Ursula K. Le Guin

by

Sandra J. Lindow

• LAST REVIEWED: 13 April 2023
• LAST MODIFIED: 15 January 2020
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199827251-0210

Introduction

One of the most influential voices in contemporary American literature, Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929–d. 2018) began publishing in the 1960s and soon became known for her courageous exploration of ethics, ecology, and diversity using fantastic and futuristic settings. Elevating fantasy and science fiction from pulp-era sword and sorcery and space opera, her fiction explores and condemns chauvinistic traditions of colonialism, nationalism, sexism, and racism. Through her literary approach to genre themes and settings, she inspired not only generations of genre writers but also many mainstream writers who incorporated fantastic elements in their work. Ursula Kroeber was born on in Berkeley, California. Her parents were Alfred Kroeber, pioneering anthropologist, and Theodora Kroeber, author of Ishi in Two Worlds. She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1951, earned a masters degree from Columbia University in 1952, and married historian Charles Le Guin in 1953. A prolific writer, she published more than sixty books including novels for adults and young adults, picture books, short story collections, critical nonfiction, poetry, screenplays, and works of translation. Genre and mainstream recognition occurred throughout her career. Her first fantasy novel, A Wizard of Earthsea (1968), earned the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. Her groundbreaking novel The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) won Hugo and Nebula Awards. She was only the second woman to receive both honors for one book. The Farthest Shore (1973) won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. The Dispossessed (1974) won Locus, Nebula, and Hugo Awards. Overall, her novels alone received five Locus, four Nebulas, two Hugos, and one World Fantasy Award. In 1989 she accepted the Pilgrim Award for her critical work. In 1994, 1996, and 1997, she earned Tiptree Awards for her exploration of gender through her depiction of androgyny and alternative cultures that privilege nonheteronormative marriage. Le Guin’s lifetime achievement awards recognize her importance in American literature. In 2000, the US Library of Congress named her a Living Legend for her significant contributions to America’s cultural heritage. In 2002, she won the PEN/Malamud Award for excellence in short fiction and the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers Association. In 2014, she received the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. In his introduction to her National Book Award acceptance speech, author Neil Gaiman describes her as someone who made him not only a better writer but also a better person as a writer.

General Overviews

The size of Le Guin’s body of work is such that book-length overviews cannot cover everything of literary significance but must focus thematically. Although it is limited to her early work, Bittner 1984 provides initial insight into Le Guin’s themes and her dynamic fictional movement toward community, which was further explored in Rochelle 2001. Spivak 1984 and Cummins 1993 also provide valuable groundwork for critical discussion, especially related to teaching Le Guin’s work. White 1999 focuses on Le Guin’s relationship with her critics and has inspired later work by Cadden and Lindow regarding Le Guin’s children’s books. Overall, Rochelle 2001, Cadden 2005, Bernardo and Murphy 2006, Erlich 2010, Clarke 2010, and Lindow 2012 approach Le Guin’s oeuvre from slightly different thematic directions but largely agree on her importance in the genre.

• Bernardo, Susan M., and Graham J. Murphy. Ursula K. Le Guin: A Critical Companion. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2006.

  Survey of Le Guin’s fiction written for high school and undergraduate students. Follows Greenwood’s format beginning with biography and an interview. “The Literary Genealogy of Science Fiction and Ursula K. Le Guin” explains SF through S. R. Delany’s concept of subjunctivity. Chapters summarize major work including the Earthsea Series, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Lathe of Heaven, The Dispossessed, The Eye of the Heron, and The Telling.

• Bittner, James. Approaches to the Fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1984.

  Early published dissertation argues that Le Guin works within the romantic tradition explicated in pioneering work by Kathryn Hume and Joseph Campbell. Suggests plot structures consist of a journey outward followed by a spiral back home. Promotes thematic pairings of Earthsea, Hainish, and Orsinian fiction. Demonstrates Theodore Kroeber’s literary influence. See White 1999. Limited in that later work such as Always Coming Home and Tehanu react against romantic journey endings.

• Cadden, Mike. Ursula K. Le Guin beyond Genre. New York: Routledge, 2005.

  DOI: 10.4324/9780203997116

  Explores the breadth of Le Guin’s work, including children’s picture and chapter books and young adult novels. Emphasizes her mainstream crossover appeal. Offers thorough discussion of her narrative techniques. Demonstrates how her work functions as a linked series of genre-blending “thought experiments.” Explores Le Guin’s anthropomorphism, character development, depiction of home, and guiding ethical compass. Concludes with a lengthy interview, a helpful chronological table, and extensive notes.

• Clarke, Amy M. Ursula K. Le Guin’s Journey to Post-Feminism. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010.

  Looks through the lens of modern gender theory and practice to view Le Guin’s career-spanning feminist evolution. Reflects how Le Guin’s paradigm shift in the 1970s to feminism profoundly affected her work thematically and structurally. Emphasizes Le Guin’s rejection of masculinism and sexual separatism to valorize community and balance over individual heroism. Excellent analysis of her rethinking of sexuality as depicted in the Earthsea Series. Includes references to her poetry.

• Cummins, Elizabeth. Understanding Ursula K. Le Guin. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1993.

  Trade paperback updates earlier 1990 edition with another chapter and an extended bibliography. Solid introduction to Le Guin’s early and mid-career work through Tehanu. Particularly strong in its discussion of Always Coming Home, Le Guin’s controversial postmodernist, ethnographic novel, and “The New Atlantis,” which has recently been given renewed attention due to predicted effects of global warming. Highlights emergence and evolution of Le Guin’s ideas regarding gender.

• Erlich, Richard D. Coyote’s Song: The Teaching Stories of Ursula K. Le Guin. Cabin John, MD: Borgo Press, 2010.

  Major comprehensive survey of Le Guin’s fiction, poetry, and children’s books with detailed analysis reflecting over thirty years of study regarding Le Guin’s intention to teach through her writing. Particular strength is in contextualization of Le Guin’s lesser-known work. Cogent analysis of her quarrels with Christianity and corresponding use of Daoism and other world mythology in creating an ethical structure for her fiction.

• Lindow, Sandra. Dancing the Tao: Le Guin and Moral Development. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars, 2012.

  Comprehensive examination of Le Guin’s interrelated fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Traces her depiction of moral development from infancy through moral maturity as influenced by her lifelong commitment to Taoism. Further insight provided through research by feminist moral theorists such as Carol Gilligan and Mary Field Belenky. Focuses on Le Guin’s evolving response to the long-term traumatic effects of violence and abuse. Includes discussion of picture books and poetry.

• Rochelle, Warren G. Communities of the Heart: The Rhetoric of Myth in the Fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press, 2001.

  DOI: 10.5949/liverpool/9780853238768.001.0001

  Places Le Guin within the historical and sociocultural context of American writers such as Emerson, Thoreau, and Dewey, a legacy of romantic imagination that is reimagined for her own purposes. Relates her recurring emphasis on the power of naming, reflecting, and rethinking theorists of language, culture, and myth such as Lev Vygotsky, Carl Jung, and Joseph Campbell. Focuses on her valorization of community.

• Spivak, Charlotte. Ursula K. Le Guin. Boston: Twayne, 1984.

  Influential introductory survey of Le Guin’s science fiction and fantasy, including discussion of nonfiction, poetry, personal conversations, and interviews. Provides biography, chronology, intellectual background, literary influences, and analysis of key work through 1981. Insightful but published prior to the full flowering of Le Guin’s feminism. Analysis of Malafrena limited by the traditional academic mindset that follows the hero’s storyline without mentioning contributions of female characters. See Clarke 2010.

• White, Donna R. Dancing with Dragons: Le Guin and the Critics. Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1999.

  Examines how Le Guin’s academic education enabled a continuing dialogue with her critics, regarding evolving views on feminism, environmentalism, and utopia. Examines various strands of Le Guin criticism, demonstrating how critical interaction informed and influenced Le Guin’s work and critical stance. Focalizes emergence of Le Guin’s reputation as a major American voice and suggests need for increased critical attention on her writing for children.