So, for a number of reasons, I have not until now read any Ursula Le Guin. Saw a documentary about her, which was interesting, and I felt I really ought to try one of her books. Although, I found her... I don't know, of that generation of women that so often seemed rather staid, even in their feminism. So, I got Tehanu, and read it, and. I'm still not sure if I like the story. I didn't dislike it, exactly. But it didn't make me want to read more. I like her writing style, mostly. But not rapturously. There is something thin about her plots, something facile about her characters, something of the magical maternal about her attitude. Nothing terrible, but whiffs of complacency and privilege, even as she seems to want to champion women.
Maybe if I'd read her as a teen, or young woman? But, I wasn't into fantasy until my 20s, except for J.R.R. Tolkien. I liked folktales, mysteries, and any other novel that came into my hands. But not much fantasy. And I rather skipped young adult novels when I was one, and her books were thusly catalogued. My first real fantasy, other than Tolkien, was Mists of Avalon - and I was utterly swept up in the radical feminism of it all. I couldn't read a page of it today, nor even a few years after I'd read it. Smug and irrational and over the top, but it introduced me to the ideas that resonated through my life. That women are just as human, but are not treated as such.
I feel like I should like Le Guin, should have read her. And I really don't know why she simply doesn't appeal much to me. There is nothing objectionable, nothing I can put my finger on. She's not funny enough, maybe? I may try one more, just for the sake of due diligence.
Struggling to find a book that touches me, and doesn't depress me. I want to read a story with a lot of humor. And humor is so individual. I will continue to search.
12 comments:
I enjoy reading her book about the young wizard, a series of four across his fictional life
Wizard of Earthsea
Her "Left hand of darkness" is the only book that I've ever read that deals with the idea of the role of gender, and long, long before it became a 'popular' issue. I met her twice, she was a feminist long before it became a thing to be, and can't recommend her enough
gs, and Should,
Yeah, I should. But I feel like there is some strange disconnect. I will try one more, it's not bad in any way, it's just... dunno.
I've only read 'Left Hand of Darkness', quite a long time ago, and thought it was extremely good.
I think our response to authors is very personal, and is not just about the 'greatness' of their work. There has to be a 'click'. I accept that Mr Pratchett, for example, has written some great (and funny) works of fantasy - but I find they just don't speak to me.
Gentle,
Oh, agreed. I've known a number of people who try Pratchett and just go "um, meh." Dylan went through a phase of not wanting to read Pratchett, although he's come around and tried, only to be caught up in Discworld again. I recognize that Le Guin writes well, I just don't respond to her stories. Not unlike music, there is no universal Favorite Song, or even style of music.
One of my most beloved books is Eva Figes' "The Seven Ages". And I've never found anyone else who likes her writing. Same for Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's The Healer's War. Both came to me at just the right moment, and live in my heart, evolving with me.
Which is why I will offer up a writer if asked for a recommendation, but will never ask later or push. There are authors I once loved, who later write about issues in such a problematic way that it stains the previous work for me. A novel is such a double sided experience, what they write meeting the reader's experience and attitudes and interpretations. The right dance partner for the right dance.
I think Tehanu may be my least favorite of her books. It's an intellectually interesting attempt to revise Earthsea -- there were things that had become objectionable to her in the original stories, in terms of feminism as she later understood it. I appreciate the impulse, but really I think people should just leave their old books alone and write new ones.
An interesting added thought..a book is not just who writes it..it is also what you bring to it in yourself.
My children have read and re-read Discworld books from age 8. With each re-reading they see different aspects, having themselves gained knowledge and experience in between
Dale,
I read it precisely because of that, after hearing her interviewed. If this was the correction, I really don't want to read what she wrote before.
gz,
Oh, very much the same, and for me, Pratchett is so rich in possible interpretations. Not to mention legs to the trousers of time.
I have to agree with Dale. And with you. I want to like her more.
Humour is lacking in a lot of stuff, I find. If I find anything, I'll let you know.
Rou,
The more I sit with that novel, the more sure I am that I don't want to read more from her. Life is too short, and there are too many books, to make myself read something I don't like. I'll search for juicer stories with more humor.
Prost! Please let me know if you find something!
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