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The Unreal and the Real #2
The Unreal and the Real: Selected Stories, Volume Two: Outer Space, Inner Lands
Outer Space, Inner Lands includes many of the best known Ursula K. Le Guin nonrealistic stories (such as "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," "Semley’s Necklace," and "She Unnames Them") which have shaped the way many readers see the world. She gives voice to the voiceless, hope to the outsider, and speaks truth to power—all the time maintaining her independence and sense of humor.
Companion volume Where on Earth explores Le Guin's satirical, risky, political and experimental earthbound stories. Both volumes include new introductions by the author.
This volume includes the following stories:
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (1973)
Semley’s Necklace (1964, 1975, Hainish Cycle)
Nine Lives (1969, 1997)
Mazes (1975, 2003)
The First Contact with the Gorgonids (1991)
The Shobies’ Story (1990, Hainish Cycle)
Betrayals (1994, Hainish Cycle)
The Matter of Seggri (1994, Hainish Cycle)
Solitude (1994, Hainish Cycle)
The Wild Girls (1994)
The Fliers of Gy (2000)
The Silence of the Asonu (2000)
The Ascent of the North Face (1983)
The Author of the Acacia Seeds (1974)
The Wife’s Story (1982)
The Rule of Names (1964, Earthsea)
Small Change (1981)
The Poacher (1992)
Sur (1982)
She Unnames Them (1985)
*Jar of Water (2014) [ * "Jar of Water" does not appear in the 2012 Small Beer Press edition(s) of this work, but was added to the combined volume later released by Saga Press / Simon and Schuster.]
Companion volume Where on Earth explores Le Guin's satirical, risky, political and experimental earthbound stories. Both volumes include new introductions by the author.
This volume includes the following stories:
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (1973)
Semley’s Necklace (1964, 1975, Hainish Cycle)
Nine Lives (1969, 1997)
Mazes (1975, 2003)
The First Contact with the Gorgonids (1991)
The Shobies’ Story (1990, Hainish Cycle)
Betrayals (1994, Hainish Cycle)
The Matter of Seggri (1994, Hainish Cycle)
Solitude (1994, Hainish Cycle)
The Wild Girls (1994)
The Fliers of Gy (2000)
The Silence of the Asonu (2000)
The Ascent of the North Face (1983)
The Author of the Acacia Seeds (1974)
The Wife’s Story (1982)
The Rule of Names (1964, Earthsea)
Small Change (1981)
The Poacher (1992)
Sur (1982)
She Unnames Them (1985)
*Jar of Water (2014) [ * "Jar of Water" does not appear in the 2012 Small Beer Press edition(s) of this work, but was added to the combined volume later released by Saga Press / Simon and Schuster.]
330 pages, Hardcover
First published November 20, 2012
243 people are currently reading
3109 people want to read
About the author
Ursula K. Le Guin
972 books29.5k followersUrsula K. Le Guin published twenty-two 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. She lived in Portland, Oregon.
She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.
She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 241 reviews
September 30, 2022
The great Ursula K. Le Guin is by far my favorite author. Her depth of insight and breadth of knowledge and profound moral courage and deep compassion and abiding wisdom and abundant, wry humor infuse everything I’ve read of hers. These stories are no exception. They moved me, entertained me, enraptured me, stirred me, upset me, challenged my way of seeing and thinking, and left me in awe of her power to craft sentences and bring her worlds and characters and ideas to vibrant, subtle, and wholly original life. I am very glad she was incredibly prolific, and that there are still many other stories and novels of hers I haven’t read.
September 3, 2017
Ursula Le Guin is one of my favourite authors. I had picked this up a few years ago but only recently read this.
I'm usually obsessively reading the news but it depresses me so much lately I've started reading books again. Should I thank the president-elect for this? Anyhow as always Ms. Le Guin's writing did not fail to sooth. I had read a few of the stories in this collection before, some of them more than once. Some of the stories I had not yet encountered and they were wonderful. It was like being at a great party with old friends and new acquaintances. Some of the stories were funny, some puzzling (I'm still not exactly sure what "Churtening" is to be honest). Her prose is spare and elegant...her worlds are wonderful.
Her father was an anthropologist and the anthropological approach shows in her writing. She uses her writing to examine cultures...she looks at gender politics...environmental disasters...the effects of slavery...the aftermath of war...the paradoxes created by faster than light space travel. She doesn't write technically the way Neal Stephenson does, there are no mathy bits to be skimmed over by yours truly. She writes about people. Often they are old but not always...as I am aging rapidly and not particularly gracefully I appreciate this. Why should young people have all of the stories.
For me stand-outs in this collection are as follows: "The Matter of Seggri", "Solitude", and "The Poacher". Of the older stories I particularly love "Semley's Necklace" and "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas". I also loved "First Contact With the Gorgonids" and "The Ascent of the North Face" because as always they made me laugh and right now I need laughter.
I'm usually obsessively reading the news but it depresses me so much lately I've started reading books again. Should I thank the president-elect for this? Anyhow as always Ms. Le Guin's writing did not fail to sooth. I had read a few of the stories in this collection before, some of them more than once. Some of the stories I had not yet encountered and they were wonderful. It was like being at a great party with old friends and new acquaintances. Some of the stories were funny, some puzzling (I'm still not exactly sure what "Churtening" is to be honest). Her prose is spare and elegant...her worlds are wonderful.
