The Dispossessed

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The Dispossessed
The Word for World is Forest 
Followed byFour Ways to Forgiveness 

The Dispossessed (subtitled An Ambiguous Utopia) is a 1974 utopian

collectivism
.

It features the development of the mathematical theory underlying a fictional

faster-than-light communication (it can send messages without delay, even between star systems) that plays a critical role in the Hainish Cycle. The invention of the ansible places the novel first in the internal chronology of the Hainish Cycle, although it was the fifth published.[2]

Background

In her introduction to the Library of America reprint in 2017, Le Guin reflected on her past 40 years by writing:

The Dispossessed started as a very bad

Lao Tzu
did. They enabled me to think about war, peace, politics, how we govern one another and ourselves, the value of failure, and the strength of what is weak. So, when I realized that nobody had yet written an anarchist utopia, I finally began to see what my book might be. And I found that its principal character, whom I'd first glimpsed in the original misbegotten story, was alive and well—my guide to Anarres.[4]

Le Guin's parents, academic anthropologists

Alfred and Theodora Kroeber, were friends with J. Robert Oppenheimer; Le Guin stated that Oppenheimer was the model for Shevek, the book's protagonist.[5]
: 2 

Meaning of the title

It has been suggested that Le Guin's title is a reference to

Demons (Russian: Бесы, Bésy), one popular English-language translation of which is titled The Possessed.[6] Many of the philosophical underpinnings and ecological concepts came from Murray Bookchin's Post-Scarcity Anarchism (1971), according to a letter Le Guin sent to Bookchin.[7] Anarres citizens are dispossessed not just by political choice, but by the very lack of actual resources to possess. Here, again, Le Guin draws a contrast with the natural wealth of Urras, and the competitive behaviors this fosters.[8]

Setting

The Dispossessed is set on Anarres and Urras, the twin inhabited worlds of

left-wing parties, one of which is closely linked to the rival society of Thu. When a revolution is sparked in Benbili, the third major, yet undeveloped, area of Urras, A-Io invades the Thu-supported revolutionary area, generating a proxy war
.

The moon, Anarres, represents a more idealist ideological structure: anarcho-syndicalism. The Anarresti, who call themselves Odonians after the founder of their political philosophy, arrived on Anarres from Urras around 200 years ago. In order to forestall an anarcho-syndicalist rebellion, the major Urrasti states gave the revolutionaries the right to live on Anarres, along with a guarantee of non-interference. Before this, Anarres had had no permanent settlements, apart from some mining facilities.

Anarres is settled after a revolution on Urras by the followers of Odo, the central character of Le Guin's 1974 short story The Day Before the Revolution.[9]

The economic and political situation of Anarres and its relation to Urras is ambiguous. The people of Anarres consider themselves as being free and independent, having broken off from the political and social influence of the old world. However, the powers of Urras consider Anarres as being essentially their mining colony, as the annual consignment of Anarres's precious metals and their distribution to major powers on Urras is a major economic event of the old world.

Theoretical timeline

In the last chapter of The Dispossessed, we learn that the Hainish people arrived at Tau Ceti 60 years previously, which is more than 100 years after the secession of the Odonians from Urras and their exodus to Anarres. Terrans are also there, and the novel occurs some time in the future, according to an elaborate chronology worked out by science fiction author Ian Watson in 1975: "the baseline date of AD 2300 for The Dispossessed is taken from the description of Earth in that book (§11) as having passed through an ecological and social collapse with a population peak of 9 billion to a low-population but highly centralized recovery economy."[10] In the same article, Watson assigns a date of AD 4870 to The Left Hand of Darkness; both dates are problematic — as Watson says himself, they are contradicted by "Genly Ai's statement that Terrans 'were ignorant until about three thousand years ago of the uses of zero'".

