The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) — Ursula K. LeGuin | Literary Classics #18


image.png
source

I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that I tried to read one of Ursula K LeGuin's books, The Left Hand of Darkness, in a state of absent-minded half-attentiveness. The audacity of mine! The result was that I struggled for a few days ultimately dropping it altogether—utterly defeated. And for many months, I didn't go back to it, cowering in my shame.

But Ursula is a novelist I deeply admire, and nothing could bar my ways from retracing the steps. On top of that, there was an erudite introduction by her at the beginning—about the nature of science-fiction. How it is not explorative, how it is not future predicting. "A novelist’s business is lying." as she'd say, and novels are descriptive. Made of lies by the author based on their ideas, expressions, and a form of what-ifs aptly named as thought experiments by physicists. Sci-fi novelists do not predict the future, they merely offer what is and could have been as mere conjectures and thought experiments.
As I pushed through the book, I began to understand why she felt that introduction was needed.

In The Left Hand of Darkness, we're introduced to one Genly Ai, an envoy from the Ekumen—a large confederation consisting of 83 planets, all inhabited by humans of different species. Genly Ai is sent to planet Gethen, alone—to convince the Gethenians to join the confederation for the good of their planet and art, science, knowledge, and most importantly, commerce.

The coalition of humanoid planets sent Genly Ai alone as a lone envoy doesn't invoke fear of invasion and are more likely to be willing to join the coalition. However, Genly Ai is having a hard time convincing the Gethenians. Most don't believe him to be an alien, and like any civilization lacking in prosperity, fear their progressed counterparts and suspect of treachery.

There's another issue that bars the ways of Genly Ai. The inhabitant humans of the planet Gethen are androgynous. Meaning, they're neither male nor female. Every Gethenian can turn into a male or a female based on their sexual cycle and no fixed sexual identification can be imposed on them. And based on their sexuality at any given time, their behavior changes. They consider any human who's permanently male or permanently female as a pervert!

Genly Ai finds it hard to come to terms with such distinctive traits in humans. But perhaps, the prime minister of the kingdom of Karhide will be able to provide him with enough support to go on. The two will, later on, build a strong bond through mistrusts and misguided carefulness.

This book is very atypical of what we generally consider as science fiction. There are aliens and multi-planetary coalitions, space travels in near speed light—but all of those are in some sort of hearsay and do not come to pass as thrilling events or heroic deeds. The book deals primarily with political intrigue, sexuality, gender equality, and prosperity in general—through conversations. It's a philosophical novel of sort as well.

One of those caught my eyes—Not having sexual distinction, Gethenians are far less aggressive, and not invasive. Sure, occasional murders and capital punishment exist, but they don't actively wage war, loot, forage, mass rape. All of which are usually masculine traits. Perhaps, embracing our inner femininity was always a means to end wars? After all, we all develop as females in the womb.

The Left Hand of Darkness is a thought-provoking classic and should be given a serious read by anyone of any age.
Let me finish with one of the quotes by the prime minister of Carhide, one Estraven—

What is love of one’s country; is it hate of one’s uncountry? Then it’s not a good thing. Is it simply self-love? That’s a good thing, but one mustn’t make a virtue of it, or a profession.

Truer cautionary remakes haven't been spoken.

divider 1.png

hive format 2.jpg

Hive footer notacinephile.gif

H2
H3
H4
3 columns
2 columns
1 column
1 Comment
Ecency