Ursula K. Le Guin
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Ursula K. Le Guin at an informal bookstore Q&A session, July 2004 |
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (born
October 21,
1929) is an
American author. She has written
novels,
poetry,
children's books and
essays, and is best known for her
science fiction and
fantasy novels and
short stories.
First published in the
1960s, she is now regarded as one of the best modern science fiction and fantasy authors, noted for her exemplary style and for her exploration of
Taoist,
anarchist,
feminist,
psychological and
sociological themes. She has received several
Hugo and
Nebula awards, and was awarded the
Gandalf Grand Master award in
1979 and the
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Grand Master Award in 2003.
In
1953, she married
historian Charles A. Le Guin. Le Guin has lived in
Portland,
Oregon, since
1958. She is the daughter of the
anthropologist Alfred L. Kroeber and the
writer Theodora Kroeber. She has at least three children and three grand-children.
Le Guin was born and raised in
Berkeley, California. She became interested in literature when she was very young. At the age of eleven she submitted her first story to the
magazine Astounding Science Fiction (it was rejected).
She received her B.A. (
Phi Beta Kappa) from
Radcliffe College in
1951, and
M.A. from
Columbia University in
1952. She later studied in
France, where she met her husband, Charles Le Guin. Her earliest writings (little was published at the time, but some was published in adapted form much later in
Orsinian Tales and
Malafrena), were non-fantastic stories of
imaginary countries. Searching for a publishable way to express her interests, she returned to her early interest in science fiction and began to be published regularly in the early
1960s. She became famous after the publication of her
1969 novel
The Left Hand of Darkness, which won the
Hugo and
Nebula awards.
Much of Le Guin's science fiction places a strong emphasis on the
social sciences, including
sociology and
anthropology, thus placing it in the subcategory known as
soft science fiction. Her writing often makes use of unusual
alien cultures to convey a message about our own culture; one example is the exploration of
sexual identity through the
hermaphroditic race in
The Left Hand of Darkness.
A number of Le Guin's science fiction works, including her award-winning novels
The Dispossessed and
The Left Hand of Darkness, are set in a future, post-Imperial galactic civilization loosely connected by a co-operative body known as the
Ekumen. The Ekumen is very specifically not in any sense a governing body, but rather a conduit for the exchange of information, goods, and mutual cultural understanding.
A notable feature of her conception that sets her work apart from much of mainstream 'hard' science fiction is that neither the old Empire nor the Ekumen possesses
faster-than-light travel, although the politically progressive Ekumen thrives where the old Empire has failed mainly because it possesses a means of instantaneous interstellar communication, through a device called the
ansible, the invention and consequences of which form the main plot of
The Dispossessed.
In this loose background scenario, the human species originated on the planet
Hain in the distant past, near the
galactic center. A Galactic Empire had expanded far out across the galaxy over many millennia but, because it lacked
faster-than-light (FTL) travel or communication, the Empire was finally stretched beyond its limits by the vast distances involved and it collapses catastrophically.
Thousands of years pass, during which time the populations of many outlying planets become so isolated from the central galactic civilisation that they lose all knowledge of their origins, reverting to more archaic forms of civilisation and technology.
A number of Le Guin's works including
The Left Hand of Darkness and
The Word for World Is Forest deal with the consequences of the arrival of Ekumen envoys (known as "mobiles") on these remote planets and the
culture shock that ensues.
Le Guin is known for her ability to create believable worlds populated by strongly sympathetic characters (regardless of whether they are technically 'human'). Le Guin's worlds are made believable by the attention she pays to the ordinary actions and transactions of everyday life. For example in '
Tehanu' it is central to the story that the main characters are concerned with the everyday business of looking after animals, tending gardens and doing domestic chores. Her works often explore political and cultural themes from a very "un-Earthly" perspective. Le Guin has also written fiction set much closer to home; many of her short stories are set in our world in the present or the near future.
*
A Wizard of Earthsea, 1968
*
The Tombs of Atuan, 1971
*
The Farthest Shore, 1972 (Winner of the
National Book Award)
*
Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea, 1990 (Winner of the
Nebula Award)
*
The Other Wind, 2001
Note:
Tales from Earthsea fits between
Tehanu and
The Other Wind, according to
this important note on Le Guin's website.
The Earthsea short stories
* "
The Word of Unbinding", 1975 (in
The Wind's Twelve Quarters) (Originally published in the January 1964 issue of Fantastic.)