Her father was an anthropologist and the anthropological approach shows in her writing. She uses her writing to examine cultures...she looks at gender politics...environmental disasters...the effects of slavery...the aftermath of war...the paradoxes created by faster than light space travel. She doesn't write technically the way Neal Stephenson does, there are no mathy bits to be skimmed over by yours truly. She writes about people. Often they are old but not always...as I am aging rapidly and not particularly gracefully I appreciate this. Why should young people have all of the stories.
For me stand-outs in this collection are as follows: "The Matter of Seggri", "Solitude", and "The Poacher". Of the older stories I particularly love "Semley's Necklace" and "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas". I also loved "First Contact With the Gorgonids" and "The Ascent of the North Face" because as always they made me laugh and right now I need laughter.
August 31, 2016
The Unreal and the Real, Volume Two: Outer Space, Inner Lands: Brilliant SF tales of human anthropology
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature
This is essential reading (or listening) for all fans of SF who want to see why Ursula K. Le Guin is one of the giants of the SF/fantasy field. Volume Two: Outer Space, Inner Lands contains a host of impressive stories, both her famous award-winners and lesser-known gems. All of them are intelligent, thought-provoking, understated, and beautifully written. It’s hard to underestimate the influence she has had on the genre, fans, and how much respect she has gained in the greater literary world. I can’t wait to see the upcoming documentary about her life and legacy being produced by Arwen Curry called Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin scheduled for completion by 2017.
As we journey through the various imaginary worlds she weaves, many set in her shared far-future Hainish universe, what becomes clear is that Le Guin is an anthropologist at heart, which is hardly surprising considering both her parents were well-known anthropologists: Alfred Kroeber, a renowned Professor of Anthropology at UC Berkeley, and his wife Theodora Kroeber, both of whom did pioneering work on California native American tribes, including the last surviving member of the Yahi tribe, named Ishi.
The influence of anthropology, sociology, psychology, folklore and linguistics in Le Guin’s stories is pervasive, as well as tremendous writing skills that make her prose and stories seem effortless and timeless. While many SF authors use aliens as proxies for various human behaviors and cultures, Le Guin does something very different.
In her Hainish universe, humanity arose on the planet Hain and seeded the stars with numerous human colonies (including Terra), but after this League of Worlds collapsed, travel among these worlds ceased and many human worlds lost track of this galactic civilization and their own origins. This allows Le Guin to explore a limitless number of human societies that are frequently at a primitive level of technology, have developed unusual social structures, and in some cases have been modified dramatically via genetic engineering (such as the androgynous characters of The Left Hand of Darkness).
Le Guin’s stories are mainly focused on humanity in a myriad range of diverse societies and cultures. She dispenses with the easy metaphor of “aliens” to show the alienness of all human cultures including our own. The behaviors of these different humans is often bizarre, unexpected, disturbing, and yet familiar. One of her favorite literary tricks is to lull readers into false complacency with a seemingly-familiar setting before suddenly turning things on their head midway or at the end, exposing all the cultural biases and assumptions we bring to our reading experiences, like “Mazes”, “The Author of the Acacia Seeds”, and “The Wife’s Story”. This is particularly the case for gender biases and behaviors, which she explored brilliantly at full-length in The Left Hand of Darkness, but also with great effect in “The Matter of Seggri” and “The Wild Girls”.
Highlights in this collection are:
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (1974, Hugo Award for Best Short Story): More of a parable than a story, a thought-experiment about the ethics of the greater good of an entire city vs. the suffering of a single child. Is it okay for a child to suffer, if an entire city of people can live rich and fulfilling lives? I understand this story is used in college classes and it is certainly well-suited to generating healthy debates.
Semley’s Necklace (1964; initially “The Dowry of the Angyar”): The first story set in her Hainish universe, and tells the folklore story of Semley, a high-born woman on the planet Fomalhaut, who enters the underworld in search of a valuable family heirloom that has disappeared long ago. She makes contact with a representative of the Ekumen and gets her wish, but at a heavy cost. This story introduces many of the anthropological themes of her Hainish stories, with a strong mythic fantasy tone.
Nine Lives (1968, Nebula Nominee for Best Novelette): A story about identity, explored by contrasting the friendship of two individual scientists in a remote outpost with a ten-clone, a group of 10 men and women cloned from the same man, John Chow, sent to assist. They seem to be more efficient, self-contained, and mentally stable than the two men, until a crisis situation exposes their weaknesses.
The Shobies’ Story (1990, Nebula Nominee for Best Novelette): This is a fairly challenging story about a diverse crew from the Ekumen group of worlds that suffer the psychological stresses of faster-than-light travel. Using a process called transilience, they must establish a shared reality through story-telling in order to power the ship. Given all their different cultural beliefs and biases, this proves quite challenging. The concept of relativity is explored in very literal terms.
Betrayals (1994): This story is a part of a connected series of stories set in the twin worlds of Werel and Yeowe in the Hainish universe (collected in Four Ways to Forgiveness). It’s the meeting of two people - a retired teacher named Yoss and an exiled leader named Abberkam, whose divergent pasts and beliefs are forced into contact in a desolate place.
