Tag: ursulaleguin

it has been a long while since i was so devastated upon finishing a book. i have a new title to add to my list of books i truly, deeply adore: The Left Hand of Darkness, my Ursula LeGuin. i wish i had read it in late teens, in my twenties, thirties… once a decade seems… Continue reading crying in the void

Mr. Ai is hosted at a member of the Orgota elite, with his room warmly “…piled with furs, the rugs, drapes, wrappings, mufflings”. What seemed designed to ensure his comfort becomes, after a brief conversation with Therem Harth, “stuffy and cloddish”. Who might want to muffle Ai? The above oil painting by the Danish painter Hammershøi reminds… Continue reading muffled

mounting tensions between Karhide and Orgoreyn… and between what we think we know, and what the author is slowly teasing, revealing. are we on the Envoy’s side? do we trust Estraven? what is trust? trust means something reliable, predictable: i trust that you will act and think in alignment with who you are. your intentions… Continue reading double trouble

yes, Meredith, the frame is broken–we’ve been dancing around the kemmer topic for six chapters and now, finally, we’re focused explicitly on sex. chapter 7, Ursula LeGuin’s The Left Hand of Darkness. in Karhide, sex only happens when two individuals (sometimes two+, seems like orgy is a minority even but still occurs) are both in kemmer. a hormonal change that… Continue reading in a rut

i have to take a moment to fangirl: LeGuin is masterly. in Chapter 6, One Way into Orgoreyn, she has managed to shift me from an Estraven-skeptic to an Estraven believer. the subtle changes in language, cadence, and diction separate us from the narrative voice of Genly Ai, but not such a shift that it… Continue reading by Meshe’s sweet milk

“hunch” had a meaning related to a push or thrust (source), centuries ago. a hunchback has a spine thrusting up. a hunch is never certain, rather a general feeling towards a possible future. “The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next.”— Faxe to Genry, Chapter 5, The… Continue reading i’ve got a hunch

Meredith, girl, i’m really feeling your questions. allow me to quote the end of your response post to Chapter 4: The Nineteenth Day from The Left Hand of Darkness: Some questions that are alive in me. What do numbers mean beyond counting? What are the knots in destiny that move us forward? Do we have choice?… Continue reading he loves me, he loves me not

“One voice speaking truth is a greater force that fleets and armies, given time; plenty of time; but time is the thing that the Ekumen has plenty of…” but who is speaking this truth? tell us, Ursula. Chapter 3: The Mad King from The Left Hand of Darkness suggests that we identify its narrator, Genly… Continue reading ambassadors

“He began to crawl forward on knees and elbows. He had no reason to do this.” i, also, was entranced by this phrase. and, also because this post is a fraternal twin to my book-reading partner, Meredith Noelle, who also responded to Chapter 2: The Place Inside the Blizzard from The Left Hand of Darkness. how deeply human, to crawl forward… Continue reading just the tip

The story is not all mine, nor told by me alone. Indeed I am not sure whose story it is; you may judge better. But it is all one, and it at moments the facts seem to alter with an altered voice, why then you can choose the fact you like best; yet none of… Continue reading epigraph