The Dispossessed

Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful and compelling
Review: Quick -- name three SF literary portraits of functional societies founded on principles of anarchism.

I come up with Eric Frank Russell's Gands in _The Great Explosion_ (" . . . And Then There Were None"), Robert A. Heinlein's Loonies in _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_, and Ursula K. Le Guin's Anarresti in _The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia_.

Oh, there are a handful of others, notably James Hogan's _Voyage from Yesteryear_ (which was itself strongly influenced by Russell). But most of the rest are thinly disguised libertarian propaganda without a great deal of literary merit (though your mileage may vary).

Of these three, Le Guin's is in some ways the most compelling. In part that's because she's just such a fine writer. But it's also because she's probably the _least_ "ideological" of all the SF writers who have ever tackled this subject.

On Le Guin's somewhat Taoistic approach, each of the contrasting societies contains the seeds of the other, and she lets the reader see both their "good" and "bad" points. She clearly likes the Anarresti society (and on the whole it comes off rather better than its Urrasti foil). But she doesn't hesitate to show the reader some of its critically important drawbacks. Its childrearing practices, for example, recall Ira Levin's _This Perfect Day_, and its treatment of original thinkers (and their "egoizing") even recalls Ayn Rand's tub-thumpingly propagandistic _Anthem_.

In general, then, Le Guin is pretty well immune to the usual salvation-by-ideology claptrap. And as her subtitle suggests, her utopia really _is_ ambiguous. For her, people aren't "saved" by adopting the correct philosophical position or social principles.

Least of all is her protagonist Shevek "saved" by such means. Shevek is a physicist from Anarres (the moon of the planet Urras) and has grown up in its anarchist society. But it doesn't really have a place for him. Neither, more obviously, does Urras, the "propertarian" counterpart to Annares's communitarian society, with which Annares has had no contact for about a century and a half. So with respect to the two polar-opposite patterns of social organization, Shevek is doubly dispossessed.

What's the book actually _about_? Well, Shevek cooks up a plan to get the two societies on speaking terms again and, in order to pursue it, decides to leave Anarres for Urras; so off he goes, as a passenger in a ship called the _Mindful_. (And yes, do be careful not to trip over the symbolism.) That's all I'm going to tell you about the plot. But the essential theme of the novel is, I suppose, barriers and their overcoming. (The very first sentence goes like this: "There was a wall." Yep.)

It's a very thoughtful novel. The narrative hops around in time a lot and the plot isn't exactly marked by nonstop action, so it's probably not for space opera fans. But readers of a more philosophical bent will enjoy it immensely.

And if you're at all interested in literary portraits of anarchist societies, make sure you read this one. If you share Le Guin's Taostic/anarchistic leanings (as I do), you'll like the Anarresti _and_ appreciate Le Guin's refreshingly anti-ideologue-ish honesty in her portrait of it.

Rating:
Summary: The Book that Changed Everything ...
Review: 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 ... well, let's not waste our time on the poor fools who don't even have a favorite LeGuin book.

I'm of the Dispossessed party. It's possibly the most perfect SF novel I've ever read, and certainly one of my five all-time favorites. (The other four? C.J. Cherryh's CYTEEN, Bruce Sterling's SCHISMATRIX, William Gibson's COUNT ZERO.) But whether you like The Dispossessed or hate it - and many readers do hate it - it is the book that changed everything. And you can't call yourself a science fiction reader until you've grappled with it.

The Dispossessed is one of those sf novels, like Orwell's 1984, whose literary production values are so high that it's hard to talk about it purely as science fiction. It 's also a quiet novel, even by LeGuin's standards, and it offers pretty cold comfort to readers in search of high-tech thrills and chills. What it does offer is believable characters, unresolvable moral dilemmas, and ideas that will rattle around in your head for the rest of your life chipping away at the received orthodoxies.

Read it. If you don't like it now, put it down and try again in five years or so. Repeat as needed. Eventually this book will change your life.

