite her age, but she was actually a fantasy writer that wanted to be a Socially philosopher- I think she failed at both. She was a product of right sex, right time. Diversity. And England was determined to repeat the unlauded (mostly, except he was feted later, worldwide, as he deserved) success of Tolkien. I’d take Andre Norton over UKL any day of the week.
Thanks for this breakdown!! I’ve been /loving/ her work for the past few years, and it’s been super impactful in my life. A note that I wanted to add is her anthropological influence- both of her parents are among the most famous American anthropologists (A.L. Kroeber and Theodora Kroeber), and all of her work incorporates ethnographic techniques and approaches in some way- some of her work can also be read as criticism of the field, especially The Word for World is Forest. This is my main area of study and one of the reasons I’m so enthralled by her work, so I thought I’d mention it!
Extra Sci Fi (Now Extra History, previously Extra Credits) has an awesome History of Science Fiction series playlist I recommended checking out, for anyone interested!
Compare The Dispossesed to Voyage from Yesteryear by James P Hogan. Both present socio-economic dichotomies but Le Guin does not provide a story with a solution. Kind of like 1984 and Brave New World. Science Fiction is where C. P. Snow's Two Cultures collide. "Little bit less from physics?" How about none!
Thank you for this, I love anything Ursula Le Guin. BUT please don't mention Atwood in the same breath as Ursula Le Guin. Ursula Le Guin's imagination was dangerous to the status quo. OTOH Atwood is a status quo author, reinforcing the dominant narrative and using her writing not to foresee a worse future, but to create it.
I enjoyed this video quite a bit and I've now added her to my TBR. I wonder where you put Kurt Vonnegut in this mix as I recently read The Sirens of Titan for the first time.
Insteresting recomendation. I have never read her. I had read Phillip k dick. I would say that he is the best writer 20 th century at least in science fiction. However, I haven’t read him so much. Therefore, my opinion is disbalance haha. I would read Le guin soon to try. Thank you
Thank you for this instructive video essay on UKLeGuin. I am reading the Hainish series right now and looking forward to The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed!
Thanks for sharing this video and your thoughts on LeGuin. There’s also some narrative around her background and it’s bearing on her formation, especially her father and mother’s works.
Thank you for your hard work! I really enjoy what you are doing! PKD was very good friends with LeGiun. In an essay he said something along the lines of Lathe of Heaven was key to understanding reality.
Great overview of Le Guin. But labeling her themes as "anarchist" or "feminist" might turn some people off, causing them to expect preachy polemics. I never detected that in her writing. Everything came across as essentially "What if?" Her male characters never reflected a hint of feminist disdain. The sexual dimorphism of the Gethenians came across with absolute objectivity, with no finger-wagging at our own society. In The Dispossessed, her treatment of anarchism did not shy away from reflecting the pitfalls of living under such a philosophy, a struggle that really drives Shevek's life story. Another non-SF story that I LOVED was The Beginning Place, which delves deeply into the struggles of one male and one female character with such amazing sympathy and perceptiveness that it's hard to believe it was written by a single author. Also, don't neglect her body of short story work, which is wonderful.
I was a tad surprised when I saw in the YT description a link to a book on the Tao Te Ching (TTC), but to a DC Lau translation, not to Ursula LeGuin's most excellent transliteration of the TTC!?
Leguine is with Strugacki and F. Herbert my favorite avangard writer. I can listen about her endlessly. Wonder how many people know for Tarkovski and making a great movie Stalker based on Strugacki brother's book.
Thanks for this. I loved The Lefthand of Darkness and have wanted to read more of Le Guin, especially The Dispossessed, Lathe, and Earthsea. Her essays intrigue me too (have started Space Crone). As you said, we can see her influence for instance in Leckie and Martine (as well as C.J. Cherryh - love her Foreigner series).
When I happened to be reading many years ago about Ishi, the Last Yahi as now known and A l Kroeber (iirc) the anthropologist who ‘studied’ him, the book mentioned in passing the Ursula Le Guin was Kroeber’s daughter. That explained so much to me about her approach to science fiction and what she was moved to write.
I do like Wizard of Earthsea, which I read as a kid, but 'Anarchism' which is spoken of by this presenter is a contradiction in terms. More democracy is the only 'real' guarantee of fairness!