* "
The Rule of Names", 1975 (in
The Wind's Twelve Quarters)
* "
Dragonfly" (in
Legends, ed. Robert Silverberg; also in
Tales from Earthsea)
*
Tales from Earthsea, short story collection, 2001, ISBN 0151005613 (winner of
Endeavour Award)
Ekumen (science fiction)
Novels of the Ekumen
*
Rocannon's World, 1966
*
Planet of Exile, 1966
*
City of Illusions, 1967
*
The Left Hand of Darkness, 1969 (winner of the
Hugo Award and
Nebula Award)
*
The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia, 1974 (winner of the
Hugo Award and
Nebula Award)
*
The Word for World Is Forest, 1976 (winner of the
Hugo Award)
*
Worlds of Exile and Illusion, 1996 (omnibus of
Rocannon's World,
Planet of Exile and
City of Illusions)
*
The Telling, 2000 (winner of
Endeavour Award)
Short stories from the Ekumen
*
Dowry of the Angyar (
1964) - appears as
Semley's Necklace in
The Wind's Twelve Quarters (1975)
*
Winter's King (
1969) - appears in
The Wind's Twelve Quarters (1975)
*
Vaster Than Empires and More Slow (
1971) - appears in
The Wind's Twelve Quarters (1975)
*
The Day Before the Revolution (
1974) - appears in
The Wind's Twelve Quarters (1975)
*
The Shobies' Story (
1990) - appears in
A Fisherman of the Inland Sea (1994)
*
Dancing to Ganam (
1993) - appears in
A Fisherman of the Inland Sea (1994)
*
Another Story OR A Fisherman of the Inland Sea (
1994) - appears in
A Fisherman of the Inland Sea (1994)
*
The Matter of Seggri (
1994) - appears in
The Birthday of the World (2002) (winner of the
James Tiptree, Jr. Award)
*
Unchosen Love (
1994) - appears in
The Birthday of the World (2002)
*
Solitude (
1994) - appears in
The Birthday of the World (2002) (winner of the
Nebula Award)
*
Four Ways to Forgiveness (
1995) (Four Stories of the Ekumen)
*
Coming of Age in Karhide (
1995) - appears in
The Birthday of the World (2002)
*
Mountain Ways (
1996) - appears in
The Birthday of the World (2002) (winner of the
James Tiptree, Jr. Award)
*
Old Music and the Slave Women (
1999) - appears in
The Birthday of the World (2002)
Miscellaneous novels and story cycles
*
The Lathe of Heaven, 1971 (made into TV movies, 1980 and 2002)
*
Malafrena, 1979
*
The Eye of the Heron, 1982
*
Always Coming Home, 1985
Short story collections
*
The Wind's Twelve Quarters, 1975
*
Orsinian Tales, 1976
*
The Compass Rose, 1982
*
Buffalo Gals, and Other Animal Presences, 1987
*
Searoad, 1991
*
A Fisherman of the Inland Sea, 1994
*
Four Ways to Forgiveness, 1995
*
Unlocking the Air and Other Stories, 1996
*
The Birthday of the World, 2002, ISBN 0066212537
*
Changing Planes, 2003, ISBN 0151009716
Books for children and young adults
*
Catwings, 1988
*
Catwings Return, 1989
*
Wonderful Alexander and the Catwings, 1994
*
Jane on Her Own, 1999GiftsVoicesPowers (not written yet)
Other books for children and young adults
*
Very Far Away from Anywhere Else, 1976, ISBN 0152052089
*
Leese Webster, 1979, ISBN 0689307152
*
The Beginning Place, 1981, 0553262823
*
Solomon Leviathan's Nine Hundred and Thirty-First Trip Around the World, 1984, ISBN 0399214917
*
A Visit from Dr. Katz, 1988, ISBN 0689313322
*
Fire and Stone, 1989, ISBN 0689314086
*
Fish Soup, 1992, ISBN 0689317336
*
A Ride on the Red Mare's Back, 1992, ISBN 0531070794
*
Tom Mouse, 2002, ISBN 0761315993
Prose
*
The Language of the Night, 1979, revised edition 1992
*
Dancing at the Edge of the World, 1989
*
Steering the Craft, 1998 (about writing)
*
The Wave in the Mind, 2004
Poetry
*
Wild Angels, 1975
*
Hard Words and Other Poems, 1981
*
Wild Oats and Fireweed, 1988
*
Going Out with Peacocks and Other Poems, 1994
*
Sixty Odd: New Poems, 1999
*
Incredible Good Fortune, 2006
Translations and Renditions
*
Lao Tzu : Tao Te Ching, a Book about the Way & the Power of the Way, 1997 (a rendition and commentary) ISBN 1570623333
*
Kalpa Imperial, 2003, from
Angélica Gorodischer's Spanish original.
*
Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral, from
Gabriela Mistral's Spanish originals.
See also: The Ones Who Walk Away From OmelasLe Guin is a prolific author and has published many works that are not listed here. Many works were originally published in science fiction literary magazines. Those that have not since been anthologized have fallen into obscurity.
Despite her many awards and her considerable popularity, Le Guin is also notable as one of the few major science fiction writers of her generation whose major SF and Fantasy works have not as yet been widely adapted for film or television. For television,
The Lathe of Heaven has been adapted twice, in
1980 by
thirteen/WNET New York, with her own participation, and in
2002 by the
A&E Network; The Earthsea trilogy was adapted as a
TV miniseries in
2004 by the
Sci Fi Channel but was generally very poorly reviewed and received, including by LeGuin herself, who reports that she was "cut out of the process". A cinema adaptation of Earthsea is in production at , under the direction of , son of renowned anime director ; is slated for Japanese release in July
2006. [
1]
In a
February 2004 on-line Q&A session organized by
The Guardian, Le Guin was asked whether she pronounced her surname the
French way () or as most of her English-speaking fans did (). Her reply was
Taoist in its duality: "Een zees country we say Luh Gwinn. En France nous disons Le Guin, comme le vin ou le gain; et en
Bretagne - c'est un nom
breton - je crois que c'est encore Luh Gwinn. (Like Gwyn in
Welsh - I think it's the same word.)" [
2]
Le Guin received the
Library of Congress Living Legends award in the "Writers and Artists" category in April 2000 for her significant contributions to America's cultural heritage.
*
Ursula Le Guin's homepage*
Collection of Ursula Le Guin info at feministsf.org*
Interview in The Guardian December 17 2005*
Review of The Left Hand Of Darkness*
Review of The Dispossessed*
LeGuin talks about the Earthsea film*
More about LeGuin and the Earthsea film
