Title: The Left Hand of Darkness
Publication Date: 1969
Plot: A groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants can choose – and change – their gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter’s inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters.
Miscellaneous: The original 1969 edition of The Left Hand of Darkness did not contain an introduction. After reflecting on her work, Le Guin wrote in the 1976 edition that the genre of science fiction was not as “rationalist and simplistic” as simple extrapolation. Instead, she called it a “thought experiment” which presupposes some changes to the world, and probes their consequences. The purpose of the thought experiment is not to predict the future, but to “describe reality, the present world”. In this case, her thought experiment explores a society without men or women, where individuals share the biological and emotional makeup of both sexes. Le Guin has also said that the genre in general allows exploration of the “real” world through metaphors and complex stories, and that science fiction can use imaginary situations to comment on human behaviors and relationships.
The very first comment from our discussion leader was “LeGuin is a beautiful writer. I had finished the novel and was trying to figure out if I liked it…but I looked back and so many pages were dog-earred.” Another reader chimed in that he felt cold reading this novel (it’s hard not to since it takes place on Winter). The discussion leader had 3 separate topics he wanted to talk about that he was drawn to in the novel: the process of life, gender, and politics. On p. 258-9, the novel talks about the difference between joy and happiness. The narrator talks about how happiness is a result of reason and has to be earned. The discussion leader talked about how he related to the main character, Ai. He wanted to finish the novel and was working towards getting to the end and he wasn’t paying attention to the journey along the way. And there are a lot of provocative and beautiful moments along the way, much like life. He said, “I was missing the point.” Ai and Estraven had to sit with each other and learn from each other; be patient with one another. They had to go through some hardships and be refined to come out better.
A reader commented that while this book is not entertaining per se, it sure as hell has some profound thoughts. And “you can’t help but come out feeling different after you read it.” He thought a lot about Ai’s predicament of feeling alien among other humanoids. He commented that, based on what he has heard, an inmate who makes it out of prison feels incredibly alienated. Life is different, they are different, and perhaps their friends and family are different. And even though things might “look” similar, they are quite different and that feeling can be alienating.
Of course, we got into the gender portion of the novel. A population of people in the novel doesn’t have a gender, or they have both. It’s hard to describe. People can become a man or a woman temporarily every 26 days, during their mating period. Other than that, they are both man and woman. With this in mind, gender roles aren’t a thing. And as a result, there is no war. There is no rape. Sexual and gender politics don’t influence this society, which caused us to talk about the role of gender in our society. This novel is a fascinating thought experiment. One reader brought up the ying and the yang, and how it’s important to have some of the ying in the yang and vice versa. Another reader said, when you think about it, emotions, in and of themselves, are genderless. Anger, sadness, joy–these can’t be ascribed to one gender over another. But it’s what different individuals do with those emotions and how they deal with them. For example, Estraven gets vulnerable with Ai, who is somewhat reluctant to open up. Some of the readers talked about being hesitant to open up in prison.
We had a great discussion on the role of “the unknown” in the novel, as well as in our world. LeGuin posits that if it were proven that there is no God, there would be no religion. And if it were proven that there is a God, there would be no religion. But the unknown, unproven, and unforetold–this is what drives us in so many aspects of our lives. Religion, romance, science–it’s what we don’t know that determines how we live our lives, not what we do know. This book is about possibilities. This book is about what it can feel like to be an individual in a huge, ever-expanding universe. This novel is about what we do when the “snow of ignorance remains untrodden.” This was perhaps the most profound discussion we had. I was happy to be there for it.
Feel free to leave comments below regarding Le Guin, the novel, or anything else.
Next week, we’ll be rounding out the Political Science Fiction group by reading The Windup Girl.
Until next time,
E.
If you’d like to purchase The Left Hand of Darkness, you can do so here: