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The Word for World is Forest (Hainish Cycle)

3.83 of 5 stars 3.83 · rating details · 3,279 ratings · 234 reviews

The Word for World Is Forest is a sf novel by Ursula K. Le Guin, published in '76, based on a '72 Hainish Cycle novella.

Centuries in the future, Terrans have established a logging colony & military base named "New Tahiti" on a tree-covered planet whose small, green-furred, big-eyed inhabitants have a culture centered on lucid dreaming. Terran greed spirals around nativ...more

ebook, 160 pages

Published May 15th 1989 (first published 1972)

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Sep 18, 2010 Tatiana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, 2010

In all honesty, the basic premise of this novella is the one I've read/seen many times before both in fiction (the latest version is James Cameron's "Avatar") and reality.

A group of evil and greedy Terrans is in a process of colonizing a new planet - Athshe. What it means, as you can guess, is that Terrans destroy Athshe's ecosystem by cutting down the planet's forests and sending wood to their mother planet Earth (which by this time is nothing but a barren desert) and enslave and abuse the nat...more

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Mar 22, 2011 Rob rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, 2011, first-contact

I first came across this title via Wayne Barlowe's Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials ; and when I was at the library this last time around, I said to myself: How can you have gotten this far without reading any Ursula K. Le Guin? those short stories just aren't going to cut it, you know! But when they didn't have A Wizard of Earthsea , I decided to go for this one. Mostly because it was short. (And I figured: Why not sneak in another book to put me two ahead of pace for this year's goal? [1])...more I first came across this title via Wayne Barlowe's Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials ; and when I was at the library this last time around, I said to myself: How can you have gotten this far without reading any Ursula K. Le Guin? those short stories just aren't going to cut it, you know! But when they didn't have A Wizard of Earthsea , I decided to go for this one. Mostly because it was short. (And I figured: Why not sneak in another book to put me two ahead of pace for this year's goal? [1])

What le Guin gives us with The Word for World is Forest is a pretty straightforward piece of (arguably) first-contact [2] sci-fi with strong ecological themes and some feminist undertones. The ecological themes are not subtle: a mono-climatic planet with "peaceful primitive" forest-dwelling natives? forced into slave labor by a colonizing human race that's just there for the lumber? But with fewer than 200 pages in this title, who has time for subtlety? Le Guin hits you with the point early and runs you over with it.

The feminist themes are a little more subtle.

Overall, an enjoyable book — and though it had some moments of outstanding prose, the not-so-subtle plot sometimes translated into some not-so-subtle wordsmithery. I've enjoyed le Guin's short stories in the past though, so I'll be back for ...Earthsea and others, I'm sure.

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[1] : Please ignore The Happy Man and His Dump Truck ; I really don't know how that got on there.

[2] : I say "arguably" first-contact because (1) the first contact aspect is not the central theme — that would be the ecological stuff — and (2) because if this is a "first contact" story, it is only implied. I say it is only implied because the text is peppered with these oblique references to how the Athsheans have had no concept of murder prior to encountering human-kind etc. — but never "knowing murder" is different than never knowing another species. And none of the Athshean characters ever comes out and says that the humans ("yumans") are the first ever to come. And all this world-time/dream-time stuff is another oblique hat-tip to cyclical history, which just further undermines any definitive claims to this being "first contact". And this is to say nothing of the directed panspermia theory referenced in the narrative.(less)

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Mar 07, 2010 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars

Since I sat, polite, but wanting desperately to excuse myself from the spilt paint, methodical cacophony of clumsy dialogue, garish colors, interludes of mind numbing dead air, segueing into blindingly confusing scenes of (horrible) video game action, and a story that was told to death 70 years ago by people who had had so much passion for the worlds they were creating. A film which quite literally created a world with $300,000,000 worth of CGI, horrifically failing to trump the real juice… ......more

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Jan 08, 2013 Ben Flasher rated it 2 of 5 stars

Much as I'm in agreement with this book's message of environmentalism and nonviolence, I found its delivery of that message to be preachy, joyless, and heavy-handed. Its tale of colonist humans and their conflict with the native Athsheans transplants the worst atrocities of colonialism's past into the future, but loses any subtlety and nuance in the process.

It doesn't help that the Athsheans embody just about every romanticized stereotype of the native primitive. Like the most Disneyfied take on...more Much as I'm in agreement with this book's message of environmentalism and nonviolence, I found its delivery of that message to be preachy, joyless, and heavy-handed. Its tale of colonist humans and their conflict with the native Athsheans transplants the worst atrocities of colonialism's past into the future, but loses any subtlety and nuance in the process.

It doesn't help that the Athsheans embody just about every romanticized stereotype of the native primitive. Like the most Disneyfied take on Native Americans, they live amongst the trees, perfectly in balance with nature. They're deeply spiritual, with a strong, aboriginal-like connection to the dream time. And, in the book's most groan-inducing conceit, they're completely peaceful, never having even conceived of murder until it's introduced to them by humans.

