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The Left Hand of Darkness is one of those books that benefits hugely from second, third, and fourth readings. Since things start out in medias res, and information about how Gethenians behave and communicate and so forth are revealed as you read, there's a lot at the beginning and even in the middle that don't make much sense. That's not to say it's a bad read -- in fact I couldn't put it down the first time -- but the book is far richer if you already understand what Gethenians are, and what that means. It really makes you appreciate how well-crafted the story is. I also really love this quote, where Genry is thinking about Gethenians and war; quote:But on Gethen nothing led to war. Quarrels, murders, feuds, forays, vendettas, assassinations, tortures and abominations, all these were in their repertory of human accomplishments; but they did not go to war. They lacked, it seemed, the capacity to mobilize. They behaved like animals, in that respect; or like women. They did not behave like men, or ants. At any rate they never yet had done so. [...] If this occurred the Gethenians might have an excellent chance of achieving the condition of war. Also, if you like poetry and can track down Le Guin's verse, you won't be disappointed.
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Jan 17, 2014 02:00
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 14:43 |
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Yes, it is from Genry's point of view and it's from early in the story -- he was still in the Karhidish capital. These are the thoughts of the somewhat callow narrator, not necessarily Le Guin's herself. The reason I like the passage isn't that I agree with it. I like it because of the language it uses, and the contrast it draws. It compares animals to women, and then immediately men to insects. Even the order of the comparison is different, to put women and men right next to each other. I think it's rather clever and shocking to read for the first time. I left out some spoilery stuff about how nations in Gethen were behaving and how it looked like war was coming. It's sort of banal geopolitical stuff, and then you segue right into animals are like women, men are like ants; it's jarring. It's stupidly essentialist to be sure, and wrong to boot, but I thought it was neat, rhetorically.
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Jan 17, 2014 03:17
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I was at my parents' house recently looking through some of the books I had left behind and came across The Telling, which is one of her later works set in the Ekumen universe. It's not necessarily a great story but it's definitely enjoyable. However what struck me is that every time I re-read something from LeGuin that I haven't read in a while, I am amazed anew at her gift for economy of language, and how that economy can manifest in beauty. To me it feels very sharp and austere, like a glacier. Which I guess is an appropriate image since The Left Hand of Darkness is like my favorite book  General Battuta posted:Her prose control is enviable and incredible. I've only disagreed with one sentence of hers, although for some reason it's stuck in my head ever since - there's a passage in The Dispossessed where a character compares her daughter's goodness to clear water, and I felt like it was such a LeGuin metaphor it almost felt like self-parody. A stupid thing to get hung up on, but I think it's a testament to how incredibly precise and minimalist she is that I got annoyed with just that one image. Haha I know exactly what you are talking about. The one tick of hers that sort of bothered me was that at least it TLOTD there are several sentences that read like "Fires in Karhide are to warm the spirit not the flesh" and, like, there should be a comma there!
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Jul 13, 2014 07:27
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