Story

The chapters alternate between the two planets and between the present and the past. The even-numbered chapters, which are set on Anarres, chronologically take place first and are followed by the odd-numbered chapters, which take place on Urras. The only exceptions occur in the first and last chapters: the first takes place on both the moon and the planet; the last takes place in a spaceship.

Chronological order of chapters
2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13

Anarres (chapters 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12)

Chapter One begins in the middle of the story. The protagonist Shevek is an Anarresti physicist attempting to develop a General Temporal Theory. The physics of the book, Principles of Simultaneity, describes time as having a much deeper, more complex structure than as it is understood. It incorporates not only mathematics and physics, but also philosophy and ethics. Shevek finds his work blocked by a jealous superior, Sabul, who controls the publication of Anarresti manuscripts. As his theories conflict with the prevailing political philosophy, Shevek believes that his ideas are discordant with Anarresti society. Throughout his time in Abbenay, he runs into old acquaintances from his adolescence and his mother, Rulag. One of his old female acquaintances, Takver, becomes involved with Shevek and the two start a relationship and have their first child together.

Shevek's work is further disrupted by his social obligation to perform manual labor during a drought in Anarres's anarchist society. To ensure survival in a harsh environment, the people of Anarres must put the needs of society ahead of their own personal desires, so Shevek performs hard agricultural labor in a dusty desert for four years instead of working on his research. After the drought, he arranges to go to Urras, having won a prestigious award for his work there, to finish and publish his theory with the help of the syndicate he set up to distribute his works. His contact with scholars on Urras and his decision to travel results in political turmoil on Anarres. Shevek is accused of being a traitor by Sabul and threatening the political separation between the two worlds. Believing that his theory will benefit the Anarresti and the wider society, Shevek embarks to Urras.

Urras (chapters 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11)

Shevek's journey to the only spaceport in Anarres is eventful. Having been deemed a traitor by some groups on the planet, Shevek is nearly killed as an angry mob tries to stop him getting on the spaceship to A-Io. Arriving in A-Io, Urras, Shevek is feted. He soon finds himself disgusted with the social, sexual, and political conventions of the hierarchical capitalist society of Urras. His grievances are further explored with the outbreak of war in neighbouring Benbili, of which A-Io is involved with rivalling Thu. At Ieu Eun University, Shevek struggles with teaching the Urrasti students and is manipulated by the physicists there, who hope that his breakthrough on the General Temporal Theory will allow them to build a faster-than-light ship. A mysterious note asking him to join his 'brothers' spooks Shevek, knowing that fellow like-minded anarchists are on Urras - in the shadows. Eventually, at a dinner party, a drunken Shevek publicly denounces his peers on A-Io, scolding them for their materialistic lives and taking their splendor for granted, before leading to a disastrous sexual encounter that further alienates Shevek from his peers. He has a sobering realisation that the theory he proposes will be capitalised by the Urrasti for potential warfare, not for the benefit of society. Shevek escapes the university, contacts an underground revolutionary group from the note he found, joining in a labor protest in Nio Esseia that is violently suppressed. He flees to the Terran embassy, where he asks them to transmit his theory to all worlds. The Terrans provide him safe passage back to Anarres.

Onboard the Davenant (chapter 13)

For interplanetary travel to his world, Anarres, Shevek is shown around a Hainish spaceship. Hainish culture is described. A Hainishman named Ketho, who sympathizes with Odonian thought, wants to disembark with Shevek when they land on Anarres. Not knowing if the Anarresti will welcome him back with open arms, Shevek remains content thinking about his family as the spaceship begins to land.

Themes

Symbolism

The ambiguity of Anarres's economic and political situation in relation to Urras is symbolically manifested in the low wall surrounding Anarres's single spaceport. This wall is the only place on the

anarchist
planet where "No Trespassing!" signs may be seen, and it is where the book begins and ends. The people of Anarres believe that the wall divides a free world from the corrupting influence of an oppressor's ships. On the other hand, the wall could be a prison wall keeping the rest of the planet imprisoned and cut off. Shevek's life attempts to answer this question.