The Matter of Seggri (1994, Hugo and Nebula nominee for Best Novelette, James Tiptree Award Winner): This for me was the highlight of this collection. It is a brilliantly developed study of a society in which women are dominant in the economy, politics, education, and all practical professions. That leaves the men with just two roles, isolated in their castles - sports and breeding (siring children and serving as sex workers). In fact, women pay them for their services. While this may seem at first like an enviable position for men, Le Guin meticulously shows us their utter powerlessness. They are reduced to prized breeders and are given no other outlets or means of self-fulfillment.
Switching around familiar gender roles forces the reader to confront all the biases and rigid social barriers that form the basis for men and women’s roles in societies throughout human history, and brings home just how soul-crushing a position women have been frequently subjected to, even to this day and age. In particular, the cruel behavior towards men who are not prized at breeders parallels the intolerant treatment of women who cannot bear children. Towards the end of the story, we also see the vicious in-fighting among the men themselves. There is even the equivalent of an Equal Rights Movement, and it is bittersweet to see the men struggle to gain respect even after they are granted the right to higher education and other roles in society. I think this story is really an eye opener for younger readers in the West who have benefitted from far greater sexual equality than prior generations.
Solitude (1995, Nebula Award for Best Novelette): This is a deeply anthropological study of an female Observer who discovers her only means to study an isolated human society that maintains a strict code of men and women not mingling in adulthood is to use her own children to infiltrate their inner ranks and learn their social practices from within. What they discover is a harsh legacy of rampant overpopulation that led to a collapse in civilization and a warped social response.
Women form aunt rings where they share stories and pass on knowledge. However, they otherwise do not speak to each other. This society is devoted mainly to silence and the development of the soul. The men face their own form of solitude - they spend their teenage years in harsh boy groups in which the strongest bully and sometimes kills the weaker members. For those that survive to adulthood, their fate is to live a hermetic existence in the forest, only being visited by women for child-bearing purposes.
The most powerful part of the story is what happens after the mother takes her children away from these societies in order to gather the information they have learned from their experiences. The son is cooperative but the daughter is extremely resistant and desperately wants to return to her aunt ring and the cultivation of her soul. The conflict in values between mother and daughter is profound, and the difficult position of children bridging vastly divergent cultures is something I have seen first-hand.
The Wild Girls (2003, Hugo Award for Best Novelette): This story also shows the strong
anthropological influence of Le Guin’s upbringing. Here we see a practice that is not so unusual in more primitive tribal societies - in this case invading the Dirt people’s tribes and stealing away girls to provide new blood to the Crown people of Sky City. This story is filled with contrasts - the ruthless behavior of the men as they slaughter older people and take only the girls they want, and their fierce protectiveness of the girls as spoils of war. The gender roles of the society are sharply delineated, as are the gaps between the Dirt people and Crown people. The themes of formal slavery (Dirt people) and effective slavery (wives) are also prevalent. This is a grim story with a tragic ending.
The Flyers of Gy (2000): This story reads like a field report about the Gy people, among whom a small minority develop functioning wings at adulthood. However, this is frequently viewed as a curse rather than a gift, and we are shown a myriad of brutal and repressive responses to this trait in various communities. Often the flyers are stoned to death or killed in even more perverse ways. Even when they are not immediately killed, their position in society is strictly proscribed, and the story ends with an interview with a lawyer who has valiantly overcome his “handicap” to be a productive member of society. This is a clear parable of discrimination against those who are different, and how they cope.
The Silence of the Asonu (1998): Here we have a mysterious society that is probably unlikely, but intriguing as a concept. Imagine a society that voluntarily chooses silence after a normal childhood. And yet not a grim silence, but within a well-adjusted and caring social structure, but lacking in both verbal and non-verbal communication. In keeping with religious ascetics, their silence could be a form of spiritual wisdom. Or perhaps just a means of minimizing social conflict. Other people are fascinated by the Asonu, leading to a thriving tourist trade. Some go so far as to kidnap an Asonu child and try to force them to reveal their “secret wisdom”. We are left to draw our own conclusions.
The Author of the Acacia Seeds (1974): Here is a little treat about therolinguistics, the study of animal languages. Written in academic journal style, it is both humorous and completely serious. It reminded me in some ways of Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris in its discussion of Solaristics, the study of a possibly sentient ocean by generations of academics. Only someone intimately familiar with academic disciplines could create a story so strange and yet totally convincing.
The article asks “What if art is not communicative? If a non-communicative, vegetative art exists, we must rethink the very elements of our science, and learn a whole new set of techniques. But the problem was far greater. The art he sought, if it exists, is a non-communicative art: and probably a non-kinetic one. It is possible that Time, the essential element, matrix, and measure of all known animal art, does not enter into vegetable art at all. The plants may use the meter of eternity. We do not know.”