The humans, on the other hand, exemplify the worst habits of colonialism to a degree that strains believability. Despite the fact that the Athsheans have learned English, only one scientist, Lyubov, sees them as intelligent beings with a worthwhile culture. The rest of the colonists treat them with disdain and virulent racism, casually beating, enslaving, and raping them (or turning a blind, indifferent eye to those who do). This never really makes sense; the humans complain that the Athsheans aren't any good as slaves (or anything else that they use them for), and the Athsheans themselves would happily avoid the humans if left to their own devices. The only apparent motivation the humans have for enslaving the Atsheans is spite.

As polarized as the characters' views are, Le Guin does a skillful job of getting inside the head of each. Still, though she fleshes them out well and makes them believable, they're not particularly engaging or likable. Lyubov, the lone Athshean sympathizer, is weak and ineffectual; he never comes up with a course of action more ambitious than bemoaning his own impotence. The Athshean Sleverin is too remote, too much of an exoticized native to be relatable. And Davidson, the human antagonist, is an abhorrent embodiment of arrogant machismo and genocidal hatred. They're effective characters for driving the plot forward, but none of them are particularly enjoyable to spend time with.

The lens of science fiction can put history in a fresh new perspective, letting us see past and present injustices in new contexts free from our preconceived notions. In the case of The Word for World is Forest, however, the science fiction setting brings precious little new insight or perspective into the sordid history of colonialism; fictionalizing events merely allows Le Guin to reduce both sides to their most polarized extremes. It's a testament to her skills that despite the lack of relatable characters and a plot that marches inexorably toward the conclusion dictated by its allegorical nature, the story is still thoroughly readable and moves along at a snappy pace. I look forward to reading more of Le Guin's work, and seeing her bring her formidable talents to bear on a more worthy tale.(less)

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Jun 12, 2013 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of Greenpeace

Shelves: fiction, novels, science-fiction

This book actually won a Hugo Award for Best Novella and is one of Le Guin's most celebrated works. It's supposed to have one of those aliens that truly seem alien, and like every Le Guin book I've read, it's well written--although unlike others by her I've read incredibly preachy with anvils noisily clanging from the beginning. I couldn't stand more than 50 pages of it.

If you think Greenpeace is too moderate, if you could spike trees and rub your hands with glee at the thought of a lumberjack b...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Smcleish rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: owned

Originally published on my blog here in June 2011.

One of Le Guin's shortest novels is also one of her most effective. The Word for World is Forest is a telling description of the ecological and moral atrocities committed by a group of human colonists on a peaceful world covered in forest, and how their barbaric treatment of the apparently passive Athshean natives provokes a bloody uprising, leaving the natives changed forever, fallen, as it were, from their state of innocence.

The Word for World...more Originally published on my blog here in June 2011.

One of Le Guin's shortest novels is also one of her most effective. The Word for World is Forest is a telling description of the ecological and moral atrocities committed by a group of human colonists on a peaceful world covered in forest, and how their barbaric treatment of the apparently passive Athshean natives provokes a bloody uprising, leaving the natives changed forever, fallen, as it were, from their state of innocence.

The Word for World is Forest was not quite long enough to qualify for the best novel category in the Hugo awards (which she won twice), but it won the best novella category, before appearing in stand alone book format in 1976 (it originally formed part of the famous anthology sequel, Again, Dangerous Visions).

Like much of Le Guin's work, this novel is inspired by her knowledge of anthropology. Indeed, there is little of the novel which demands a science fictional setting: the "world" could fairly easily be some remote part of Africa or New Guinea. The point of using science fiction, other than Le Guin's established reputation in the genre, is that it enables the writer to create her own background, one which emphasises the points she wishes to make. As a result, the story does sometimes seem rather one sided, but the spiritual effects on the Athsheans which result from their espousal of violence are in the end striking: by becoming as vicious as the humans, they destroy a precious part of their culture forever, knowing that this will be the outcome of their actions.

In one way, Le Guin does undermine the point she is trying to make, as far as I am concerned: she adds a feminist element. The culture of the colonists as she depicts it is extremely male-dominated; human settlements are basically logging camps filled with macho lumberjacks where the only women are prostitutes and concubines. These women have no voice in the story: they don't even have names, being referenced by their measurements; they are objects used by the men for stress relief. They do show that the men can behave bestially towards people far more like them than the Athsheans. In the end, unless her overall point is less than I think it is - unless Le Guin is saying that a culture in which women are less than equal with men is capable of terrible crimes - the women are a distraction and dilute the impact of the story.

