Questions tagged [ursula-le-guin]
Questions related to the American author Ursula K. Le Guin (1929 – 2018) and her work. Her work includes the science fiction novels 'The Left Hand of Darkness' (1969) and 'The Dispossessed' (1974), and the Earthsea series of fantasy novels and stories.
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Was "The Tombs of Atuan" inspired by a real archaeology site?
I once read that the tombs in The Tombs of Atuan were based on a real archaeology site that Le Guin had visited as a child. The article did state which site it was, but I cannot find that article now ...
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Zhuangzi translation in The Lathe of Heaven
In The Lathe of Heaven (1971) Ursula Le Guin uses an epigraph before the start of each chapter. The author most frequently quoted in these epigraphs is the Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi or Chuang Tzu. ...
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What does the raven say to Ged when he first enters the school at Roke?
In the Wizard of Earthsea when Ged first enters the school at Roke, he meets with the Archmage Nemmerle, and a "raven of Osskil" wanders towards the Archmage (his familiar, maybe?) and when the ...
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What is the literary origin of the ability to sense somebody else's powers or "force"?
"The force is strong with this one" is apparently a trope and its meaning has already been discussed in Science Fiction & Fantasy SE. The Star Wars franchise started in 1977, but the ability to ...
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Is there a specific order to read Ursula Le Guin's novels and stories?
Ursula Le Guin wrote both fantasy novels (especially the Earthsea cycle) and science fiction (e.g. the Haynish cycle). The Wikipedia articles about these two cycles don't say whether a specific ...
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How did one become a Wizard in A Wizard of Earthsea?
How did one become a Wizard in A Wizard of Earthsea? Is magic basically just a skill that anyone could theoretically acquire with study, or did one have to be born with certain abilities before you ...
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Why was Ogion troubled by the name of the ship that Ged took to Roke?
When Ged went to Roke, they had the following encounter:
They went down to the quays, where the Harbormaster came hastening to welcome Ogion and ask what service he might do. The mage told him, and ...
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Why were Ogion's teaching methods so different than the teaching methods in Roke?
Ged's first master, Ogion, taught him for a time before he went to Roke. The book commented that
Ogion's seemed a long road towards mastery, a slow bypath to follow, when he might go sailing before ...
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When did Ursula (K) Le Guin use the K on her books and when not?
Some of her books bear the name "Ursula Le Guin"; others, "Ursula K. Le Guin". Why is this? Is it a time thing, i.e. she changed from not using the K to using it, or vice versa, at some point in her ...
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Are wizard and mage used interchangeably in Le Guin's Earthsea series?
In Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea series of books and stories, there is a kind of hierarchy for people who practice magic: witches and sorcerers on one level, and wizards and mages on a higher level. ...
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How did Ursula Le Guin translate the Tao Te Ching / Dao De Jing?
In 1998, Shambhala Publications published a translation of the Tao Te Ching (in pinyin: Daodejing and Dao De Jing) by Ursula Le Guin. The Dao De Jing was written in Classical Chinese, so it takes much ...
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Why could Dragons lie in Old Speech?
In chapter 5 fo A Wizard of Earthsea, which states the following:
[The dragon] spoke, as did Ged, in the Old Speech, for that is the tongue of dragons still. Although the use of Old Speech binds a ...
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How and why were pronoun genders changed in "Winter's King"?
While reading up on the works of the great, recently deceased, author Ursula le Guin, I found the following tidbit on Wikipedia about her short story "Winter's King":
Le Guin revised the story, ...
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Why is the future "a safe, sterile laboratory"?
In an interview with Smithsonian Magazine, Ursula K. Le Guin describes the future as "a safe, sterile laboratory":
But the task of science fiction is not to predict the future. Rather, it ...
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In what ways is The Left Hand of Darkness a feminist novel?
Wikipedia defines feminism as seeking "to define, establish, and achieve political, economic, personal, and social rights for women". It also calls The Left Hand of Darkness part of "feminist science ...
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