In addition to Shevek's journey to answer questions about his society's true level of freedom, the meaning of his theories themselves weave their way into the plot; they not only describe abstract physical concepts, but they also reflect ups and downs of the characters' lives, and the transformation of the Anarresti society. An oft-quoted saying in the book is "true journey is return."[11] The meaning of Shevek's theories—which deal with the nature of time and simultaneity—have been subject to interpretation. For example, there have been interpretations that the non-linear nature of the novel is a reproduction of Shevek's theory.[12]

Anarchism and capitalism

In her foreword to the collected Hainish novels, Le Guin notes her "great, immediate affinity" with anarchist thinkers Peter Kropotkin and Paul Goodman.[13] Elsewhere, she writes that "Odonism is anarchism," mentioning parallels with Emma Goldman, Taoism and Percy Bysshe Shelley. For Le Guin, anarchism's "principal target is the authoritarian State (capitalist or socialist); its principal moral-practical theme is cooperation (solidarity, mutual aid)."[14]

Both on Anarres and Urras, many conflicts occur between these anarchist principles and the constraints imposed by authority and society. On Anarres, there are no written laws. However, in practice, there are strong conventions about how most things should be done, which frustrate Shevek throughout the novel. Money is also not used, and instead the Anarresti rely on the DivLab database to match volunteer labor with work assignments. Via these conventions and institutions, The Dispossessed depicts an anarchist-syndicalist "alternative to capitalism. Le Guin's computational economy combines a central economic plan for society with democratic decision-making on a syndicalist model, bureaucratic and computational efficiency, and a negotiated tension among syndicate federalism, individual autonomy, and the danger of centralized authority."[15]

The language spoken on Anarres also reflects anarchism. Pravic is a

possessive case is strongly discouraged, a feature that also is reflected by the novel's title.[17] Children are trained to speak only about matters that interest others; anything else is "egoizing" (pp. 28–31). There is no property ownership of any kind. Shevek's daughter, upon meeting him for the first time, tells him, "You can share the handkerchief I use"[18] rather than "You may borrow my handkerchief", thus conveying the idea that the handkerchief is not owned by the girl, but is merely used by her.[19]

Utopianism

The work is sometimes said to represent a modern revival of the utopian genre.[20] When first published, the book included the tagline: "The magnificent epic of an ambiguous utopia!" which was shortened by fans to "An ambiguous utopia" and adopted as a subtitle in certain editions.[21][22]

Le Guin brings her own innovations to the literary tradition of utopia. Many earlier utopian novels featured a visitor to utopia, as a device to teach the reader about its institutions. However The Dispossessed inverts this, by having Shevek, dissatisfied with his life in Annares, travel to Urras. The Dispossessed also does not seek to portray Anarres as a society that is absolutely good, but only as "ambiguously good".[23]

Tom Moylan describes The Dispossessed as "the best known and the most popular of the critical utopias published in the 1970s."

Trouble on Triton
, a focus on utopia's discontents, and an interest in how utopian society interacts with its neighbors.

Feminism

Some critics disagree as to whether The Dispossessed should be considered a

anti-feminist undertones throughout the novel.[27][28]

Morrison argues that Le Guin's portrayed ideals of

Yin and Yang balance, brings attention to the balance between not only the two planets, but between the male and female inhabitants. The celebration of labor on Anarres stems from a celebration of a mother's labor, focusing on creating life rather than on building objects. The sexual freedom on Anarres also contributes to the book's feminist message.[26]

On the other hand, some critics believe that Le Guin's feminist themes are either weak or not present. Some believe that the Taoist interdependence between the genders actually weakens Le Guin's feminist message. Marcellino believes that the anarchist themes in the novel take precedence and dwarf any feminist themes.[27] Lefanu adds that there is a difference between the feminist messages that the book explicitly presents and the anti-feminist undertones. For example, the book says that women created the society on Anarres. However, female characters seem secondary to the male protagonist, who seems to be a traditional male hero; Lefanu asserts that this subversion weakens any feminist message that Le Guin was trying to convey.[28]