In the author's note at the beginning of Knowledge of Angels, Jill Paton Walsh wrote: "A fiction is always, however obliquely, about the time and place in which it was written." The Word for World is Forest is not really about aliens and the future, but about us, here and now - at least, as much as the world has not changed in the last forty years. It is an attack on colonialism, both as practiced in the past and in our own time, as rich western nations grind the so-called third world in poverty and hopelessness - and it could well be intended as a warning to the complacency of the western world. It obviously exaggerates for effect, as no earthly culture has ever been as innocent as the one portrayed here. There is also an underlying criticism of science fiction in general. The theme of the colonisation of an alien planet by humans is a commonn theme in the genre, and usually the author is put firmly on the side of the plucky colonists. But, Le Guin tells the seventies SF community, that is not the only imaginable side of the story. There are often clear parallels between tales of colonisation and westerns, and Le Guin is putting the side of the American Indians.

Re-reading The Word for World is Forest, I was struck by just how much it seems to have influenced a film made almost forty years after the story was published: Avatar. The Athsheans are not hugely similar to the Naavi, but much about the setting and the ecological parts of the message are really close. I'd recommend the book to anyone who enjoyed the film.

Though others might choose The Lathe of Heaven or The Left Hand of Darkness, my choice as Le Guin's greatest work would be this compact story. Even so, it has never inspired the affection I still feel for the first of her books I ever read, the Earthsea trilogy. The Word for World is Forest is Ursula K. Le Guin writing uncompromisingly an unpalatable message for adults; it is not a novel the reader is meant to like, but one which is meant to hammer home its point. One of the most effective uses of science fiction.(less)

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Jul 20, 2012 Kate rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, environmental, sci-fi

A very short book which I thought made it's anti-colonial, environmentalist point quite bluntly. But having read some of the reviews, I'm beginning to recognise quite a lot of subtlety that I missed. One of the things that irritated me immensely about the book was the lack of any women taking part in the story. The only human women were shipped in to be wives or prostitutes for the colonists.

The story opens from the viewpoint of Captain Davidson who is the archetypal racist, misogynist boor so o...more

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Jun 22, 2012 Dorothea rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Part evocative and subtle, part heavy-handed but still compelling.

This is a novella about the devastation a human colony wreaks on a forested world and its inhabitants, and how the inhabitants must fight back despite their habitual peacefulness -- written by a U.S. author during the U.S.'s participation in the Vietnam War.

... You see why it might be heavy-handed.

The story is told from three alternating perspectives. We open with Captain Davidson, a macho human-chauvinist, the author of many outr...more

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Feb 12, 2012 Kapila rated it 4 of 5 stars

A wonderfully quick and intense read.

But honestly, I do wonder sometimes whether Ursula LeGuin gets tired of other people making truckloads of money from ideas that sound eerily like her own. HP was one, though albeit a very different book from the other boy-wizard from Earthsea. Consider the jacketflap information from this book:

The Athsheans. Theirs is a fragile culture, deceptively simple. Beneath their pastoral life in the abudnant forests is a complex and almost mystical understanding of t...more A wonderfully quick and intense read.

But honestly, I do wonder sometimes whether Ursula LeGuin gets tired of other people making truckloads of money from ideas that sound eerily like her own. HP was one, though albeit a very different book from the other boy-wizard from Earthsea. Consider the jacketflap information from this book:

The Athsheans. Theirs is a fragile culture, deceptively simple. Beneath their pastoral life in the abudnant forests is a complex and almost mystical understanding of their link in the ecological chain of their planet. And the stability of Athshe's ecology is the basis of their culture, of the continuation of the entire planet's life cycles.

(Is this starting to sound familiar to anyone?)

But the paradisiacal Athshe has not gone unnoticed in the universe. Soon the distant planet falls prey to the exploitive tentacles of colonialism. Earth-men have arrived and claimed their right to paradise...

Doesn't it make you wonder whether James Cameron may not have at some point in the mid 70s, read this book? And then forgotten all about it for 30 odd years until he made Avatar?

I suppose Ursula LeGuin can rest in the peaceful consolation that her stories are incomparable in the way that they are told, and not at all plebian or tidy - and that's what will always set her apart (besides not being half as rich!) from all the others out there. I have a favourite passage from this book:

All the colors of rust and sunset, brown-reds and pale greens, changed ceaselessly int he long leaves as the wind blew. The roots of the copper willows, thick and ridged, were moss-green down by the running water, which like the wind moved slowly with many soft eddies and seeming pauses, held back by rocks, roots, hanging and fallen leaves. No way was clear, no light unbroken, in the forest. Into wind, water, sunlight, starlight, there always entered leaf and branch, bole and root, the shadowy, the complex. Little paths ran under the branches, around the boles, over the roots; they did not go straight, but yielded to every obstacle, devious as nerves. The ground was not dry and solid but damp and rather springy, product of the collaboration of living things with the long, elaborate death of leaves and trees; and from that rich graveyard grew ninety-foot trees, and tiny mushrooms that sprouted in circles half an inch across. The smell of the air was subtle, various and sweet. The view was never long, unless looking up through the branches you caught sight of the stars. Nothing was pure, dry, arid, plain. Revelation was lacking. There was no seeing everything at once: no certainty. The colors of rust and sunset kept changing in the hanging leaves of the copper willows, and you could not say even whether the leaves of the willows were brownish-red, or reddish-green, or green.

