Brown And Yule

Analysis of Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand Of Darkness

TABLE OF CONTENTS
• The Left Hand Of Darkness: Its Place In The History Of Science Fiction
• Ursula K. LeGuin's Life And Work: An Interview
• Characterization in the Novel
• Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis
• Critics Respond to the Novel
• Glossary of LeGuin's Invented Words
• Ideas for Discussion
THE LEFTHAND OF DARKNESS: ITS PLACE IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE FICTION

Background of The Left Hand of Darkness.

In the light of this history, Ursula LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness, first published in 1969, presents a real change. Human relationships take center stage; everything else is subordinate to the development of a profound and meaningful relationship between two human beings. The greatachievement of The Left Hand of Darkness is the creation not of a new technology or of science-fiction gadgets but rather of a new society of truly equal human beings. It is her depth of thought, emotional involvement, strong moral values, and philosophical thinking that place LeGuin among the very top contemporary science-fiction writers.

Feminist book.

In her article "Is Gender Necessary?"LeGuin herself openly discusses what inspired her to write The Left Hand of Darkness. It was, she writes, in the mid-1960s when the women's movement began to awaken after half a century of stagnation. Although as a writer she had never been treated unfairly or patronizingly on account of her sex, LeGuin was bothered by the question that besieged many women then and even now: What is a woman?

In "IsGender Necessary?", written in 1976, seven years after the publication of The Left Hand of Darkness, LeGuin, rejected the notion that hers was a "feminist" book. Although she considered herself a feminist (holding that every thinking woman is a feminist), she emphasized that "the real subject of the book is not feminism or sex or gender ... it is a book about betrayal and fidelity."

In The LeftHand of Darkness LeGuin has aspired to reach beyond the question of "What is a woman?" to broader and deeper questions of "What is sexuality?" and "What is the meaning of gender?" Besides physiological differences, are there really any differences between men and women? Being a novelist, her explorations of these questions are the basis of The Left Hand of Darkness.

To be precise, the bookdoes not offer ultimate answers, and readers will not find there the answer to the basic question of "What is a woman?" Actually, when the male Envoy from Earth is asked by his friend from the new planet to explain what a woman is, he embarrassedly hesitates, fails, and finally admits that he does not know what a woman is. But more important than the answers are the questions and the hypothesis thatLeGuin offers, in her "thought-experiment," as she calls the novel in her intriguing introduction. The book offers alternative modes of thinking not about the future but about ourselves in the present.

However, LeGuin has been frequently criticized for making her Gethenians, although they are menwomen, too much like men. Feminists have accused her of not going far enough and for using maleprotagonists.

:: URSULA K. LEGUIN'S LIFE AND WORK: AN INTERVIEW ::

The writer and the woman.

Ursula K. LeGuin draws a sharp line between herself as a person, woman, wife and mother and herself as a writer. An introvert, she jealously keeps her private life to herself, shielding her family and her private self from the limelight.

In her entire body of stories and novels nothing isautobiographical. Her friends and family members will not find themselves in her books as is so often the case with fiction writers. Although the integration of polarities emerges as a central theme in her writing, it seems that hers is a sharply divided world between the private and the professional.

Her answer to my request for a telephone interview came in the form of a short letter, with a...