Prison abolition

Odo, the founder of Anarresti society, wrote her most influential works during a nine-year imprisonment. Anarres itself has no prisons. Its post-carceral nature becomes apparent in chapter two, when a group of Annaresti schoolchildren learn about prisons in their history lesson.[6][29] The teacher describes prisons "with the reluctance of a decent adult forced to explain an obscenity to children. Yes, he said, a prison was a place where a State put people who disobeyed its Laws."[30] Fascinated by this "perversity", the schoolchildren construct their own prison and detain one of their own inside. They are ultimately horrified by the experience.

Figurative imprisonment is an important theme in the novel too. In both the Urrasti and Anarresti parts of the novel, "time after time the question of who is being locked out or in, which side of the wall one is on, is the focus of the narrative."[31] Mark Tunik emphasises that the wall is the dominant metaphor for social constraints in The Dispossessed. While on Urras, Shevek hits "the wall of charm, courtesy, indifference." He later notes that he let a "wall be built around him" that kept him from seeing the poor people on Urras. He had been co-opted, with walls of smiles of the rich, and he didn't know how to break them down. Shevek at one point speculates that the people on Urras are not truly free, precisely because they have so many walls built between people and are so possessive. He says, "You are all in jail. Each alone, solitary, with a heap of what he owns. You live in prison, die in prison. It is all I can see in your eyes – the wall, the wall!" '[32]

It is not just the state of mind of those inside the prisons that concerns Shevek, he also notes the effect on those outside the walls. Steve Grossi says, "by building a physical wall to keep the bad in, we construct a mental wall keeping ourselves, our thoughts, and our empathy out, to the collective detriment of all." Shevek himself later says, "those who build walls are their own prisoners."[33]

Publication

In Le Guin's book-writing process, the story always came to her through a character rather than an event, idea, plot, or society. The story behind The Dispossessed first occurred to Le Guin through a vision, revealed as if seen from a distance, first as a male physicist, his thin face, clear eyes, large ears, possibly recalling a memory of Robert Oppenheimer, and a vivid personality.

Marx and Engels, William Godwin, Emma Goldman, Paul Goodman and, foremost, Peter Kropotkin and Mary Shelley.[35]

Le Guin wrote The Dispossessed in 1973 for publication in May[36] or June 1974.[37]

Critical reception

The novel received generally positive reviews. On the positive side, Baird Searles characterized the novel as an "extraordinary work", saying Le Guin had "created a working society in exquisite detail" and "a fully realized hypothetical culture [as well as] living breathing characters who are inevitable products of that culture".[38] Gerald Jonas, writing in The New York Times, said that "Le Guin's book, written in her solid, no-nonsense prose, is so persuasive that it ought to put a stop to the writing of prescriptive Utopias for at least 10 years".[39] Theodore Sturgeon praised The Dispossessed as "a beautifully written, beautifully composed book", saying "it performs one of [science fiction's] prime functions, which is to create another kind of social system to see how it would work. Or if it would work."[40]

Lester del Rey, however, gave the novel a mixed review, citing the quality of Le Guin's writing but claiming that the ending "slips badly", a deus ex machina that "destroy[s] much of the strength of the novel".[41]

Awards

Award Result[1]
Hugo Award for Best Novel Won
John W. Campbell Memorial Award
 Nominated
Locus Award for Best Novel Won
Nebula Award for Best Novel Won
Prometheus Award Hall of Fame Won

Adaptations

In 1987, the CBC Radio anthology program Vanishing Point adapted The Dispossessed into a series of six 30 minute episodes.[42]

On October 5, 2021, it was announced that 1212 Entertainment and Anonymous Content would adapt the novel into a limited series.[43]

Translations

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b "Ursula K. Le Guin Awards". Science Fiction Awards Database. Locus Science Fiction Foundation. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
  2. humans. In other tales in the Hainish Cycle, an ansible already exists. The word "ansible" was coined in Rocannon's World (first in order of publication but third in internal chronology), where it is central to the plot, and became an important concept throughout the realm of science fiction
    .
  3. ^ An allusion to the spiritual "Down by the Riverside"
  4. ^ “Introduction” from Ursula K. Le Guin: The Hainish Novels & Stories, Volume One, retrieved 9/8/2017
  5. ISBN 0805773932
    .
  6. ^ a b "Study Guide for Ursula LeGuin: The Dispossessed (1974)" - Paul Brians Archived 2005-11-07 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Janet Biehl, Bookchin biographer; letter in UKL archive
  8. ^ Mathiesen.
  9. ISBN 0-8057-7393-2
    .
  10. ^ Watson, Ian (March 1975). "Le Guin's Lathe of Heaven and the Role of Dick: The False Reality as Mediator". Science Fiction Studies # 5 = Volume 2, Part 1. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  11. ^ Said by Shevek near the end of Chapter 13
  12. ^ Rigsby, Ellen M. (2005), p. 169
  13. ^ Le Guin, Ursula (30 August 2017). ""Introduction" from Ursula K. Le Guin: The Hainish Novels & Stories, Volume One".
  14. ^ Le Guin, Ursula (1975). The Wind's Twelve Quarters. Bantam Books.
  15. ^ Elizabeth Stainforth and Jo Lindsay Walton. 2019. ‘Computing Utopia: The Horizons of Computational Economies in History and Science Fiction’. Science Fiction Studies 46 (3): 471–89. https://doi.org/10.5621/sciefictstud.46.3.0471.
  16. ^ Laurence, Davis and Peter G. Stillman. The New Utopian Politics of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed, Lexington Books (2005). Pp. 287-298.
  17. ^ Conley, Tim and Stephen Cain. Encyclopedia of Fictional and Fantastic Languages. Greenwood Press, Westport (2006). Pp. 46-47.
  18. ^ Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed, p.69.
  19. ^ Burton (1985).
  20. ^ Davis and Stillman (2005).
  21. ^ "Book review discussing meanings". 29 August 2010.
  22. JSTOR 20719930
    .
  23. JSTOR 4238976
    .
  24. ^ Tom Moylan, Demand the Impossible: Science Fiction and the Utopian Imagination. Ed., Raffaella Baccolini. Bern: Peter Lang (2014), p. 87.
  25. ^ Tom Moylan, Demand the Impossible: Science Fiction and the Utopian Imagination. Ed., Raffaella Baccolini. Bern: Peter Lang (2014), p. 10.
  26. ^
    ProQuest 878894517
    .
  27. ^
    ProQuest 200658410
    .
  28. ^
    ISBN 978-1-136-32152-8
    .
  29. ^ "The Dispossessed". Samizdat (2015). 20 December 2015. Retrieved 2016-10-28.
  30. ^ Le Guin, Ursula. "Chapter 2". The Dispossessed. p. 44.
  31. ^ Barbour, Douglas. "Wholeness and Balance". Science Fiction Studies (1975). Retrieved 2016-10-27.
  32. ^ Tunik, Mark (January 2005). The Need for Walls: Privacy, Community, and Freedom in The Dispossessed. Lexington Books (2005). Retrieved 2016-10-27.
  33. ^ Grossi, Steve (2 February 2013). "The Dispossessed". Steve Grossi (2013). Retrieved 2016-10-27.
  34. ^ Le Guin 1989, pp. 107–108.
  35. ^ Le Guin 1989, pp. 108–109.
  36. ISBN 978-1-4214-2713-3
    .
  37. ISBN 978-0-399-50482-2
    .
  38. Village Voice
    , November 21, 1974, pp.56, 58
  39. ^ "Of Things to Come", The New York Times Book Review, October 26, 1975
  40. ^ "Galaxy Bookshelf", Galaxy Science Fiction, June 1974, pp.97-98
  41. ^ "Reading Room", If, August 1974, pp.144-45
  42. ^ Times Past Old Time Radio Archives.
  43. ^ Otterson, Joe (2021-10-05). "1212 Entertainment, Anonymous Content Team to Adapt Ursula K. Le Guin's 'The Dispossessed' as TV Series (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2022-01-17.