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature
This is essential reading (or listening) for all fans of SF who want to see why Ursula K. Le Guin is one of the giants of the SF/fantasy field. Volume Two: Outer Space, Inner Lands contains a host of impressive stories, both her famous award-winners and lesser-known gems. All of them are intelligent, thought-provoking, understated, and beautifully written. It’s hard to underestimate the influence she has had on the genre, fans, and how much respect she has gained in the greater literary world. I can’t wait to see the upcoming documentary about her life and legacy being produced by Arwen Curry called Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin scheduled for completion by 2017.
As we journey through the various imaginary worlds she weaves, many set in her shared far-future Hainish universe, what becomes clear is that Le Guin is an anthropologist at heart, which is hardly surprising considering both her parents were well-known anthropologists: Alfred Kroeber, a renowned Professor of Anthropology at UC Berkeley, and his wife Theodora Kroeber, both of whom did pioneering work on California native American tribes, including the last surviving member of the Yahi tribe, named Ishi.
The influence of anthropology, sociology, psychology, folklore and linguistics in Le Guin’s stories is pervasive, as well as tremendous writing skills that make her prose and stories seem effortless and timeless. While many SF authors use aliens as proxies for various human behaviors and cultures, Le Guin does something very different.
In her Hainish universe, humanity arose on the planet Hain and seeded the stars with numerous human colonies (including Terra), but after this League of Worlds collapsed, travel among these worlds ceased and many human worlds lost track of this galactic civilization and their own origins. This allows Le Guin to explore a limitless number of human societies that are frequently at a primitive level of technology, have developed unusual social structures, and in some cases have been modified dramatically via genetic engineering (such as the androgynous characters of The Left Hand of Darkness).
Le Guin’s stories are mainly focused on humanity in a myriad range of diverse societies and cultures. She dispenses with the easy metaphor of “aliens” to show the alienness of all human cultures including our own. The behaviors of these different humans is often bizarre, unexpected, disturbing, and yet familiar. One of her favorite literary tricks is to lull readers into false complacency with a seemingly-familiar setting before suddenly turning things on their head midway or at the end, exposing all the cultural biases and assumptions we bring to our reading experiences, like “Mazes”, “The Author of the Acacia Seeds”, and “The Wife’s Story”. This is particularly the case for gender biases and behaviors, which she explored brilliantly at full-length in The Left Hand of Darkness, but also with great effect in “The Matter of Seggri” and “The Wild Girls”.
Highlights in this collection are:
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (1974, Hugo Award for Best Short Story): More of a parable than a story, a thought-experiment about the ethics of the greater good of an entire city vs. the suffering of a single child. Is it okay for a child to suffer, if an entire city of people can live rich and fulfilling lives? I understand this story is used in college classes and it is certainly well-suited to generating healthy debates.
Semley’s Necklace (1964; initially “The Dowry of the Angyar”): The first story set in her Hainish universe, and tells the folklore story of Semley, a high-born woman on the planet Fomalhaut, who enters the underworld in search of a valuable family heirloom that has disappeared long ago. She makes contact with a representative of the Ekumen and gets her wish, but at a heavy cost. This story introduces many of the anthropological themes of her Hainish stories, with a strong mythic fantasy tone.
Nine Lives (1968, Nebula Nominee for Best Novelette): A story about identity, explored by contrasting the friendship of two individual scientists in a remote outpost with a ten-clone, a group of 10 men and women cloned from the same man, John Chow, sent to assist. They seem to be more efficient, self-contained, and mentally stable than the two men, until a crisis situation exposes their weaknesses.
The Shobies’ Story (1990, Nebula Nominee for Best Novelette): This is a fairly challenging story about a diverse crew from the Ekumen group of worlds that suffer the psychological stresses of faster-than-light travel. Using a process called transilience, they must establish a shared reality through story-telling in order to power the ship. Given all their different cultural beliefs and biases, this proves quite challenging. The concept of relativity is explored in very literal terms.
Betrayals (1994): This story is a part of a connected series of stories set in the twin worlds of Werel and Yeowe in the Hainish universe (collected in Four Ways to Forgiveness). It’s the meeting of two people - a retired teacher named Yoss and an exiled leader named Abberkam, whose divergent pasts and beliefs are forced into contact in a desolate place.
The Matter of Seggri (1994, Hugo and Nebula nominee for Best Novelette, James Tiptree Award Winner): This for me was the highlight of this collection. It is a brilliantly developed study of a society in which women are dominant in the economy, politics, education, and all practical professions. That leaves the men with just two roles, isolated in their castles - sports and breeding (siring children and serving as sex workers). In fact, women pay them for their services. While this may seem at first like an enviable position for men, Le Guin meticulously shows us their utter powerlessness. They are reduced to prized breeders and are given no other outlets or means of self-fulfillment.
Switching around familiar gender roles forces the reader to confront all the biases and rigid social barriers that form the basis for men and women’s roles in societies throughout human history, and brings home just how soul-crushing a position women have been frequently subjected to, even to this day and age. In particular, the cruel behavior towards men who are not prized at breeders parallels the intolerant treatment of women who cannot bear children. Towards the end of the story, we also see the vicious in-fighting among the men themselves. There is even the equivalent of an Equal Rights Movement, and it is bittersweet to see the men struggle to gain respect even after they are granted the right to higher education and other roles in society. I think this story is really an eye opener for younger readers in the West who have benefitted from far greater sexual equality than prior generations.
