r/UrsulaKLeGuin

Obviously the writing is just breathtaking, as with other Le Guin works. I could see everything so clearly. The farm, the middle valley, Ogion's cottage, Auntie Moss, the mountain and meadows and the sea. Therru's little broken self and Tenar's dedication and frustrations. Everything was realized so vividly.

I found myself getting emotional every few pages, and I think beautiful prose can do that, but these reactions also made me think about my religious past and the things I felt were missing during that period of my life.

My religion stressed spiritual experiences as evidence of truth. You were supposed to feel a "burning in your bosom" and strong emotion when the spirit of god witnessed to you that you were hearing truth in a sermon or reading truth in the scriptures. I didn't really have those experiences, especially when reading the bible. I’m sure part of it was youth and boredom, but I think the bigger point is that a lot of it didn’t ring true. Which is one of the reasons I left religion in my 20s.

I’m not saying that a god magicked my heart to burn and tears to flow while reading Tehanu. But I think my body recognized and responded to the novel’s truths. The constant struggle that is womanhood, the quiet power of caregiving, the emptiness of power without humility and love.

The way those truths in the novel filled me reminded me of the frustration in my earlier religious life. These were the feelings I wanted to feel! What an extraordinary novel.

Le Guin was truly something else. I wish I could’ve met her.

Would someone like to explain this story to me? 😂

Im AuDHD and adore this book because I love how infodump-ish and all over the place it is. Brilliant.

But im not great with inferencial comprehension and dont really understand that particular story, was it supposed to be a collection of vignettes? Are they meant to be connected? Why is it called "Dangerous People"?

Would love to hear your insights

Doing my annual re-listen to the Earthsea quintet. This is my first and truest love of fantasy and of Ursula, and the Tombs of Atuan reading by Inglis is an absolute masterpiece.

Then I start the Farthest Shore and Arren starts speaking - and Inglis voices him in EXACTLY the same way as he voices Sam Gamgee. It’s such a strange choice - I get that a prince of Enlad would have a different dialect than a Gontishman or a Karg, but why does the prince of the house of Morred talk like a gardener boy from Hobbiton? Why, Rob, Why?

And then in the second chapter Arren says “if I could talk to Dragons in their own tongue, I wouldn’t care about my dialect” or something like that. And so I try to embrace the Arren-Sam hybrid and listen to the words. But it’s still jarring every time.

I was excited to see the LoA Earthsea edition announced! I was wondering since they’re now publish most of Le Guin’s work - will there be a short story collection any time soon? I know some are already in the Hainish and Orsinia collections, but I’m wondering about the others. Trying to track down a copy of Compass Rose and wondering if I should just wait!