The Eye of the Heron
OCLC 12449108 | |
The Eye of the Heron is a 1978 science fiction novel by American author Ursula K. Le Guin which was first published in the science fiction anthology Millennial Women.
Plot introduction
The Eye of the Heron is a science fiction novel set on the fictional
Title
The title is a reference to a fictional animal on the planet Victoria which early colonists called heron because of some superficial similarities to Earth heron. The characters' encounters with these animals occur at moments of significant introspection, particularly when they are considering that which they perceive as alien, or other, in relation to themselves.
Plot summary
The planet of Victoria received two waves of colonists from Earth: first two prison ships founding a penal colony and then one ship of political exiles. The descendants of the prisoners mostly inhabit the City. The descendants of the political exiles, the "People of Peace", inhabit Shantih Town, which is known to the City dwellers as Shanty Town. The Shantih Towners, whose primary occupation is farming, want to settle another valley further away from the City. The City "Bosses" do not want to lose the control they believe they have over the Shanty Towners and so they take action to try to prevent any settlement beyond their sphere of influence.
Characters
City characters
- Luz Marina Falco Cooper
- Luis Burnier Falco (Luz's father and a Boss)
- Herman Macmilan
- Captain Eden
Shantih Town characters
- Vera Adelson
- Lev Shults
- Southwind
- Andre
- Hari
- Elia
Major themes
The major themes in The Eye of the Heron are common to much of
When asked, in a 1995 interview, what role the feminist movement had played in her writing, Le Guin situated The Eye of the Heron in the context of her development as a writer:
I gradually realized that my own fiction was telling me that I could no longer ignore the feminine. While I was writing The Eye of the Heron in 1977, the hero insisted on destroying himself before the middle of the book. "Hey," I said, "you can't do that, you're the hero. Where's my book?" I stopped writing. The book had a woman in it, but I didn't know how to write about women. I blundered around a while and then found some guidance in feminist theory. I got excited when I discovered feminist literary criticism was something I could read and actually enjoy. I read
honorary man anymore, that I could write like a woman and feel liberated in doing so.[1]
Allusions in other works
The Eye of the Heron contains the phrase "beginning place". Le Guin incorporated it into the title of her 1980 novel The Beginning Place.
Awards and nominations
- 1979, Locus Award, Best SF Novel category, 21st place.[2]
Release details
- 1978, in ISBN 978-0-440-05599-0, pp. 305, 1978, hardcover
- 1979, in ISBN 978-0-440-16301-5, April 1979, serial?
- 1980, in The Eye of the Heron and Other Stories, edited by ISBN 0-586-05089-2, pp. 251, 5 June 1980, paperback
- 1982, The Eye of the Heron, UK, ISBN 978-0-575-03211-8, pp. 122 or 144, 30 September 1982, hardcover
- 1982, The Eye of the Heron, U.S., ISBN 978-0-06-015086-0, pp. 179, December 1982, hardcover
- 1984, The Eye of the Heron, ISBN 978-0-553-24258-4, pp. 179, 1 August 1984, paperback
- 1988, The Eye of the Heron, U.S., J. Curley, large print, paperback,
- 1991, The Eye of the Heron, U.S., Harper Paperbacks (ISBN 978-0-06-100138-3, pp. 198 or 208, 1 January 1991, paperback
- 1991, The Eye of the Heron with ISBN 978-0-575-05060-0, pp. 256 or 301, 6 June 1991, paperback
- 2000, The Eye of the Heron, Thorndike Press (large print?, hardcover
- 2003, The Eye of the Heron, Starscape Books (ISBN 978-0-7653-4612-4, pp. 192, September 2003, paperback
- 2024, in Ursula K. Le Guin: Five Novels, edited by ISBN 978-1-59853-773-4, pp. 1000, hardcover
See also
References
- Notes
- ^ White, Jonathan (Spring 1995). "Coming back from the silence (interview with Ursula Le Guin)". Whole Earth Review.
- Locus Publications. Archived from the originalon 2015-04-13. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
- Bibliography
- Bernardo, Susan M.; Murphy, Graham J. (2006). Ursula K. Le Guin: A Critical Companion (1st ed.). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-33225-8.
- Cadden, Mike (2005). Ursula K. Le Guin Beyond Genre: Fiction for Children and Adults (1st ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-99527-2.