Solitude (1995, Nebula Award for Best Novelette): This is a deeply anthropological study of an female Observer who discovers her only means to study an isolated human society that maintains a strict code of men and women not mingling in adulthood is to use her own children to infiltrate their inner ranks and learn their social practices from within. What they discover is a harsh legacy of rampant overpopulation that led to a collapse in civilization and a warped social response.
Women form aunt rings where they share stories and pass on knowledge. However, they otherwise do not speak to each other. This society is devoted mainly to silence and the development of the soul. The men face their own form of solitude - they spend their teenage years in harsh boy groups in which the strongest bully and sometimes kills the weaker members. For those that survive to adulthood, their fate is to live a hermetic existence in the forest, only being visited by women for child-bearing purposes.
The most powerful part of the story is what happens after the mother takes her children away from these societies in order to gather the information they have learned from their experiences. The son is cooperative but the daughter is extremely resistant and desperately wants to return to her aunt ring and the cultivation of her soul. The conflict in values between mother and daughter is profound, and the difficult position of children bridging vastly divergent cultures is something I have seen first-hand.
The Wild Girls (2003, Hugo Award for Best Novelette): This story also shows the strong
anthropological influence of Le Guin’s upbringing. Here we see a practice that is not so unusual in more primitive tribal societies - in this case invading the Dirt people’s tribes and stealing away girls to provide new blood to the Crown people of Sky City. This story is filled with contrasts - the ruthless behavior of the men as they slaughter older people and take only the girls they want, and their fierce protectiveness of the girls as spoils of war. The gender roles of the society are sharply delineated, as are the gaps between the Dirt people and Crown people. The themes of formal slavery (Dirt people) and effective slavery (wives) are also prevalent. This is a grim story with a tragic ending.
The Flyers of Gy (2000): This story reads like a field report about the Gy people, among whom a small minority develop functioning wings at adulthood. However, this is frequently viewed as a curse rather than a gift, and we are shown a myriad of brutal and repressive responses to this trait in various communities. Often the flyers are stoned to death or killed in even more perverse ways. Even when they are not immediately killed, their position in society is strictly proscribed, and the story ends with an interview with a lawyer who has valiantly overcome his “handicap” to be a productive member of society. This is a clear parable of discrimination against those who are different, and how they cope.
The Silence of the Asonu (1998): Here we have a mysterious society that is probably unlikely, but intriguing as a concept. Imagine a society that voluntarily chooses silence after a normal childhood. And yet not a grim silence, but within a well-adjusted and caring social structure, but lacking in both verbal and non-verbal communication. In keeping with religious ascetics, their silence could be a form of spiritual wisdom. Or perhaps just a means of minimizing social conflict. Other people are fascinated by the Asonu, leading to a thriving tourist trade. Some go so far as to kidnap an Asonu child and try to force them to reveal their “secret wisdom”. We are left to draw our own conclusions.
The Author of the Acacia Seeds (1974): Here is a little treat about therolinguistics, the study of animal languages. Written in academic journal style, it is both humorous and completely serious. It reminded me in some ways of Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris in its discussion of Solaristics, the study of a possibly sentient ocean by generations of academics. Only someone intimately familiar with academic disciplines could create a story so strange and yet totally convincing.
The article asks “What if art is not communicative? If a non-communicative, vegetative art exists, we must rethink the very elements of our science, and learn a whole new set of techniques. But the problem was far greater. The art he sought, if it exists, is a non-communicative art: and probably a non-kinetic one. It is possible that Time, the essential element, matrix, and measure of all known animal art, does not enter into vegetable art at all. The plants may use the meter of eternity. We do not know.”
January 23, 2024
--The better half (Volume One: Where on Earth was a miss for me) with a higher hit rate (6-out-of-20) and greater impression on the hits:
1) The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas: a classic!
2) Mazes: a favorite.
3) “The First Contact With the Gorgonids”: a chortle.
4) “The Wife’s Story”: a trick and a treat.
5) “The Rule of Names”: a parody for Hobbit fans.
6) “The Poacher”: a tale more enchanting to me than A Wizard of Earthsea, which I failed to make much progress in after numerous attempts.
1) The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas: a classic!
2) Mazes: a favorite.
3) “The First Contact With the Gorgonids”: a chortle.
4) “The Wife’s Story”: a trick and a treat.
5) “The Rule of Names”: a parody for Hobbit fans.
6) “The Poacher”: a tale more enchanting to me than A Wizard of Earthsea, which I failed to make much progress in after numerous attempts.
May 1, 2021
Overall this volume is amazing. I read some stories before but re-reading them was just as good as first time and those that I didn't where amazing.
There are some that are OK or "just" good but there are few that deserve more than 5 stars so it balances out.
There are some that are OK or "just" good but there are few that deserve more than 5 stars so it balances out.
September 8, 2025
Oh yeah, now this is the stuff.
Le Guin's speculative work is where it's at. She excels at creating rich, complicated worlds, often ones that interrogate sex and gender, as well as meaty subjects such as slavery, religion, language, storytelling, morality. A collection of stories in which they all feel chewy.
