I first read Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness in 1969. Le Guin’s novel is set on a planet where the aliens change sex on a monthly basis: ambisexual. A Terran human, Genly Ai, is sent to the planet of Gethen as an envoy of the Ekumen, a confederation of planets. Ai’s mission is to persuade the nations of Gethen to join the Ekumen, but difficulties block his success. At the time, Le Guin’s gender-bending aliens–who might be female one month and a male the next–shocked and delighted many Science Fiction readers. The Left Hand of Darkness won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel of the Year. Le Guin’s next success was The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia, a 1974 SF novel about social structures on a remote planet. It won a Nebula for Best Novel of the Year.
Yet, Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin spends a lot of time on Le Guin’s 1968 fantasy novel, A Wizard of Eathsea and its sequels. As the promo says: “Directed by documentarian Arwen Curry, Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin includes a decade of filming with Le Guin herself, who died in 2018, and interviews with her science fiction and fantasy contemporaries and pupils, including Margaret Atwood, Samuel R. Delany, Annalee Newitz, China Miéville, Neil Gaiman, Michael Chabon and David Mitchell.” You’ll even see a brief glimpse of Jeff Smith’s fanzine that Le Guin contributed to. If you are a fan of Ursula K. Le Guin’s work, you’ll love this documentary!
In sixty years of writing, Ursula K. Le Guin produced 21 novels, several essay collections, children’s books, poetry, and 11 volumes of short stories. The Library of America is issuing her work in their marvelous bound volumes. And, 2019 is the 50th anniversary of Le Guin’s best science fiction novel (in my opinion), The Left Hand of Darkness. Are you a fan of Ursula K. Le Guin’s work? GRADE: A
Love Le Guin’s work The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed are among the best SF novels ever written. The Earthsea series is among the best fantasy series ever written. She wrote many classic shorter pieces including the seminal The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.
I believe the PBS version is a shorter version than the one that played on British television.
Steve, I’ll have to track down the longer British version. You are right on the money with your assessment of Le Guin’s work.
Mostly in theaters and at festivals, the longer version.
My review of the press viewing of the PBS abridgment:
http://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/2019/07/first-thoughts-on-american-masters-3308.html
Todd, I agree with your review of the Le Guin documentary. Clearly, the director and the producers chose SF writers who celebrate Le Guin while Ursula had plenty of critics over the years.
I watched it after Jeff Smith mentioned his connection to the show. I thought it was pretty interesting, especially for an outsider like me who knew little about her.
Jeff, I’m not sure I learned a whole lot more about Ursula K. Le Guin from watching this documentary that I didn’t already know. And given the time constraints, the documentary focuses on just a few books of Le Guin’s massive oeuvre. Le Guin’s LIBRAY OF AMERICA volumes total over 3000 pages: https://www.loa.org/writers/655-ursula-k-le-guin
Not particularly, no. I’ve read the “important” works, but found them slow going at times.
Rick, Le Guin’s “important” works are categorized as “novels of ideas” by some critics. That could explain the parts of her works that drag a bit.
I never found her fiction to drag except for maybe Always Coming Home. It certainly reads better Heinlein or Asimov.
Steve, I found Le Guin’s Lavinia (2008) a little draggy.
AOL that, Steve.