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Comment by Kim Stanley Robinson, on The Guardian's website:
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin (1969)
One of my favorite novels is The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K Le Guin. For more than 40 years I've been recommending this book to people who want to try science fiction for the first time, and it still serves very well for that. One of the things I like about it is how clearly it demonstrates that science fiction can have not only the usual virtues and pleasures of the novel, but also the startling and transformative power of the thought experiment.
In this case, the thought experiment is quickly revealed: "The king was pregnant," the book tells us early on, and after that we learn more and more about this planet named Winter, stuck in an ice age, where the humans are most of the time neither male nor female, but with the potential to become either. The man from Earth investigating this situation has a lot to learn, and so do we; and we learn it in the course of a thrilling adventure story, including a great "crossing of the ice". Le Guin's language is clear and clean, and has within it both the anthropological mindset of her father Alfred Kroeber, and the poetry of stories as magical things that her mother Theodora Kroeber found in native American tales. This worldly wisdom applied to the romance of other planets, and to human nature at its deepest, is Le Guin's particular gift to us, and something science fiction will always be proud of. Try it and see – you will never think about people in quite the same way again.
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Previews available in: English
Subjects
Ciencia-ficción, Hugo Award Winner, award:hugo_award=1970, award:hugo_award=novel, human nature, gender, space travel, ice age, Science fiction, American literature, Fiction, science fiction, general, LGBTQ gender identity, LGBTQ science fiction & fantasy, collection:otherwise_tiptree_award=winner, award:nebula_award=novel, Life on other planets, Fiction, American Science fiction, Extraterrestrial anthropology, Sex rolePlaces
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La mà esquerra de la foscor
Mar 27, 2023, RAYO VERDE EDITORIAL, S.L.
paperback
8419206679 9788419206671
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La mà esquerra de la foscor
Jul 20, 2020, RAYO VERDE EDITORIAL, S.L.
paperback
in Catalan
8417925295 9788417925291
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La mano izquierda de la oscuridad
Aug 25, 2020, Minotauro, MINOTAURO
paperback
8445009311 9788445009314
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La mano izquierda de la oscuridad
May 10, 2018, Minotauro, MINOTAURO
hardcover
8445005324 9788445005323
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09
The Left Hand of Darkness
Jun 15, 2017, Recorded Books, Inc. and Blackstone Publishing
audio cd
1664450769 9781664450769
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The Left Hand of Darkness
Nov 01, 2017, Beijing United Publishing co., LTD
paperback
7550291225 9787550291225
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A Mão Esquerda da Escuridão
Sep 26, 2014, Editora Aleph
paperback
in Portuguese
8576571846 9788576571841
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La mano izquierda de la oscuridad
2009, MINOTAURO, Minotauro
hardcover
in Spanish
8445077546 9788445077542
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La Main Gauche de La Nuit (Ldp Science Fic) (French Edition)
Jun 01, 2006, Livre de Poche
2253113166 9782253113164
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27
THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS, SFBC 50th Anniversary Collection
2004, Walker and Company
Hardcover
in English
0739448811 9780739448816
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28
A Mao Esquerda Das Trevas (Portuguese Edition)
Aug 27, 2003, Editorial Presenca
paperback
in Portuguese
972232988X 9789722329880
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29
The left hand of darkness
2003, Ace Books
in English
- Ace mass-market ed., [50th anniversary ed.].
0441478123 9780441478125
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30
The Left Hand of Darkness
October 18, 2001, Gollancz, Orion Publishing Group, Limited
Hardcover
- New Ed edition
0575072199 9780575072190
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Left Hand of Darkness
July 2000, Turtleback Books Distributed by Demco Media
Unknown Binding
in English
0606192980 9780606192989
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The Left Hand of Darkness
2000, Ace
Kindle Edition
in English
- 50th Anniversary Edition
0441478123 9780441478125
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La Main gauche de la nuit
October 11, 2000, Robert Laffont
Paperback
in French
222109400X 9782221094006
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The Left Hand of Darkness
July 10, 2000, Ace Trade, Ace Books
Paperback
in English
0441007317 9780441007318
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39
Left Hand of Darkness
October 1999, Tandem Library
School & Library Binding
in English
0808521667 9780808521662
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40
The Left Hand of Darkness (Virago Modern Classics)
July 3, 1997, Virago Press Ltd
Paperback
- New Ed edition
1860491898 9781860491894
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The Left Hand of Darkness
January 1991, Ace Books
Paperback
- Reissue edition
9994886371 9789994886371
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49
The Left Hand Of Darkness
April 1, 1987, Books on Tape, Inc.
Audio cassette
0736611290 9780736611299
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The Left Hand of Darkness
September 1, 1985, Random House Audio
Audio Cassette
in English
0871881128 9780871881120
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La mano izquierda de la oscuridad
Jan 01, 1901, Booket
mass market paperback
in Spanish
8445076787 9788445076781
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La mano izquierda de la oscuridad
Jan 01, 1901, Booket
mass market paperback
in Spanish
8445076787 9788445076781
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La mà esquerra de la foscor
Aug 05, 1900, RAYO VERDE EDITORIAL, S.L., Rayo Verde
hardcover
841792504X 9788417925048
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The Left Hand of Darkness in Korean ("Eodumeui wyoenson")
Publisher unknown
8952771826 9788952771827
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Book Details
First Sentence
"I'LL MAKE my report as if I told a story, for I was taught as a child on my homeworld that Truth is a matter of the imagination."
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Feedback?June 28, 2024 | Edited by dcapillae | Merge works (MRID: 144990) |
February 9, 2024 | Edited by andrbaar | Edited without comment. |
December 19, 2023 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
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October 16, 2009 | Created by WorkBot | add works page |