Tales from Earthsea

Rating:
Summary: Against the commodity of fantasy writing
Review: In "Dragonfly," one dragon touching on Roke became dragons flying over the Inmost Sea, thanks to sailors' amplifications--& then the witch-hunt ensues. In "Bones of the Earth," two wizards' work became the unwanted glory of one, the other forgotten or disregarded. In "The Finder," one well-meaning hero grows complacent & breaches the security of Roke. Are these lessons?

By the time of this review, all six of Le Guin's Earthsea cycle are available as mass-market paperbacks. This wide distribution entails considerable hazard for the thoughtful reception of work, as many of the unfavorable views given in this forum attest. The real wonder of fantasy involves a thinking, perplexed imagination, a test of capacity. Magic works the same way in the world of Earthsea, so the abuse of reading starts to look like the abuse of magic.

Think Le Guin's earlier fantasy is "magical" but the later work "political" or "moralizing"? Read Tolstoy for a load of the moral view of the author's role. Think a patriarchal fantasy world is OK? Look to the workaday world & see it happening--you'll be happy there, too. (In the meantime, enlarge the view of the political.) Want to glimpse the difficult otherness of knowing, the narrowness of the mainstream, the struggle against conformed living, the days of the dispossessed, & the ease with which things contradict each other? Read these stories.

Obligatory Tolkien comment: I've been a fan of Tolkien since 12 or so (the Trilogy to the Silmarillion to the Books of Lost Tales), but his conservative moral universe is more black-&-white than muddled--to say nothing of the weakness of half his population. Women, when they are strong, are mythic & empedestaled. Where's the proportion? Read these stories for a measure, but don't forget to read the author's foreword, too.

These are novella & short stories, & follow the genre of such things. One should not expect the full workings of a novel in their duration or scope. As ever, Le Guin's are thoughtful stories for thoughtful readers, whose beauty comes by hard (& triumphant) but lasts as long as it must be renewed or found surprising again. With such writing, we are once more in the midst of things.

Rating:
Summary: Returning to and expanding Earthsea
Review: In her foreward, Urusula K. Le Guin pokes fun at herself for subtitling Tehanu "The Last Book of Earthsea." She has revealed in interiews elsewhere that she meant this to stave off thoughts of another series involving Ged and in her foreward explains that on finishing Tehanu, she felt she'd reached the "present" of Earthsea. There was no more to tell.

For fans of her work, it was a happy error. this collection of longish short stories delves into the corners of Earthsea's history. We have learned bits and pieces of legends from ealier stories and here, we find some of the truth behind those legends. From the shadowy beginnings of the school of wizards on Roke to the story of how Ogion, Ged's teacher, tamed an earthquake we discover that things are not completely as we thought, but are not unfamiliar either. Le Guin does not shake the cosmology of Earthsea with these stories, she simply reveals the layers of the world.

The final story of the work, "Dragonfly," provides, as she says, "a bridge - a dragon bridge - to the next Earthsea novel." Another happy note for fans. As if that wasn't enough, however, Tales of Earthsea includes several essays about Earthsea; its peoples, languages, history, magic. Gleaned from notes Le Guin creates as she "researched" her stories, they are a unique glimpse into the workings of the author's mind and a treasure for fans.

Tales from Earthsea is a delight to fans and an exhibition of a great writer's talent. The stories both satisfy a fan's hunger for more detail about a loved imaginary place and show how a fantasy can relate to our reality; how we aren't all that different from wizards ourselves.

Rating:
Summary: Uncommodified Fantasy
Review: In the 1970's, Ursula K. LeGuin took the fantasy and science fiction world by storm, bringing a genuinely literate voice and a deep knowledge of sociology and psychology to what was largely a man's genre. Her finest fantasy was "The Earthsea Trilogy," comprised of "A Wizard of Earthsea," "The Tombs of Atuan" and "The Farthest Shore." They are marvelous stories, and they hint at other, older stories and myths. In many ways, the world of Earthsea is as deeply conceived as any in fantasy.

In "Tehanu," a later book of Earthsea, she told us of some of the events that followed the events of "The Farthest Shore," and delved deeper into the mystery of dragons and the relationship between dragons and men. From the simple creatures fought by Sparrowhawk in "Wizard of Earthsea," they are revealed as increasingly complex and more interesting creatures by the end of "Tehanu."

In "Tales from Earthsea," LeGuin develops other themes and characters from the past and present of Earthsea. The tales are evocative, resonant and at once mythological and personal in tone. The reader will have an image of a LeGuin, with a larger volume in her lap, telling you the stories that catch her eye. You will sense there are many, many more stories to be told.

Readers new to Earthsea might do best by reading the books in order. While it's not required, you won't thoroughly understand the references to the Ring of Erreth-Akbe unless you have read the earlier books. The last short story, "Dragonfly," may bewilder you unless you have read "Tehanu."

At the end of the stories, there is a summary of the peoples, languages and history of Earthsea, modelled loosely on the famous Appendices to "The Lord of the Rings." I suppose the history consists of the stories that will never be told as novels or short stories, which is really too bad. The dry narrative of Erreth-Akbe, the greatest of Earthsea's heros, would have made a wonderful tale.

I was struck by LeGuin's subtle touches. The small cabin that was the summer home of Otter in the first tale, when the school of wizardry at Roke was founded, becomes the temporary home of Irian in the last story, which is set immediately following "The Farthest Shore." Roke Knoll, which always reveals things to be what they truly are, plays a role in the first and last tales, too.

