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Book Description
Shevek, a brilliant physicist, decides to take action. he will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the walls of hatred that have isolated his planet of anarchists from the rest of the civilized universe. To do this dangerous task will mean giving up his family and possibly his life. Shevek must make the unprecedented journey to the utopian mother planet, Anarres, to challenge the complex structures of life and living, and ignite the fires of change.
About the Author
Ursula K. Le Guin is the author of more than one hundred short stories, two collections of essays, four volumes of poetry, and nineteen novels. Her best-known fantasy works, the Earthsea books, have sold millions of copies in America and England, and have been translated into sixteen languages. Her first major work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness, is considered epochmaking in the field because of its radical investigation of gender roles and its moral and literary complexity.
Three of Le Guin's books have been finalists for the American Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, and among the many honors her writing has received are the National Book Award, five Hugo Awards, five Nebula Awards, the Kafka Prize, a Pushcart Prize, and the Harold D. Vursell Award of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
THERE was a wall. Read the first page
Concordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A solid science fiction novel,
By not4prophet (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Dispossessed (Mass Market Paperback)
I recommend "The Dispossessed" because it is a good example of how to write a philosophical novel. The story deals with the planet Urras, a modernist technological society, and the moon Annares, an anarchist Utopia populated by outcasts who fled Urras many generations ago. The plot in this book is really secondary. The purpose of "The Dispossessed" is to analyze both of these societies and to point out their strengths and their flaws. While I don't agree with everything that LeGuin says about community life on Annares, I do believe that she does a good job of displaying what life under such a system would be like. Despite being relatively short, this book covers a lot of ground, including religion, economy, sexuality, family life, and art.With that said, I must confess a little bit of disappointment with the writing of "The Dispossessed". Having read the Earthsea Saga and "The Left Hand of Darkness", I know that LeGuin can do better. In particular, this book lacks any of the great descriptive passages found in her other works. A few good word pictures of the unforgiving landscape on Annares would have gone a long way towards making the book more intensely realistic. Some of the dialogue also falls a little bit short. Still, I view the book overall as being quite impressive, and a must-read for science fiction fans who like to think.
5.0 out of 5 stars
An astonishing, discouraging, truly important book,
By
This review is from: The Dispossessed (Mass Market Paperback)
This book deserves to take its place among the classics that explore the possibilities of creating a just and content society. Unlike Walden 2, or Utopia, the thesis of the Dispossessed is that utopias cannot be realized: the anarchist society of the title already carries the seeds of its own destruction. This is a necessary read for those who mistakenly believe that the "End of History" has arrived.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Imagine no possessions,
By Rex Babiera (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Dispossessed (Mass Market Paperback)
Ursula K. LeGuin always writes thoughtful novels about cultural and/or political clashes. This one is about an idealist, anarchist society exiled to a nearly barren sister planet of a predictably imperialist, capitalist society. If it sounds heavy-handed, it usually is not because it is really about the protagonist and the deeply human story about his two loves: physics and his family. John Lennon sang, "Imagine no possessions"; Ursula K. LeGuin tries to imagine the consequences of no possessions.
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