And it's such passages that make me want to read with that childhood ferocity for reading that I once felt. (less)

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Sep 01, 2011 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

The Word for World is Forest should be taught in schools. I thought I was a pretty big Ursula Le Guin fan. I’ve read The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed and The Lathe of Heaven and they are all among my favourite SF novels. I also have all of my son’s Earthsea books stacked on my bedroom bookshelf waiting for the right time. I’ve read a large number of her short stories; of which The Day Before the Revolution is a personal favourite. Yet, somehow, I had never heard of The Word for World...more

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Jul 13, 2011 Suzanne rated it 4 of 5 stars

This must have been a radical, highly influential work in its day. It didn't win the Hugo award for no reason. It is, indeed, creative, imaginary, and the last third quite moving. However, it hasn't aged well. Read 40 years after it was written, it is clearly meant as an allegory for the times. The issues it addresses, the social changes it assumes, are all taken from the headlines of the day. As with so many works written in the 70s, recreational drugs and sex have become the norm, while the cu...more

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Jul 05, 2011 Clay rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sf-fantasy

Perhaps seeking to build on the success of the movie Avatar, Tor has re-released Ursula LeGuin’s Hugo-winning classic, “The Word for World Is Forest” (Tor, $11.99, 189 pages). The reason? There’s an invasion of a distant planet by humans, a planet that already holds a less-advanced civilization, at least technologically speaking.

LeGuin has said that “The Word for World Is Forest” was greatly influenced by the Vietnam War (the novella upon which it is based came out in 1972; the book in 1976), bu...more

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Dec 20, 2010 Becky rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm still not sure what I think of this book, and am giving it only three stars in an attempt at impartiality.

It has the now-classic plot of Big Bad Colonialist American-Types cutting down trees and persecuting the peace-loving natives *cough*Avatar*cough*Fern Gully*cough*. For all that it's an actually nuanced and compelling story.

Unfortunately to get to the compelling nuances, you have to get through the first thirty pages, which are narrated by the over-the-top imperialist misogynist patriot...more

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Sep 30, 2009 Finley rated it 2 of 5 stars

So, this book was alright. In general, I've really enjoyed Le Guin's science fiction, and find it wonderfully refreshing. This book's fault wasn't the content so much as the length. If it had been longer it might've been able to go way more in depth into the story. It's the well known tale of pioneers going out and colonizing other planets, destroying native cultures along the way. It's interesting that the Hain and Cetians are also included in this story. The native culture on the planet (which...more

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Mar 14, 2009 Felix rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

German edition - German review...

Der auf dem Planeten Athshea spielende Roman stellt ganz klar LeGuins Abrechnung mit dem Kolonialismus dar. Die Terraner unterdrücken die einheimischen Athsheaner und beuten deren Planeten aus, wobei sie sich der Praktiken und diskursiven Logiken des britischen Imperialismus bedienen. Die von Natur aus friedfertigen Athsheaner müssen zu töten lernen, um sich zur Wehr zu setzen und die Besatzer zu vertreiben. Damit jedoch verlieren sie ihre harmlose Unschuld und w...more

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Apr 18, 2012 Valerie added it · review of another edition

This is not the edition I first read, but it's the edition I now own. It contains nothing but text: no introduction, no discussion, etc.

I can't compare this book to Avatar. I haven't seen Avatar. I would suggest that, coming from an anthropological background, it's probably different in many critical ways. I HAVE, however, seen the 5th Doctor episode "Kinda". In Doctor Who: The Unfolding Text, it's stated that "Kinda" is based on The Word for World Is Forest, and on Buddhist theology. I can't sa...more

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Apr 23, 2013 Arnab rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-this-year-2013

It strikes me very strange, and also darkly funny, that before long we might have to visit forest reserves to know what a tree is. We'll read about them, draw and colour them, without probably knowing how it is to see one for the first time.This could only be a long term result of our complacency, and our taking for granted the world around us, when the truth is, we live in some very complex relationships with it. Le Guin's novel sheds light on some aspects of this relationship, using a standard...more

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Jan 03, 2012 The_Mad_Swede rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, 2012

I grew up with Le Guin's fantasy writing (the Earthsea novels), and have returned to them since, but for one reason or another, I had not yet read any of her science fiction novels (despite having accumulated a few on my shelf). Then I received this book as a Christmas present and decided to open the year with it. And I am glad I did.

