Ursula K. Le Guin
March 2024
Introduction
I have been wanting to read Ursula K. Le Guin’s work for a very long time, as I often see her work referenced and praised by leftists I admire. I’ve seen The Left Hand of Darkness in particular brought up in discussions about gender identity and how even in the 60s there were people writing about this topic. The summary is as follows:
“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.”
Which sets up the premise but doesn’t say much about the actual plot. It’ll be interesting to discover why it’s titled The Left Hand of Darkness.
My Thoughts
This is a book about duality: light and dark, the self and others, the chaos of Karhide and the order of Orgoreyn, male and female separate in Genly Ai’s race but together in Estraven’s. These are all presented as opposites of the same coin, not inherently good or evil, separate things but together in their relationship with each other. It is an individual’s bias towards one or the other that shapes that individual’s life and even further shapes societies.
I admit I still fail to see the importance of gender due to my own ambiguous feelings towards gender, but it’s clear that it is important to Genly Ai. It clouds his judgment, and causes him to distrust the one person he should have trusted most. I found myself really disliking the main character throughout most of the book, but I really liked Estraven and I enjoyed the worldbuilding a whole lot.
Overall what I liked most about the book is its examination of politics and human psychology, and how bias shapes politics. It is definitely different from what I usually read, it’s much more contemplative and events happen kind of matter-of-factly, at least until the end when Genly Ai finally connects with someone else. It’s this connection that helps him finally get past his bias and it finally feels like he’s a part of the world. It’s late, it’s after a lot of unfortunate events happen, but it feels like it’s better late than never.
Personal rating: 4/5