Your premise that dystopias are interesting and utopias are boring goes back to Dante’s Divine Comedy. I thought the Inferno was fascinating, Purgatorio was dull, and I skipped over most of Paradiso because it was too boring. Considering that the Inferno is still quoted frequently by modern writers, while the other two parts are rarely mentioned, I don’t think I’m the only one who feels this way.
This is an aspect of the belief that all forms of narrative are inherent Fascistic, because they all thrive on conflict and "WINNING!!!!!" by defeating your enemies—or by failing to, so your enemies (anybody not you) gets to revel in your defeat! "Kick down the door, kill the Bad Thing, collect prizes, go home", while reductive, is certainly an aspect of most genre fiction.
Obviously, as a long-time SF and Fantasy writer as well as something of a Utopian, LeGuin worried "What if by writing narrative, I'm contributing to the world's misery by making conflict seem the only way to resolve matters?" I personally think it's more of a chicken-and-the-egg thing, insofar as violence and conflict is part of what advances us as a species (as does the ability to know when to say "Enough"), so I doubt ending violence in fiction will end violence in real life.
I think it's useful to have other options in fiction? not that it will end violence, but letting people know there are other options is I think important.
Oh, so do I! It's just "Nana Ursula" could be a bit...doctrinaire about The Future of SF in the pages of SFFWA BULLETIN, and often presented her work as being the only right way forward.
Sneaky thought provoking piece. I always thought that utopian stories served a similar purpose as dystopian - things could always be worse. Believing that humans are creatures of unrelenting want and need, utopias seemed equally spirit crushing in an opposite way. However, your description of Le Guin's work makes me reevaluate. And now I need to read!
My copy of Always Coming Home came with a cassette tape of the music described in the book.
yes! it's on bandcamp now: https://ursulakleguintoddbarton.bandcamp.com/album/music-and-poetry-of-the-kesh
Thanks for the link! Of course I have no way to play a cassette in 2024.
Your premise that dystopias are interesting and utopias are boring goes back to Dante’s Divine Comedy. I thought the Inferno was fascinating, Purgatorio was dull, and I skipped over most of Paradiso because it was too boring. Considering that the Inferno is still quoted frequently by modern writers, while the other two parts are rarely mentioned, I don’t think I’m the only one who feels this way.
This is my personal favorite work by her, but I am fine with the belief that Left Hand of Darkness is probably her best?
This is an aspect of the belief that all forms of narrative are inherent Fascistic, because they all thrive on conflict and "WINNING!!!!!" by defeating your enemies—or by failing to, so your enemies (anybody not you) gets to revel in your defeat! "Kick down the door, kill the Bad Thing, collect prizes, go home", while reductive, is certainly an aspect of most genre fiction.
Obviously, as a long-time SF and Fantasy writer as well as something of a Utopian, LeGuin worried "What if by writing narrative, I'm contributing to the world's misery by making conflict seem the only way to resolve matters?" I personally think it's more of a chicken-and-the-egg thing, insofar as violence and conflict is part of what advances us as a species (as does the ability to know when to say "Enough"), so I doubt ending violence in fiction will end violence in real life.
I think it's useful to have other options in fiction? not that it will end violence, but letting people know there are other options is I think important.
Oh, so do I! It's just "Nana Ursula" could be a bit...doctrinaire about The Future of SF in the pages of SFFWA BULLETIN, and often presented her work as being the only right way forward.
Sneaky thought provoking piece. I always thought that utopian stories served a similar purpose as dystopian - things could always be worse. Believing that humans are creatures of unrelenting want and need, utopias seemed equally spirit crushing in an opposite way. However, your description of Le Guin's work makes me reevaluate. And now I need to read!