Fans of James Cameron's film Avatar, among whom I count myself, really should pick this up. While Cameron's film is an amazing visual event, with a decent enough st...more

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Sep 28, 2011 Aleah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, novella

In a far distant future the resources of Earth have been exhausted. To survive humans must travel to other planets, gathering necessary resources and shipping them light years back to their overpopulated home world. This story is about what happens when the materialistic and militaristic Earth humans encounter an indigenous population quite contrary to what they know.

This is only the second book that I've read from the Hainish Cycle but I already know I'm going to enjoy the whole series. I studi...more

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Dec 08, 2010 Brad rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, ecological, ethics

Hainish Wars: Episode VI
Return of the Anthropologist*

67 EXT. FOREST CLEARING – TOWN OF ENDTOR - LJUBOV'S CRASH SITE 67

A strange little green furry face with huge black eyes comes slowly into view. The creature is an ATHSHEAN, by the name of SELVER. He seems somewhat puzzled, and prods LJUBOV with the butt end of a spear. The anthropologist groans; this frightens the stubby ball of green fuzz and SELVER prods him again. LJUBOV sits up and stares at the three-foot-high Athshean. He tries to figure...more

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Jun 03, 2013 Onefinemess rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed it - but not as much as the other Hainish cycle books I've read thus far. It's tough to compete with yourself, I know.

It's a simple take on what is now something of a sci-fi cliche, especially due to Avatar (humans pillage planet populated by less technologically savvy natives) - but keep in mind this was written in 1972. It was probably quite a bit fresher then. And it's not that it was exactly stale - there just wasn't anything that really gripped me.

LeGuin excels at the culture desi...more

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Nov 06, 2012 Ilya rated it 1 of 5 stars

An Earth-like planet 27 light-years from Earth is mostly ocean, but it has a forested archipelago inhabited by 3 million (who counted them?) humanoids. The technological level of the humanoids corresponds to Earth Mesolithic, yet they have writing (why invent writing, if you are not inventorying a Bronze Age palace?). A force of 2,000 Earthlings who, just as incongruously, have Vietnam-era military hardware and near-light-speed starships, lands on the planet, and starts colonizing it. Humans are...more An Earth-like planet 27 light-years from Earth is mostly ocean, but it has a forested archipelago inhabited by 3 million (who counted them?) humanoids. The technological level of the humanoids corresponds to Earth Mesolithic, yet they have writing (why invent writing, if you are not inventorying a Bronze Age palace?). A force of 2,000 Earthlings who, just as incongruously, have Vietnam-era military hardware and near-light-speed starships, lands on the planet, and starts colonizing it. Humans are cutting down the forests and shipping wood to Earth, where it is valued dearer than gold (which makes zero economic sense: in the time it takes light to go between the planets, a cottonwood can grow 40 meters tall), enslaving the humanoids and even in one case raping a female. Except for one linguist who took an effort to learn the language and the culture of the humanoids, humans are utterly evil and environmentally destructive, while the humanoids are saintly and live in harmony with nature; their control of lucid dreaming makes them contemptuous of humans and their technology. Although the humanoids do not belong to a single polity, they have a species consciousness, which makes them unite against the invaders. The humanoids revolt and massacre several hundred humans, including all the women, so humans don't breed and continue despoiling the planet; the author feels no more pity for the victims of the massacre than the author of the Biblical Book of Kings did for the children who mocked Prophet Elisha's baldness and were therefore mauled to death by she-bears. A deus ex machina appears in the form of a starship with humans and more technologically advanced humanoids from other planets. It brings about news of a change of the colonial policy; surviving humans leave, and the planet is declared off-limits to colonization.

The real history of colonization of the Americas, Australia and Siberia is tragic but fraught with irony. The most archaic people whose land was colonized by the Europeans were probably the Australian Aborigines, yet they were not the peaceful dreamers of the novella; I have seen an estimate that their tribal warfare had death rate comparable to that on the Eastern Front of World War II. Cortes would not have conquered the Aztec Empire without allying with other Indian nations that were oppressed by the Aztecs, nor would Pizarro have conquered the Inca Empire if it weren't in the middle of a civil war; in neither case did the Indians have a racial consciousness that would make them unite against the invaders. There are no such subtleties either in this novella or in James Cameron's film "Avatar", which it very much resembles, except that the leader of the natives' rebellion is a native acquainted with the invaders' culture, not an invader gone native. I think it would be a better book if there were.(less)

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Sep 08, 2011 Donna rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audio-books, read-in-2011, science-fiction

Amazing how one big budget Hollywood movie could totally affect my experience with this book. I just couldn't help but picture Avatar the entire time I was listening to this.

