Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darkness", fourth novel of the Hainish Cycle.

Submitted by i-the-muso-1968 t3_zzn1ql in books

So tonight I have finished the fourth novel of Ursula K. Le Guin's Hainish Cycle, "The Left Hand of Darkness".

Set on the ice planet of Gethen (or Winter as it's sometimes called) we follow human ambassador Genly Ai in his mission to integrate the planet and its people to a still growing intergalactic civilization. The planet is a world without gender prejudice as its people are gender fluid. And for Genly Ai it presents a great challenge as he must find a way to bridge the gap between his own views and those of the planet in order for his mission to succeed.

"The Left Hand of Darkness" is, and always will be, one of Le Guin's best known works. I can't really put into words to describe it properly other than it is a very compelling work of sci-fi that still resonates with people still to this day ever since its publication in 1969. Like the other three novels of the Hainish Cycle it reads very much like those travelogs you often see.

One thing that intrigued the most were the chapters around the Gethenian folklore, a chapter that is an observation on the biology of the Gethenians and the journal of one Gethenian native by the name of Estraven. Really mixes things up quite a bit!

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Rare-Lime2451 t1_j2cluaj wrote

That trek across the wilderness in the last third … I didn’t want it to end! Amazing stuff.

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rustblooms t1_j2ebkge wrote

I happen to be reading this right now and they have just started out!

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DorneForPresident t1_j2ezd1n wrote

You’re getting into what I deemed the best part of the book! Happy reading!

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tomandshell t1_j2cl22r wrote

I read the Folio edition last year and I felt like this novel was ahead of its time. I’m surprised that it hasn’t been adapted as a film or streaming series. The relationship at the center of the book is unique and complex and ultimately moving.

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gnatsaredancing t1_j2d6acy wrote

A scifi sociopolitical slow burn with a culturally sensitive topic sounds like money down the drain for a studio.

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MachoDagger t1_j2d2bxi wrote

Ahead of its time is right. Prose feels incredibly contemporary, and the themes tackled as well as any modern day writer.

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MindTheGapless t1_j2dvarw wrote

Modern day writer.... That's the issue. These so called "modern writers" that all they do is shit on established IPs if they work on those, unable to write original stories and worst part, forget to tell a story and rather concentrate in promoting an agenda in the name of social justice.

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MachoDagger t1_j2dzkci wrote

Not really sure what you're talking about. Stories have always reflected the politics of their time.

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kittofhousemormont t1_j2de55k wrote

I think an attempt was made not long ago and abandoned in the early stages? Or at least, there hasn't been an update for quite a while.

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poofturama t1_j2cyob8 wrote

"It had taken Estraven six months to arrange my first audience. It had taken the rest of his life to arrange this second one."

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kittofhousemormont t1_j2de3ox wrote

I utterly adore this book and recommend it to probably too many people...

The amount of thought put into how such a radical change to 'human' physiology would change culture, plus how the environment affects things too, and especially bearing in mind that there are several very different nations mentioned or featured strongly, is phenomenal.

As a narrator Genly works both as the character who knows things and can explain things to us, and who knows very little and is as baffled as we are. I remember there's that section where he talks about being so disorientated by how the people of Winter judge you solely on your personal merits and how gender expectations and attractiveness plays no part whatsoever and how even after two years he still hasn't quite adjusted.

It really does feel like it could have been published yesterday.

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Fresh_Forever_9268 t1_j2cvgim wrote

If you can find it “the worlds of Ursula leguin” is a great documentary on how thrillingly radical her writing was / is. Left hand of darkness etc is a personal favourite, love how inhabited the world w feels, how unique it’s creatures. So different to strange colonial hot takes on “desert planet” or “jungle planet”

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boffum t1_j2dp6r8 wrote

hey OP, thanks for your post. I just bought this book for Christmas. Is it ok to read it first, without going through the previous books of the cycle?

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fire_drier t1_j2dsny4 wrote

Yes, the plots are only loosely intertwined, you’ll love it. LeGuin is one of my favorite authors.

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terracottatilefish t1_j2ewdje wrote

It’s like Iain M Banks’s Culture novels, there’s a loose framework but every individual novel can be read as a standalone book.

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DorneForPresident t1_j2ezh4t wrote

Absolutely. No need to read them in order and this book is one of my all time favorites. Happy reading!

