Book Name: Left hand of darkness Author: Ursala Le Guin Genre: SciFi Goodreads: Link Storygraph: Link Like Mensche: the Lord of time featured in the Left hand of Darkness is an award winning and timeless novel by Ursala Le Guin's which has become a classic within the Science Fiction genre. The authors thoughts relating to society, religion an gender politics shines through in this novel and are very relevant an applicable to Terrans such as us. The duality of the citizens of Gethen due to their androgenous nature is juxtaposed with the unchanging season of cold and ice. The unchanging ha also led to a timelessness aspect of the novel where the main events of the novel are interspersed with even dating generations ago. The sliding timescale used on Gethen adds to the ambiguity this creates. This ha also ked to an interesting mashup of elements drawn from the past such a kings an domains with futuristic elements such as star ships an Ray guns which is a hallmark of good science fiction literature. It's fascinating that while the novel has made a noteworthy contribution to the feminist canon, the story is mainly narrate through the eyes of the envoy Genly Ai; a male who refers to the Gethenians only in the masculine pronoun. While Le Guin May have been reluctant to invent a different word ( surprising considering the world building which has gone into the world that the story occupies) it may also be the author critique of the fact that even feminist literature is trapped within the gender stereotyping which is a result of a patriarchal society. While the reader may at first be disoriented by the ambiguity relating to the imagined language at the start of the novel, it provides a tour de force of the socio political landscape of Gethen in a seamless manner. I highly recommend this book for both fans and non-fans of Science Fiction. Favourite Quotes
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AuthorAvid reader of Historical fiction, High fantasy novels, Comics & Graphic Novels. Passionate about teaching & the future of education in general. Categories
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December 2023
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