Humans colonize a world and brutally exploit the natives and the resources of the planet. The natives eventually fight back. It's obviously a commentary on the state of the world when the book was published (1972) and it's pretty black and white in its characterizations of the humans and the natives. The idea of the dream w...more

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Jan 23, 2011 Briar Rose rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

I think The Word for World is Forest reads more like one of Le Guin's psychodrama short-stories than like her other Hainish books. The characters are more like archetypes, distilled down to the very essence of what they represent, than fully-drawn personalities; at times they are taken to the point of stereotype. Captain Davidson is probably the best example of this - a virile, masculine 19th century oppressor who righteously believes in his own cause and the inhumanity of the people he is oppre...more

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Jul 08, 2012 Evilynn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, sf

I don't think I've ever read a bad or even non-poignant Le Guin book (The Beginning Place is probably my least favourite so far, and that's still a solid three stars), and this is no exception. It's a little more firmly in one corner of the rink than The Left Hand of Darkness or The Dispossessed, being written during the Vietnam war, clearly taking a stance against it, and against colonialism in general. It also turns the pioneering hero trope on its head. Like in The Left Hand of Darkness the n...more

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Feb 20, 2013 Eric Farr rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In the distant future, humans have spread to the stars, colonizing other worlds, only to find others like them already out there. Such is the premise of Ursula K. Le Guin's novels set within her Hainish universe. The Word For World Is Forest is one such book, dealing with the failing Terran logging colony on New Tahiti, World 41, an ocean-covered world with several forest-engulfed islands, twenty-seven light-years from Earth. The native Athsheans, a diminutive, green-furred subspecies of humans...more In the distant future, humans have spread to the stars, colonizing other worlds, only to find others like them already out there. Such is the premise of Ursula K. Le Guin's novels set within her Hainish universe. The Word For World Is Forest is one such book, dealing with the failing Terran logging colony on New Tahiti, World 41, an ocean-covered world with several forest-engulfed islands, twenty-seven light-years from Earth. The native Athsheans, a diminutive, green-furred subspecies of humans with a peaceful culture dedicated to balancing the physical and dream worlds, have been exploited and enslaved in all but name by the Terrans. Some are raped, killed, tortured, mutilated. Some of their villages are replaced with human settlements, the survivors kept in pens. Captain Don Davidson represents the worst of this Terran destruction, and he refuses to acknowledge even their base humanity, despite his willingness to sexually exploit their females.

A very few humans, like the anthropological specialist, Raj Lyubov, are sympathetic to the Athsheans. Lyubov has carefully studied the natives and come to care for them. He has written several reports condemning the Terran practices here, but his reports are being suppressed by the commanding officers on-world. When one Athshean, Selver, attempts to kill Davidson after the soldier raped his wife to death, it is instead Davidson that almost kills Selver until Lyubov intervenes. Lyubov helps Selver recover, though the Athshean's face is permanently scarred, and they develop a deep bond.

Selver himself has been shaped by his experiences, and he represents the possibility for drastic change within the Athshean culture.

These are the three major voices of the novel: Davidson, Lyubov, and Selver. The story opens into the immediacy of current events, as the Athshean response to the Terrans' treatment is about to be unleashed. The jump between viewpoints with each new chapter, covering a different span of time, and the insertion of the above back story (and even more) as the narrative advances does a wondrous job of keeping the reader floating between space, time, and perspective--as close to approaching the complex Dreaming of the Athsheans as one could expect in a print medium. That even Davidson is a character that one can understand and almost pity, even while deploring his actions, goes to show how masterfully Le Guin characterizes each personality within their separate chapters.

This is a rather dense novel that encourages considerable reflection, as well. Subjects dealt with: racism and sexism, postcolonial commentary, the destructive nature of man, the power of rationalization, the ramifications of slavery, the failings of war against native guerrilla combatants (and, obliquely, the Vietnam War), and the nature of "humanity." These are not heavy-handed topics, but concepts that occur naturally through the telling and reading of the story. They are inherent within its structure, its narrative, its mechanics. They are organic, and because of that, consideration of these themes, parsed through the thoughts and actions of the characters and the core events of the plot, are especially enjoyable to consider.

If you enjoy science fiction, and even if you don't, you should read this.

And yes, "Athshe" is the word for "World" and "Forest."(less)

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Feb 16, 2012 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-that-aren-t-about-the-plot

Ok, ok, ok. Reading this in the year 2012, I've seen the same basic concepts in Fern Gully, Pocahontas, Avatar, and I hear they're in Dancing With Wolves and other stuff too. But shut up, haters, because this book is from the 70s. And the issues of ecoconserveration and racism are still a big deal today! And in this book, there's no human/white man who goes native and saves everyone by being a better native than they are! Which is a refreshing change, right? Instead, the main sympathetic human d...more

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Aug 05, 2012 Rebekah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi, utopia-dystopia

I am really looking forward to teaching this book in the fall as a part of my dystopian lit class. LeGuin once again paints a beautiful picture of a non-Terran culture, far across the universe, that is in some ways similar to human life as we know it, but beautifully in tune with nature and the unconscious part of the human mind, referred to as the dream world. This culture, the Athsheans, is peaceful, lives in harmony with their environment and has extensive networks of language, trade, marriag...more I am really looking forward to teaching this book in the fall as a part of my dystopian lit class. LeGuin once again paints a beautiful picture of a non-Terran culture, far across the universe, that is in some ways similar to human life as we know it, but beautifully in tune with nature and the unconscious part of the human mind, referred to as the dream world. This culture, the Athsheans, is peaceful, lives in harmony with their environment and has extensive networks of language, trade, marriage and competitive customs. Their non-violent ways are deeply ingrained and murder, assault and sexual violence is virtually unknown to them.