Rating:
Summary: One of Le Guin's Best
Review: 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. It's clear Le Guin has leftist leanings (as do I, which might bias my opinion) but she shows the darker sides of both capitalism and communitarianism. I believe that this book encompasses the better part of Le Guin's worldview, including her views on government, feminism, relationships, technology, and human nature. Readers who are strongly attached to capitalism and consumption may misunderstand Le Guin's portrayal of Urras, but everyone else should find some familiar elements in world where everything is for sale, scientific research is driven by profit, and sex is used to sell everything but love. These same readers will also be touched by Le Guin's careful rendering of the communitarian Annares, and will appreciate her honesty in dealing with the possible problems of this society (namely, forced regression to the mean, a tendency toward commitment to society over the individual in times of crises, and a strong current of xenophobia).

Rating:
Summary: A solid science fiction novel
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A Waste of Time and Money
Review: 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 is truly not as impressive as he is made out to be. The author tried so hard to create a utopian world where things were supposed to be so efficient as compared to the motherworld that she wants the reader to look past the fact that she gives Shevek everything he is not supposed to want or need. The whole story winds up based around a nuclear family and personal ambition, the very things that she tried so hard to make her readers see past as a cultural need. Also, if I wanted to read anthropological theory in massive chunks, I would go to my bookshelf and pull down one of my many anthro text books.

Rating:
Summary: A Thoughtful Utopia
Review: 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 opinion, studiously ignore the question of how actual, real people would live in these societies. The populations of Utopian novels are often slightly plastic, as if they were facsimiles of people rather than the bonafide article.

And this is where Le Guin steps in. The anarchist society she depicts in The Dispossessed is clearly utopian, but there is trouble in paradise. Isolated and calcifying, the society on Annares is crumbling. Why? Because as well-organized as it is, it ignores certain human tendencies (inertia, dogmatism, and those other insidious beasts of the mind) that threaten the ideals of freedom the society was founded on.

But all this tells you nothing about the story. In a word, it's wonderful. Like most sci-fi, the preoccupation with some imagined changes--in this case mostly sociological and political--can distract one from the plot, but overall the characters are well-developed and believable. Le Guin is a talented, impassioned writer, and she shines in The Dispossessed. The pages are overflowing with ideas, impressions, events, and emotions that are at once intimate and inspiring.

I'm ending this review. If you've read Le Guin but not The Dispossessed, do yourself a favor and read it now. You won't be disappointed; in my opinion its easily her best sci-fi novel. If you haven't read Le Guin at all, do yourself a favor and read her now; in my opinion she's easily one of the best writers in science-fiction or in any field.

Rating:
Summary: An astonishing, discouraging, truly important book
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Novel of Ideas
Review: This is an excellent novel of ideas. Leguin portrays a nearly stateless society based on small groups of communes inhabiting a arid planet. The residents are exiles from a capitalistic planet, and Leguin uses the capitalist planet as a foil for her utopia. The novel was written in the early 70s when there were still hundreds, maybe thousands of active communes across America and the book is a speculation about how these social ideas might play out if used on a large scale society. The subtitle is 'an ambiguous utopia', Leguin tries to be realistic about the problems that human nature presents to such a society. My only criticism of this novel is that the pace is a bit slow at times, following the life history of the main protagonist sometimes in too much detail.

Rating:
Summary: I'm NOT a Sci-Fi reader however, this is one of my all time
Review: ...FAVORITE books. I've read it at least seven times and each time it stays as wonderful as I remember. Le Guin is outstanding as a realistic visionary bringing to life alternate realities. Not only is this gem purely entertaining, it starkly holds up our society in the mirror right next to another society, a sort-of "utopia". Le Guin doesn't insult anyone's intelligence. You'll believe those places exist. Her writing is that great. It's not a tough philosophical read. You'll love it. I've bought and given this book away about five times. Lots of copies are out there used and in the library. Get your hands on one.

Rating:
Summary: Disgusting.
Review: If you want to read a book that has absolutely NO basis in fact and contains some very... um.... disturbing meditations on sexuality, then go ahead and buy this book. This is one of the worst books I've ever read thanks to its ten million philosophical ramblings, "history texttbook" approach to storytelling, and complete implausibility in a scientific sense (3 million years in the future, and the technology is still remnicent of the 1980's). If you want to read a good science fiction book, read "Speaker for the Dead" by Orson Scott Card or "Childhood's End" by Arthur C. Clarke. Whatever you do, STAY AWAY from this piece of junk!