Le Guin's speculative work is where it's at. She excels at creating rich, complicated worlds, often ones that interrogate sex and gender, as well as meaty subjects such as slavery, religion, language, storytelling, morality. A collection of stories in which they all feel chewy.
December 17, 2019
An interesting collection of Ms. Le Guin's works; as the title indicates, "selected short stories".
This review marks the completion of Volume Two: Outer Space, Inner Lands with some interesting side journeys for me. From what I can determine, there are two major editions of this work. First, the two volumes were originally published as two books in 2012 by Small Beer Press. An audio version was cut, and I listened to the stories in this way. Then, in 2016 or 2017, Saga Press combined the volumes into one book and added the 2014 story "Jar of Water" (which is excellent, by the way). I skipped over some stories that I had read previously in other collections (which is not a lot!).
Here's a brief review of the collection:
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (1973) - A fable in the Borges tradition with "a long and happy career of being used by teachers to upset students and make them argue fiercely about morality."
Semley’s Necklace (1964, 1975, Hainish Cycle) - Norse fantasy with spaceships and an alien planet. Read it previously.
Nine Lives (1969, 1997) - solid SF, almost Asimovian
Mazes (1975, 2003) - a touching first-contact-gone-wrong story.
The First Contact with the Gorgonids (1991) - see above, but it is also the tale of Mrs. Jerry Dubree.
The Shobies’ Story (1990, Hainish Cycle) - The next several Hainish stories speak for them selves, or don't.
Betrayals (1994, Hainish Cycle)
The Matter of Seggri (1994, Hainish Cycle)
Solitude (1994, Hainish Cycle)
The Wild Girls (1994) - starts slow, builds to a good commentary on human nature
The Fliers of Gy (2000) - from Changing Planes, brief satire
The Silence of the Asonu (2000) - ditto.
The Ascent of the North Face (1983) - short and stands on its own merit
The Author of the Acacia Seeds (1974) - odd discussion of an odd future science of the languages of animals
The Wife’s Story (1982) - "[a] story, only backwards".
The Rule of Names (1964, Earthsea) - I had forgotten that I had read this before; it might be incorporated into one of the Earthsea novels but definitely a cautionary tale of many facets.
Small Change (1981) - "[a] ghost story, sort of"
The Poacher (1992) - an interesting riff on Sleeping Beauty
Sur (1982) - one of Ms. Le Guin's favorites, on a hidden expedition to the South Pole
She Unnames Them (1985) - a fantasy vignette of 3 pages.
Jar of Water (2014) - Pure Arabian Nights fantasy with an ambiguous theme and an unambiguous moral.
This review marks the completion of Volume Two: Outer Space, Inner Lands with some interesting side journeys for me. From what I can determine, there are two major editions of this work. First, the two volumes were originally published as two books in 2012 by Small Beer Press. An audio version was cut, and I listened to the stories in this way. Then, in 2016 or 2017, Saga Press combined the volumes into one book and added the 2014 story "Jar of Water" (which is excellent, by the way). I skipped over some stories that I had read previously in other collections (which is not a lot!).
Here's a brief review of the collection:
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (1973) - A fable in the Borges tradition with "a long and happy career of being used by teachers to upset students and make them argue fiercely about morality."
Semley’s Necklace (1964, 1975, Hainish Cycle) - Norse fantasy with spaceships and an alien planet. Read it previously.
Nine Lives (1969, 1997) - solid SF, almost Asimovian
Mazes (1975, 2003) - a touching first-contact-gone-wrong story.
The First Contact with the Gorgonids (1991) - see above, but it is also the tale of Mrs. Jerry Dubree.
The Shobies’ Story (1990, Hainish Cycle) - The next several Hainish stories speak for them selves, or don't.
Betrayals (1994, Hainish Cycle)
The Matter of Seggri (1994, Hainish Cycle)
Solitude (1994, Hainish Cycle)
The Wild Girls (1994) - starts slow, builds to a good commentary on human nature
The Fliers of Gy (2000) - from Changing Planes, brief satire
The Silence of the Asonu (2000) - ditto.
The Ascent of the North Face (1983) - short and stands on its own merit
The Author of the Acacia Seeds (1974) - odd discussion of an odd future science of the languages of animals
The Wife’s Story (1982) - "[a] story, only backwards".
The Rule of Names (1964, Earthsea) - I had forgotten that I had read this before; it might be incorporated into one of the Earthsea novels but definitely a cautionary tale of many facets.
Small Change (1981) - "[a] ghost story, sort of"
The Poacher (1992) - an interesting riff on Sleeping Beauty
Sur (1982) - one of Ms. Le Guin's favorites, on a hidden expedition to the South Pole
She Unnames Them (1985) - a fantasy vignette of 3 pages.
Jar of Water (2014) - Pure Arabian Nights fantasy with an ambiguous theme and an unambiguous moral.
January 12, 2013
I did not realize this was a two volume affair until I got home and looked closer at the cover. Volume Two is the Outer Space half of the volume, although a few of the stories do occur on Earth, including a beautiful one about the languages of animals, plants, and possibly the earth itself.