Works cited

  • Le Guin, Ursula K. (1989). "Bibliographic Checklist of the Works of Ursula K. Le Guin". In Wood, Susan (ed.). The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction (Revised ed.). New York: HarperCollins. pp. 240–249.
    ISBN 0-06-016835-8
    .

Anarchism and The Dispossessed

Gender and The Dispossessed

Language and The Dispossessed

Property and possessions

  • Werner Christie Mathiesen, "The Underestimation of Politics in Green Utopias: The Description of Politics in Huxley's Island, Le Guin's The Dispossessed, and Callenbach's Ecotopia", Utopian Studies: Journal of the Society for Utopian Studies, v.12, n.1, pp. 56–78 (2001).

Science and The Dispossessed

  • Ellen M. Rigsby, "Time and the Measure of the Political Animal." The New Utopian Politics of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed. Ed., Laurence Davis and Peter Stillman. Lanham: Lexington books., 2005.

Taoism and The Dispossessed

  • Elizabeth Cummins Cogell, "Taoist Configurations: The Dispossessed", pp. 153–179 in De Bolt & Malzberg, editors, Ursula K. Le Guin: Voyager to Inner Lands and to Outer Space, Port Washington, NY: Kennikat (1979).

Utopian literature and The Dispossessed

  • James W. Bittner, "Chronosophy, Ethics, and Aesthetics in Le Guin's The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia, pp. 244–270 in Rabkin, Greenberg, and Olander, editors, No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction, Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press (1983).
  • John P. Brennan, "Anarchism and Utopian Tradition in The Dispossessed", pp. 116–152, in Olander & Greenberg, editors, Ursula K. Le Guin, New York: Taplinger (1979).
  • Tom Moylan, Demand the Impossible: Science Fiction and the Utopian Imagination. Ed., Raffaella Baccolini. Bern: Peter Lang (2014). First published 1986.
  • Bülent Somay, "Towards an Open-Ended Utopia",
    Science-Fiction Studies
    , v.11, n.1 (#32), pp. 25–38 (March 1984).
  • Peter Fitting, "Positioning and Closure: On the 'Reading Effect' of Contemporary Utopian Fiction", Utopian Studies, v.1, pp. 23–36 (1987).
  • Kingsley Widmer, "The Dialectics of Utopianism: Le Guin's The Dispossessed", Liberal and Fine Arts Review, v.3, nos.1–2, pp. 1–11 (Jan.–July 1983).
  • L. Davis and P. Stillman, editors, "The new utopian politics of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed", Lexington Books, (2005).
  • Carter F. Hanson, "Memory's Offspring and Utopian Ambiguity in Ursula K. Le Guin's 'The Day Before the Revolution' and The Dispossessed", Science Fiction Studies (2013)

Additional references

  • Judah Bierman, "Ambiguity in Utopia: The Dispossessed",
    Science-Fiction Studies
    , v.2, pp. 249–255 (1975).
  • James F. Collins, "The High Points So Far: An Annotated Bibliography of Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed", Bulletin of Bibliography, v.58, no.2, pp. 89–100 (June 2001).
  • James P. Farrelly, "The Promised Land: Moses, Nearing, Skinner, and Le Guin", JGE: The Journal of General Education, v.33, n.1, pp. 15–23 (Spring 1981).

External links

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