Then we show up.

The Terrans, or humans from Earth, arrive on the planet Athshe in order to harvest the trees and ship the wood home as a much valued commodity. With them is Captain Davidson, a self-imagined Conquistador, ready to conquer the wilderness much as he tames women, less virile men and the native "savage" species of this new planet. Also, scientist Raj Lyubov, who has conducted anthropological studies of the natives and greatly admires their ability to control their dreams, their vast networks of social customs that help dissipate anger, frustration and aggression. Lyubov is assisted in his scientific work by Selven, a native man with unique abilities to communicate and translate the customs of his people to the visitors.

The book traces the heart breaking events that lead the Athshean people to rise up and attack the invading humans, in contrast to everything their culture tells them. Selven becomes like a god to his people, introducing the very concept of murder and killing to them as a necessary evil in order to save themselves from genocide. While Selven seeks only to slow the expansion of the human colony and a balance and truce with them, Davidson's machismo refuses to allow him to "surrender" to the savage species. He continues aggressions against the Athshians, wiping out villages like "hunting rats" and revels in his ability to murder the smaller, unarmed beings. His violence ensures a horrible reprisal by Selven and his people, one which changes the Athshean culture for all time: once a culture learns to kill, they can not unlearn it.

I expect my students to compare the book to Avatar, and there might be interesting comparisons to make there, as both the story and the movie are critical looks at American imperialist policies towards Native Americans and South Asians in the last few centuries. The difference I think will come down to some of Le Guin's larger arguments about humanity (the Athshians are descendents of the same Hain ancestors as the Earth humans, and so, scientifically, are branches off of the same family tree.) The ecological balance, the "primitive" technology, the ties to a larger, dream like state and the physical differences between humans and the natives are easy touch points to compare to the film, but the major difference, as I see it, is that in Avatar, it is a human who essentially "switches sides" and saves the native species, where as in Word for World, it is one of the Athsheans who changes and leads his people into a new era. While Lyubov is depicted as a mostly positive character, his own concerns for his career, reputation and power within the mission fails to keep him from speaking out against the enslavement and mistreatment of the native species as a whole. His work with the natives is valuable and ultimately a tool that ensures the League of Worlds intercedes on behalf of the Athsheans, but he is not the hero of the story. (less)

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May 18, 2011 Vanessa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sciene-fiction

Before there was "Avatar" there was Ursula K. Le Guin's THE WORD FOR WORLD IS FOREST. Written in 1972, and the winner of the 1973 Hugo Award for best novella, Tor decided that the current furor over sustainable ecology would make this novel a timely re-release. At the very least it's an entertaining comparison to Cameron's blue-peopled visual extravaganza.

The similarities will be obvious from the start: humans can now travel to the stars and will take other planets' natural resources for their o...more Before there was "Avatar" there was Ursula K. Le Guin's THE WORD FOR WORLD IS FOREST. Written in 1972, and the winner of the 1973 Hugo Award for best novella, Tor decided that the current furor over sustainable ecology would make this novel a timely re-release. At the very least it's an entertaining comparison to Cameron's blue-peopled visual extravaganza.

The similarities will be obvious from the start: humans can now travel to the stars and will take other planets' natural resources for their own use; the nature-loving natives who just want to preserve their way of life; the racist Army dude who is willing to do anything to fulfill his objective.

If this story reads as predictable, it's because, well, it was written 40 years ago, and the story has been used in many different incarnations since then. Le Guin was a trailblazer with not only her stories and characters, but with her ecological and race-relation themes. It's worth it to see the origins of some of these ideas (see also LITTLE FUZZY, the book Scalzi's FUZZY NATION is referenced to). Here it starts off with the interesting dilemma: the planets were all seeded thousands of years ago by a main race, so the 'aliens' are actually distant cousins who evolved differently from the same stock. So, how different are the three-foot, green-furred Athsheans from Earth's humans? The answer to that is actually very important.