I won't go through the stories individually, but I will say that each one is designed to blow your mind. In her introduction Le Guin says she intends to give a voice to the voiceless, and that is what she does throughout this volume. When you start a story, you have certain assumptions about who the narrator is, what he/she has for motivation, etc. Le Guin turns these assumptions on their ear every time, especially in the beautifully sad "The Wife's Story." She is a well-known feminist who uses intersectionality in her work in ways that most feminists don't even think about.
I think the power of her writing is best displayed in "The Matter of Seggri," which tells the story of a planet where the roles of men and women as we know them are inverted, and then some. Men, who are far less than 50% of the population on Seggri, are kept sequestered in castles, where they play sports and compete in dancing and other physical activities until they are deployed to the "fuckeries" (brothels, and I can't imagine Le Guin wasn't laughing her face off when she came up with that) for women's pleasure and procreation. I am an ardent feminist who does a lot of reading in the field, and I am constantly aware of how the patriarchy undercuts women to this day. But I still was shocked by the treatment of the men in this story, as they rebelled against the system, started entering universities, and tried to love women. Le Guin has an uncanny ability to suck you into her narrative so deeply, you forget where you started.
"Get back in the fuckeries where you belong!" That is just hilarious and awful at the same time. Awflarious.
I won't go through the stories individually, but I will say that each one is designed to blow your mind. In her introduction Le Guin says she intends to give a voice to the voiceless, and that is what she does throughout this volume. When you start a story, you have certain assumptions about who the narrator is, what he/she has for motivation, etc. Le Guin turns these assumptions on their ear every time, especially in the beautifully sad "The Wife's Story." She is a well-known feminist who uses intersectionality in her work in ways that most feminists don't even think about.
I think the power of her writing is best displayed in "The Matter of Seggri," which tells the story of a planet where the roles of men and women as we know them are inverted, and then some. Men, who are far less than 50% of the population on Seggri, are kept sequestered in castles, where they play sports and compete in dancing and other physical activities until they are deployed to the "fuckeries" (brothels, and I can't imagine Le Guin wasn't laughing her face off when she came up with that) for women's pleasure and procreation. I am an ardent feminist who does a lot of reading in the field, and I am constantly aware of how the patriarchy undercuts women to this day. But I still was shocked by the treatment of the men in this story, as they rebelled against the system, started entering universities, and tried to love women. Le Guin has an uncanny ability to suck you into her narrative so deeply, you forget where you started.
"Get back in the fuckeries where you belong!" That is just hilarious and awful at the same time. Awflarious.
January 13, 2024
"Neither of us enjoyed the funeral at all."
Fascinating collection with Le Guin's usual clarity and sophisticated wit. There were some slightly lesser ones in the mix - as collections are to do -, but the ones that shone, shone bright enough to eclipse them all.
Personal favorites: "Solitude", and the pièce de résistance, "She Unnames Them".
_______________
More immediate impressions in the reading updates below.
Fascinating collection with Le Guin's usual clarity and sophisticated wit. There were some slightly lesser ones in the mix - as collections are to do -, but the ones that shone, shone bright enough to eclipse them all.
Personal favorites: "Solitude", and the pièce de résistance, "She Unnames Them".
_______________
More immediate impressions in the reading updates below.
Read
September 8, 2025“I dishonor my lord, pretending to turn to him when I can't turn to him, when I can't let go the world. so I burn it! so the sword cuts your hands.”
so much better than volume one lol
🧒 “THE ONES WHO WALK AWAY FROM OMELAS” — a classic for a reason
👑 “SEMLEY’S NECKLACE” — it’s funny because I only recently (for a definition of recent that stretches back several months) finished this in physical form in the wind’s twelve quarters ! I enjoyed the reread
🧑🚀 “NINE LIVES” — fine but not, for me, a standout from the collection
🧩 “MAZES” — something something save me from cruelty something something
📸 “THE FIRST CONTACT WITH THE GORGONIDS” — do love a story that tells a joke that punches up; a reread from a fisherman of the inland sea .
🚀 “THE SHOBIES’ STORY” — “do you mean,” lidi said in a tone of deep existential disgust, “that we have to believe in it to make it work?” / “you have to believe in yourself in order to act, don’t you?” tai said. / “no,” the navigator said, “absolutely not. I don’t believe in myself. I know some things. enough to go on.” — another reread from fisherman . yeah b**** I love hain what of it!!!
🔥 “BETRAYALS” — she was trying to train herself to read slowly, not gobble down words in chunks the way tikuli gobbled down his food. // ”what is a fact a million years old?” // she thought of the pages blackening and curling as the fire read them. — YOU KNOW I LOVE OLD PEOPLE!!!!!
⚖️ “THE MATTER OF SEGGRI” — a reread from the birthday of the world . so much of this collection is characterized by what I’ll call le guin’s anthropological sci fi, and the particular approach used in “seggri” and others is so dear to me—where she takes an issue and explores it through multiple means and from varied angles. when I say that I like books about ‘societies that are thought experiments,’ this is exactly what I mean lol.
🪐 “SOLITUDE” — another from birthday . even though I, An Introvert, am joining the war on extroverts on the side of extroverts and my dear friend ursie k. is a hilariously mean introvert, more anthropology is always welcome by mE.