In her delightful foreword, LeGuin warns us, "Authors and wizards are not always to be trusted: nobody can explain a dragon." Perhaps, but you can always trust LeGuin to entertain and enrich a thoughtful reader. And if anyone can satisfactorily explain a dragon, it will be LeGuin.

Rating:
Summary: aka "Feminist Tales From Earthsea"
Review: Interesting addendum to the Earthsea saga, continuing a change to the feel of the stories that LeGuin started with Tehanu. Learn more about why men are evil, women are good, and dragons will fix everything. It does fill in some of the history of Earthsea, which is interesting, but she doesn't focus on some of the big names you would expect to hear more about--rather she invents new small characters to fill some of the historical void. Worth reading, but [$$$]is a little too much for this unless you really feel the need to add it to your Earthsea collection. Borrow it from the library...

Rating:
Summary: A Response to an Earlier Review
Review: Le Guin's recent work in Earthsea, as I've mentioned now in two other reviews, is about revisioning the hero's tale, as first identified by Joseph Campbell. The hero's tale, in its most typical and base form, is about individuals, almost always men or man-like women, who rise to power and dominate in their fields of expertise. Usually it's a magnanimous and benevolent domination, but domination nonetheless. According to Jungian psychology, these tales symbolize a process of individual maturation, and whether that's true or not, I don't know, but ultimately they reflect the very real way that our patriarchal societies operate. Most fantasy tales, therefore, support the status quo of the dominant, predominantly white, male discourse which props up the patriarchies in charge of most of the world (Le Guin's first three Earthsea books certainly did this, and it is these core beliefs that Le Guin is trying to overthrow, quietly, and in her own way, with her most recent works). These discourses operate by making possible certain ways of "knowing," where anything that seeks to circumvent, side-step or replace the status quo of the dominant discourse is made to seem lacking in value. Therefore, when an earlier reviewer indicated Le Guin's most recent work "offers little that a persistent reader will find worth knowing," that reviewer is indicating exactly that he, like most of the rest of the world, is enslaved by the belief system of the dominant discourse. Moreover, he seeks to perpetuate it. This is, of course, what is to be expected in such radical endeavors. However, as long as people such as Le Guin (not to mention the likes of Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr.) keep pushing us in these directions we stand a chance of actually getting there.

Rating:
Summary: Le Guin's Best Work To Date . . . ?
Review: Le Guin's Tehanu was an important work for it sought to rewrite and revision the core of the hero's tale, a group of archetypes that dominates civiliztion throughout most of the world. While Tehanu is important for this reason, it's a difficult book to read, for it avoids the hero's tale with which we are so utterly at ease, and as a result is forced to find its own route, with limited success. Tales From Earthsea is a contiuation of Le Guin's attempts to revision her world of Earthsea, and in doing so, our own. These tales are much more successful at this than Tehanu as they are entirely readable, enjoyable and yet still able to get the necessary poststructuralist revamping done. All that aside, these are some of the best writings Le Guin has produced since the first three novels of the Earthsea Cycle were written. Yet, because of their social message these works are important not just to the genre of fantasy/sciencefiction, but to humanity at large. In a way they remind me of the writings of many of the Russian greats as well as the Chinese author, Lu Xun, though his works were primarily allegorical. Without a doubt, these are some of Le Guin's best and most mature writings to date.

Rating:
Summary: Not quite as good as Tehanu, but still quite good
Review: Le Guin's writing is like a fine single malt Scotch...it seems to grow in power and meaning as she ages. This book had been sitting on my shelf for quote sometime before I found myself with a chance to do some reading, and I am glad that I picked this book. The themes embedded in the stories are subtle but powerful. I highly recommend the complete cycle.

Rating:
Summary: An armchair tour of Earthsea
Review: LeGuin revisits Earthsea in this collection of five stories, each of which occurs at a different time and place in the world of Earthsea. The reader thus becomes more acquainted with the geography of the place, and comes to learn about the history of this magical realm. The book also includes 30 pages of "A Description of Earthsea," including Peoples and Languages, History, and Magic.

The first story in this book, "The Finder," describes the conditions under which the school on Roke developed. Other stories reveal trials and journies of various sorcerers through Earthsea's history. Each of the five stories is about heroism and humanity in a world that is both different than and very like our own. The stories engaged my imagination from teh beginning, and I immediately loved (most of) the characters I met. LeGuin's ability to draw sympathetic characters in situations that the reader can relate to just gets better as the years go on.

I was excited to discover that the endpapers of the book display a map of Earthsea drawn by the author. I have wanted a map of the area for years, and I know that I will use this map when I re-read the earlier novels.

And this book reveals news that will be welcome to all lovers of Earthsea: yet another novel is due out this Fall!

Rating:
Summary: back in fine form - thank you, Ursula
Review: Like many others, I was disenchanted (sorry) by Tehanu, book 4. However, I'm very pleased by Tales. It's not the resounding, stunning masterpiece that was circumscribed by the first three books, but I am gratified to see that she still can evoke the gentle wonders and richness of the grounded and mysterious world she built in the original trilogy.

There's definitely a hint of feminist polemicism in these tales, and it does jar me a bit. I'm fully sympathetic with her goals but it's a delicate art to include in the body of a short story, and sometimes she fails. I won't begrudge her that, though, because it's never heavy-handed, and the luminous joys of Earthsea and LeGuin's transluscent prose are spread equally thru the book.

Rating:
Summary: Profoundly wonderful
Review: Lots of folks have rightly praised and described the tales within and I just wish to add my voice to the chorus. Le Guin has returned to Earthsea, thanks to the first Legends anthology via "Dragonfly" which is a story that will break your heart from pain and hope and love.
If you have read any of the Earthsea novels, this is essential reading.