A quick read, TWFWIF is told from the PoV of our three main characters: Captain Davidson, Captain Lyubov, and Selver. Davidson is running a remote logging camp on the planet New Tahiti and is having trouble with the natives he calls 'creechies', which they've been using for menial labor, but they're lazy and incompetent. Not only that, but the landscape gives them trouble: after logging an area instead of making it farmable for soybeans, the land turns into mush. The scientist Lyubov, however, doesn't see things the same way as Davidson. The natives' tribes are named for the different trees which makes the forest an important part of their culture. Their 'laziness' stems from a culture with vastly different sleep cycles--in fact dreaming is an important and revered ability among the Athsheans. Then there is Selver, the native Athshean, who despite being raised in a pacifist culture, realizes that force will become necessary in dealing with the invading humans.

Le Guin explores the issues of a clash of cultures, despite a shared origin and how genocide can be caused by ignorance or greed. Another important theme is the importance the environment has on the Athsheans and how the humans' interference will have horrifying repercussions.

As a result of a short story with a focus on the themes, setting, and storyline, the characters, while interesting, didn't have enough time for an in-depth study and will feel like stereotypes. But that's not really the point of Le Guin's story, her intent is to make the reader reconsider the importance of culture vs environment.(less)

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Jan 14, 2011 Charlotte rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is about neither extreme environmentalism nor common sense conservation to my view. I see it as addressing the evils of colonialism, taking over and destroying another civilization's habitat and way of life, eg in Newfoundland the native population died out completely. Avatar had the same theme. I have seen it suggested somewhere that Avatar stole the plot of this book, but there are a lot of differences - being inspired by a book is not the same as stealing from it. Both could be seen as c...more

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About Ursula K. Le Guin

As of 2011, Ursula K. Le Guin has published twenty-one novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. Forthcoming...more As of 2011, Ursula K. Le Guin has published twenty-one novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. Forthcoming in 2012, Finding My Elegy, New and Selected Poems. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ούρσουλα Λε Γκεν (Ursula Kroeber Le Guin, Berkeley California, 21 Οκτωβρίου 1929 - ) Πολυγραφότατη, πολυδιάστατη και πολυβραβευμένη Αμερικανίδα ποιήτρια και συγγραφέας του χώρου της «Επιστημονικής Φαντασίας» αλλά και των παιδικών διηγημάτων.

ΠΡΩΤΑ ΧΡΟΝΙΑ
Γεννήθηκε στο Μπέρκλεϋ της Καλιφόρνιας από τον ανθρωπολόγο Άλφρεντ Κρέμπερ (Alfred L. Kroeber) και την συγγραφέα Θεοδώρα Κρέμπερ (Theodora Covel BrownKracaw Kroeber), σπούδασε στο «Radcliffe College» και εν συνεχεία Φιλολογία (γαλλική και ιταλική αναγεννησιακή λογοτεχνία) στο «Πανεπιστήμιο Columbia». Το 1953 παντρεύτηκε στην Γαλλία τον ιστορικό Σαρλ Λε Γκεν (Charles A. Le Guin), που έγινε καθηγητής Γαλλικής Ιστορίας στο «Portland State College» του Όρεγκον και απέκτησε μαζί του 3 παιδιά.

«ΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΟΝΙΚΗ» ΚΑΙ «ΜΕΣΑΙΩΝΙΚΗ» ΦΑΝΤΑΣΙΑ
Από τα μέσα της δεκαετίας του 1960 συνέγραψε περισσότερα από 100 διηγήματα (που εκδόθηκαν σε 8 τόμους), 3 συλλογές δοκιμίων, 5 ποιητικές συλλογές, 19 νουβέλες και 13 παιδικά βιβλία, αλλά είναι περισσότερο αναγνωρισμένη για τα έργα της στον τομέα της «Επιστημονικής» και «Μεσαιωνικής» Φαντασίας, όπου συγκαταλέγεται ανάμεσα στους σημαντικότερους σύγχρονους δημιουργούς (πιο γνωστά στην Ελλάδα είναι τα βιβλία της «Ο Αναρχικός των Δύο Κόσμων», Αθήνα, 1992 και «Το Αριστερό Χέρι του Σκοταδιού», Αθήνα, 1990, 1994). Το 1990 αιφνιδίασε το αναγνωστικό κοινό της όταν πρόσθεσε δίχως προειδοποίηση στην έως τότε τριλογία του «μαγικού» «κύκλου της Γαιοθάλασσας» («A Wizard of Earthsea», «The Tombs of Atuan» και «The FarthestShore», 1968 - 1972) το σκληρό «Τεχανού», για το οποίο έλαβε το Βραβείο Nebula.(less)

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Quotes from The Word for World is ...

“A forest ecology is a delicate one. If the forest perishes, its fauna may go with it. The Athshean word for world is also the word for forest.” — 4 people liked it

“For if it's all the rest of us who are killed by the suicide, it's himself whom the murderer kills; only he has to do is over, and over, and over.” — 3 people liked it

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The Word for World is Forest (Hainish Cycle)

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