A Conversation for 'The Left Hand of Darkness' - the Novel by Ursula Le Guin
Peer Review: A87842118 - 'The Left Hand of Darkness' - the Novel by Ursula Le Guin
SashaQ - happysad Started conversation Dec 31, 2014
Entry: 'The Left Hand of Darkness' - the Novel by Ursula Le Guin - A87842118
Author: SashaQ - don't panic! - U9936370
An Entry about the book I read this month
A87842118 - 'The Left Hand of Darkness' - the Novel by Ursula Le Guin
Elektragheorgheni -Please read 'The Post' Posted Dec 31, 2014
SashaQ, I thought you might be interested in this author's essay on gender:
http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/10/17/ursula-k-le-guin-gender/
A87842118 - 'The Left Hand of Darkness' - the Novel by Ursula Le Guin
SashaQ - happysad Posted Dec 31, 2014
Thank you Elektra - that was very interesting indeed
Makes the 'he' pronouns in LHOD fit in better rather than being simply failed feminism as the critics sometimes said. I did notice the pronouns particularly myself, but that is of course reading the text with my modern eyes rather than a 1960s view.
A87842118 - 'The Left Hand of Darkness' - the Novel by Ursula Le Guin
Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor Posted Dec 31, 2014
Nice entry. Thanks for explaining Ursula K LeGuin to me. I find her writing tough going most of the time, so this helps.
A87842118 - 'The Left Hand of Darkness' - the Novel by Ursula Le Guin
Gnomon - time to move on Posted Jan 5, 2015
The issue of sex on the planet Gethen is covered in more detail in the short story "Coming of Age in Karhide" (1995) which was published in the collection "The Birthday of the World" (2003).
A87842118 - 'The Left Hand of Darkness' - the Novel by Ursula Le Guin
Gnomon - time to move on Posted Jan 6, 2015
This is a good entry, Sasha.
You say "when they enter their fertile phase each month". It's a while since I read this, but I thought that the fertile phase only happened about once every year for the Gethenians.
A87842118 - 'The Left Hand of Darkness' - the Novel by Ursula Le Guin
SashaQ - happysad Posted Jan 9, 2015
Thanks Dmitri - yes, when I started reading the book, I found it heavy going, so it was helpful to me as well to take notes on the different strands of it and write it up as an Entry
Thanks Gnomon - I have added some more detail about Ursula Le Guin's other writings in relation to these ideas.
"Coming of Age in Karhide" isn't easy reading, though - I skimmed a couple of pages, but it seems to be a rather different setting to LHOD, with more violence, and reminded me too much of the bodily nightmare that was my early teens... I hope the footnote suffices to be informative without being disturbing...
I also checked LHOD, and the kemmer cycle is monthly, being about 22 days between periods
A87842118 - 'The Left Hand of Darkness' - the Novel by Ursula Le Guin
Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor Posted Jan 20, 2015
I have never read this book, so I only know what you wrote here. So, here are my comments:
In the plot I don't understand why Ali is rejected because some politician is exiled. Who is Estraven? What does one have to do with the other?
Are there only these two countries on that plant? I don't really understand where they go at the end of the story. Back to where they came from?
What is 'the dark sleep'?
You seem to mostly talk about what the book says about gender but not the mentioned (in the first paragraph) things about governments. I would be interesed in seeing a few additional sentences about that.
A87842118 - 'The Left Hand of Darkness' - the Novel by Ursula Le Guin
SashaQ - happysad Posted Jan 20, 2015
Thanks Tavaron - excellent points
I have added detail about the dark sleep rather than the 'direct' translation of thangen
I shall look at the text some more tonight to get a better understanding of the other questions, as I'm not totally clear about them myself, now I think about it
A87842118 - 'The Left Hand of Darkness' - the Novel by Ursula Le Guin
SashaQ - happysad Posted Jan 30, 2015
A87842118 - 'The Left Hand of Darkness' - the Novel by Ursula Le Guin
Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor Posted Jan 31, 2015
A87842118 - 'The Left Hand of Darkness' - the Novel by Ursula Le Guin
Bluebottle Posted Feb 2, 2015
I would comment, but I've not read the book in years. If I find my copy again in the near future I'll re-read it and let you know any comments.
<BB<
A87842118 - 'The Left Hand of Darkness' - the Novel by Ursula Le Guin
SashaQ - happysad Posted Mar 6, 2015
Congratulations - Your Entry has been Recommended for the Edited Guide!
h2g2 auto-messages Posted Mar 13, 2015
Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.
If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.
Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!
Congratulations - Your Entry has been Recommended for the Edited Guide!
Bluebottle Posted Mar 13, 2015
Congratulations - Your Entry has been Recommended for the Edited Guide!
SashaQ - happysad Posted Mar 13, 2015
Congratulations - Your Entry has been Recommended for the Edited Guide!
bobstafford Posted Mar 13, 2015
Congratulations - Your Entry has been Recommended for the Edited Guide!
Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor Posted Mar 13, 2015
Congratulations - Your Entry has been Recommended for the Edited Guide!
Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor Posted Mar 13, 2015
Cngratulations!
Key: Complain about this post
Peer Review: A87842118 - 'The Left Hand of Darkness' - the Novel by Ursula Le Guin
- 1: SashaQ - happysad (Dec 31, 2014)
- 2: Elektragheorgheni -Please read 'The Post' (Dec 31, 2014)
- 3: SashaQ - happysad (Dec 31, 2014)
- 4: Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor (Dec 31, 2014)
- 5: Gnomon - time to move on (Jan 5, 2015)
- 6: Gnomon - time to move on (Jan 6, 2015)
- 7: SashaQ - happysad (Jan 9, 2015)
- 8: Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor (Jan 20, 2015)
- 9: SashaQ - happysad (Jan 20, 2015)
- 10: SashaQ - happysad (Jan 30, 2015)
- 11: Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor (Jan 31, 2015)
- 12: Bluebottle (Feb 2, 2015)
- 13: SashaQ - happysad (Mar 6, 2015)
- 14: h2g2 auto-messages (Mar 13, 2015)
- 15: Bluebottle (Mar 13, 2015)
- 16: SashaQ - happysad (Mar 13, 2015)
- 17: bobstafford (Mar 13, 2015)
- 18: Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor (Mar 13, 2015)
- 19: Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor (Mar 13, 2015)
More Conversations for 'The Left Hand of Darkness' - the Novel by Ursula Le Guin
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."