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The Dispossessed
 
 
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The Dispossessed (School & Library Binding)

by Ursula K. Le Guin (Author) "THERE was a wall ..." (more)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)

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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.

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.


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Unwilling to accept that his anarchist world must be separated from the rest of the civilized universe, Shevek, a brilliant physicist, risks his life by traveling to the utopian mother planet of Urras. Reissue. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews

72 Reviews
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4.3 out of 5 stars (72 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Illuminating, Inspiring, Beautiful, Oct 21 2003
By J.W.K (Nagano, Japan) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: The Dispossessed (Mass Market Paperback)
Whether or not THE DISPOSSESED passes as good sci-fi, I know not. I am not very knowledgeable of what SF fans look for in a book. As a novel, and as a philosophical exploration of authoritarianism, anarchism, capitalism, communism, revolution and utopianism -- this book is first-rate. The questions Le Guin grapples with here are by no means simple. Even great philosophers, like Marx and Bakunin, had difficultly imagining what an ACTUAL society would look like without bosses and owners. But through the gripping tale of an anarchist caught between two fundamentally different worlds, Le Guin seeks answers to many of the questions these philosophers left untouched. How would an anarchist society function? What would it take as its fundamental principles? What problems would that society have? What would a "propertarian" capitalist society appear from the perspective of an anarchist? Without offering any quick or final answers, Le Guin sheds light on these issues and beckons the reader to imagine the possibility of another world. After all, the evolution of culture here on planet earth was why Le Guin wrote this book in the first place. Inspiring, moving and transformative, this book was a pleasure. Thank you, Ursula. You have successfully removed another brick from the wall.

Note: The Perrenial Classics edition of this book (not this edition) is much more sturdy and readable, if a little more pricy.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Eternal Revolution?, April 19 2004
By Christopher B. Siren (Medford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Dispossessed (Mass Market Paperback)
Shevek is a physicist from a world of anarchists who finds the only way to spread his revolutionary ideas of temporal physics is to visit the world who exiled his culture nearly 200 years ago. In this act and in those leading to and from it, he brings a reexamination of the revolutionary anarchy of the desolate moon Anarres as well as casts a gaze on the stratified capitalist world of Urras.

Set in the same universe of LeGuin's other space stories, _The_Dispossessed_ critiques the capitalism of late 20th century Western culture, with its proxy wars and gender inequities, the failings of idealized communist societies which succumb to human drives for power through buereacracy, as well as the drive in both to maintain a status quo.

In addition, Shevek's struggle to unify linear and circular views of temporal physics parallels Einstein's (or Ainsetain's (sic))and modern physics struggles to unify general relativity with quantum mechanics. This, along with insights into the perils of dual career families and academic politics round out the tale.

Shevek, is perhaps the only fully realized character and he serves as the readers eyes onto the two Cetian societies and thus the aforementioned critique of our own. So, while I did identify and feel empathy for Shevek, it was the social descriptions and plot which kept me from putting the book down more than once to sleep, over the course of 24 hours.

Are you possessed by your possessions? by your ideas?

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile Utopian Fiction, Mar 7 2004
This review is from: The Dispossessed (Mass Market Paperback)
There is a planet called Urras. To earthling readers in 1974 it is remarkably familiar, dominated politically by the highly centralized communist state of Thu and the dynamic capitalist state of A-Io. About a century and a half before the story begins however, there was also a troublesome anarchist sect, the so-called Odonians. Eager to be free of this bothersome lot, the Council of World Governments allowed them to settle on Anarres, Urras' moon, there to live in unmolested isolation. Life there is tough. The moon, while habitable, is bleak and life there is grim. But the Odonian Anarresti society has survived and remained true to its anarchistic tenets. There are no laws there and no one is ever compelled to do anything, not in any case by courts and policemen. But it would be quite wrong to say there is no power or that the operation of that power cannot be thoroughly nasty and oppressive. So the brilliant Anarresti physicist Shevek has plenty to be unhappy about when he becomes the first Anarresti since the original settlement to visit Urras. Le Guin's novel tells two parallel stories, the story of the events in Shevek's life in Anarres that lead up to his exile, and the story of what befalls him on Urras.

It is a very interesting novel of ideas. It's also various other things, an adventure story, a love story, a story about the growth and development of its central character. At these latter levels it succeeds rather imperfectly. Le Guin's writing is a little too stodgy, very dry and humourless, her characterization a little too lacking in sureness and in many ways the book drags a little. But as a novel of ideas it remains eminently worth reading, especially for the parts set on Anarres, much the most interesting chapters of the novel, with their impressively thoughtful and honestly ambivalent picture both of what might be attractive and of what would might be horrible about the sort of large scale anarchistic experiment in living Le Guin there imagines for us.

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 		 Most recent customer reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Move Over Ayn Rand
LeGuin does for anarchosyndicalism what Ayn Rand attempts to do for capitalism. The difference? LeGuin succeeds. Read more
Published on Feb 3 2004 by Robert J. Kolker

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful and compelling
Quick -- name three SF literary portraits of functional societies founded on principles of anarchism. Read more
Published on Sep 16 2003 by John S. Ryan

5.0 out of 5 stars The Book that Changed Everything ...
There are three groups of people in the world: those whose favorite LeGuin book is THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS; those whose favorite LeGuin book is THE DISPOSSESSED; and ... Read more
Published on Sep 14 2003 by Chris Moriarty, author of SPIN...

5.0 out of 5 stars Ursula's Utopia
I read this book years ago and have re-read it many times. It and Left Hand of Darkness are my favorite novels by LeGuin. Both books start with a what-if premise. Read more
Published on Sep 11 2003 by J. Badger

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Le Guin's Best
This book ranks high in my top ten list, and actually well above the Left Hand of Darkness. It's characters are complex and interesting and the political commentary is insightful... Read more
Published on Jul 22 2003 by Sarah Conklin

4.0 out of 5 stars A solid science fiction novel
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... Read more
Published on Jun 6 2003 by not4prophet

5.0 out of 5 stars Politics and corruption on two contrasting worlds
"The Dispossessed" is a utopian/dystopian novel along the lines of "Brave New World" or "The Handmaid's Tale. Read more
Published on May 30 2003 by D. Cloyce Smith

1.0 out of 5 stars A Waste of Time and Money
This is possibly one of the most hypocritical chunks of literature I have ever been forced to read. There is nothing here to praise except an unlikeable, dull, and whiney man who... Read more
Published on April 24 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars A Thoughtful Utopia
Which begs the question: aren't all utopias (beginning with the original) thoughtful? Yes and no. Quite a deal of thought usually goes into utopian societies, yet most, in my... Read more
Published on April 21 2003 by Michael A. Kopp

5.0 out of 5 stars An astonishing, discouraging, truly important book
This book deserves to take its place among the classics that explore the possibilities of creating a just and content society. Read more
Published on Mar 1 2003 by M. Mullany

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