2010 Reading #106: The Birthday of the World and Other Stories by Ursula K. Le Guin

[snurri]

Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
Books 61-70.
Books 71-80.
Books 81-90.
Books 91-100.
101. Old Fort Snelling: 1819-1858 by Marcus L. Hansen.
102. Thor: The Mighty Avenger, Volume 1 by Roger Landgridge, Chris Samnee, and Matthew Wilson.
103. Ripley Under Water by Patricia Highsmith.
104. Darkness Calls by Marjorie M. Liu.
105. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.

106. The Birthday of the World and Other Stories by Ursula K. Le Guin. Much of this collection consists of revisitations of settings Le Guin has used before--Gethen ("Coming of Age in Karhide"), O ("Unchosen Love" and "Mountain Ways"), Werel and Yeowe ("Old Music and the Slave Women"). I enjoyed those stories, but I enjoyed more the ones that introduced new settings and ways of being human, even unpleasant ones. I've read "The Matter of Seggri" at least twice before, but it's a story that feels new every time I read it. It's something of a dark story, but a hopeful one, which I think is something you could say of much of Le Guin's work; it has no illusions about the dark side of human nature, but it sees that there are a lot of people trying to do better, and tells us to focus on that. "Solitude" is a story that made me deeply uncomfortable, and I'm not sure if I enjoyed it exactly, but I suspect I'll be remembering it and thinking about it for a long while. And the longest story here, "Paradises Lost," is a seriously engaging generation-ship story; I have some reservations about the religious dynamic that Le Guin uses, but as an anthropological examination of the middle generations who never saw the home planet and never expect to see the destination, it's like nothing I've yet read. So, more Le Guin, more great work; pretty unsurprising, really.

Comments

[czakbar.livejournal.com]

"Solitude" is my favorite Le Guin story in general, but I think only because it reminds me of the social breakdown I've witnessed after economic catastrophe here in my corner of Ohio. The world she describes is one that has imploded as well, and what the anthropologist mother explores is a society of distrust and fear of developed technology and social control systems. Which, minus the fear of developed technology, is a world that is familiar to me. The boys warring in gangs. The girls and women taking care of children independently. It's a horrible vision, but I identified in my own way, especially with the daughter who chose to stay, because it was her world regardless of its quality compared to other worlds.

[unnamed-horror.livejournal.com]

Reading your LeGuin reviews makes me want to go back and re-read all of the LeGuin stories and novels you mentioned. I had a LeGuin obsession for a while, in the late 90s, so your posts are fun to read. My memory is hazy of many of the particulars, so I'll have to dig the books out.