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georgealice t1_j2dsolq wrote

I love this story. Also I was curious so I found a PDF version and replaced all the male pronouns and titles with female ones, just to see if it became a different story. It did. It was super interesting in how differently it felt (come to think of it, I never did finish reading that version. Maybe that is how I should spend these last 3 days of vacation)

Le Guin has some good interviews where she talked about why she ultimately decided to use masculine pronouns. Let me see if I can find one … OH. It is in the afterward of at least one of the versions. http://theliterarylink.com/afterword.html

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Nenechihusband t1_j2dozh8 wrote

Is it necessary to read the other books of the Hainish Cycle before reading The Left Hand of Darkness or is it fine as a stand alone title?

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KrootLoopsLLC t1_j2drks9 wrote

Its a loose series that is not needed to be read in order. Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed take place on completely different planets/cultures and times

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artymas t1_j2ekrph wrote

I checked "The Left Hand of Darkness" out from my library to read on my flight to New York City a few years ago. I read the entire thing on the flight--could not put it down. And because I'm that person that visits local bookstores while on vacation, I bought myself a copy while I was there.

It boggles my mind that this book was written at the end of the 60s. It was way ahead of time, and Le Guin's introduction regarding science fiction is a must read.

Now I'm itching to pull out my copy and ring in the new year with it.

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sjhesketh t1_j2eawex wrote

This is my favorite sci-fi book of all time, which is high praise indeed given how much I love Dune. But LeGuin is a sublime genius and Left Hand is the pinnacle of her work IMO.

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NoisyCats t1_j2f1etf wrote

Anthropological sci-fi as I describe it and Ursula K. Le Guin is one of my favorites. One of the few books I’ve teared up while reading. And don’t forget she invented the Ansible. I recently reread A Wizard of Earthsea and still loved it after decades.

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georgealice t1_j2fjczd wrote

“Anthropological”. Exactly! All the books in the Hainish cycle are explorations in world building and the implications of each society. I find them all so interesting. But my favorites are City of Illusions, The Telling. And Left Hand

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Effective-Papaya1209 t1_j2cmnsa wrote

I love reading this book in the winter. I hope you’re in a snowy place!

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el_cnid_antes_chuck t1_j2dohq4 wrote

yeah i loved the folklore chapters and how they're relevant to the story. For instance the last one, where you learn that to Gethenians 'shadow' is used basically the same as 'soul'-you realize the extra religious/cultural significance the place on the ice-sheet with no shadows must have had for estraven in the last chapter

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demilitarizdsm t1_j2dugjj wrote

It blows genre out of the water for me. I could easily imagine it converted to fantasy. The few things that made it sci-fi and not fantasy were so peripheral. Probably could say that about plenty of Fantasy OR Sci-fi books. But the worldbuilding accomplished in such a compact story was just so insane that at the end and always in reflection that feels like the genre more than any other. Worldbuilding. And of course you could assume fantasy or sci fi would be foundational Ariadne's Thread for a genre called Worldbuilding but I also find it in John Dies at the End. For the purpose of the reading experience I am wondering why worldbuilding itself isn't part of genre tagging systems in GoodReads because it feels like a type of book even though, I assume, it has always been categorized as just a part of the writing process.

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WorfSucks t1_j2dwr4y wrote

This is probably my favorite book, one that I head back to every couple years. I am very picky about sci Fi, but I adore this one.

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Ijusttwerkhere t1_j2dxq82 wrote

Yo is Left Hand of Darkness the fourth book into a series? That might explain why it was so odd to start with no background knowledge haha. I really enjoyed The Lathe of Heaven and then tried Darkness and couldn't get into it, though I do plan to try again.

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Barnacle_at t1_j2e34po wrote

Lovely book, one of the best. Read it again fairly recently after many years, and it still resonates, more bittersweet.

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North_Yam_6423 t1_j2ea014 wrote

Is the whole series good? I’m exploring sci fi and fantasy right now, read dune series and almost finished with Asimov, this one keeps popping as a must read

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lookingfordata2020 t1_j2eat3y wrote

It's very different from Dune, I think. I couldn't really get into Dune but I'm a massive fan of the Hainish cycle (they don't have to be read in order, and aren't a series as much as they are books set in the same universe). I found Dune to be a bit mechanical whereas I like the humanness of the Hainish Cycle.

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sammyfritz t1_j2fjibj wrote

Dune is like ecology and history, while the Hainish Cycle is like sociology and anthropology.

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lookingfordata2020 t1_j2fvfqt wrote

+1 and I think they could both be associated with political philosophy though Hainish is more sociology/psychology oriented.

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starwarsyeah t1_j2f0hqb wrote

I didn't see what the hype was. I didn't think it was bad, but the praise everyone gives it seems somewhat undeserving, to the point that I didn't bother to read any of her other works.

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