🪢 “THE WILD GIRLS” — reminded me a bit of the sedoretu tragedies (which obviously I love). this volume’s feminist bent is more prominent than in volume one
🦋 “THE FLYERS OF GY” — see note on “seggri”; in this instance I appreciate that we are provided viewpoints from flyers who diverge utterly in their opinion of their wings. the bit about “do you ever dream of flying?” is a killer ending.
😶 “THE SILENCE OF THE ASONU” — hmmm yes imagine going 2 visit the asonu in their fashion. thank u. more anthro!!!
🧗 “THE ASCENT OF THE NORTH FACE” — apparently I’ve read this one before, in fisherman , but I didn’t remember it. a good and funny little joke :)
🐜 “THE AUTHOR OF THE ACACIA SEEDS AND OTHER EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF THEROLINGUISTICS” — WORTH. THE PRICE (free). OF ADMISSION. ALONE. wake up babe new favorite le guin story just dropped. I literally reread (relistened to) this one four times in a row lmao (my note was ‘I could listen to tandy cronyn read me fake linguistic analysis all day’). you know I love fake academia and translation! again I say unto thee: le guin’s interest in exploring a question or issue from multiple angles!!! the vibes? immaculate. the kiss? chef’s. ugh whatever just like kill me it’s so up my alley
🌑 “THE WIFE’S STORY” — oh this is a clever little thing.
✨ “THE RULE OF NAMES” — another recent physical read from quarters . love my friend mr. underhill! I like the mention of “a fat quick boy.” lovely observations about human nature, too.
🪙 “SMALL CHANGE” — could be paired nicely with “THE WATER IS WIDE” from volume one
🌳 “THE POACHER” — this, “the wife’s story,” and “small change” follow the same sort of inside-out/upside-down/from-the-other-side-of-it conceit, although this one is a little more kitty-corner than the other two. it’s that sort of ‘the main action but from the perspective of a bit player’ setup, with a fairytale.
🗻 “SUR” — but what is life without grumbling, and the occasional opportunity to say “I told you so”? // for some man might come some day, [...] and break his heart. — ursula k. le guin took one look at polar explorer disease (this story literally references the belgica—and is also the second story in this collection to talk about adélie penguins??) and said yes cait you’re right.....this is a gender thing...... SUPPOSITITIOUS ISLANDS! this story and emily of deep valley take place around the same time; love that for all these explorations of womanhood.
🐂 “SHE UNNAMES THEM” — she sure does!!!!!
but then the backside of heroism is often rather sad. women and servants know that. they know also that the heroism may be no less real for that. but achievement is smaller than men think. what is large is the sky, the earth, the sea, the soul.
Read
February 10, 2022It took me a while to finish this book, so I guess this mix of short stories was not really my thing. Some stories were quite interesting, like The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, but I also found some other ones to be quite boring, and I ended up skipping them after reading two pages or three.
The highlights from this book, though, are for me The Matter of Seggri and Solitude. Both of them are focused on societies where men and women are quite separated from each other, and in both (especially in the Seggri one) the women actually hold power over the men. The Matter of Seggri is written as a series of documents related with this society (researchers' work, fictional pieces, testimonies, etc), and the last of these documents left me speechless, it was very beautiful. As always, I'm in awe of the talent and imagination that Le Guin had, the complete control she shows when describing fictional and complex societies.
The highlights from this book, though, are for me The Matter of Seggri and Solitude. Both of them are focused on societies where men and women are quite separated from each other, and in both (especially in the Seggri one) the women actually hold power over the men. The Matter of Seggri is written as a series of documents related with this society (researchers' work, fictional pieces, testimonies, etc), and the last of these documents left me speechless, it was very beautiful. As always, I'm in awe of the talent and imagination that Le Guin had, the complete control she shows when describing fictional and complex societies.
March 11, 2020
– Rabelében, szabad a Talmud olvasása közben dohányozni?
– Nem, nem szabad!
– És rabbi, szabad dohányzás közben a Talmudot olvasni?
– Hát persze, a Talmudot mindig szabad olvasni!
Ha az előző kötetnél az volt a problémám, hogy az ötlet időnként ellopta a levegőt az emberi kapcsolatok amúgy érzékeny ábrázolása elől, hát most meg azt élveztem piszokul, hogy a központba helyezett ötletet mennyire feldúsította az emberi kapcsolatok érzékeny ábrázolása. Hogy mi a kettő között a különbség? Hm, talán nem sok. Le Guin ezen elbeszélései mindenesetre egyértelműen (egyértelműbben) sci-fi és fantasy történetek, nem sok kacérkodás van bennük a „komoly” realizmussal, és ez felettébb jól áll nekik. A sci-fi és a fantasy (ahogy laikusként látom) jellemzően ötletközpontú formák: a szerző új nézőpontból kap el egy nagyon is ismerős problémát egyszerűen azzal, hogy az egész cselekményt teljesen idegen közegbe helyezi, legyen az a közeg a Mars vagy akár Középfölde. Amivel persze nem azt akarom mondani, hogy a sci-fi és a fantasy nem több allegóriánál, álöltözetbe bújtatott társadalomfilozófiai problémagyűjteménynél – ám gyakran van egy ilyen olvasata is. És ha Le Guin ember és ember közti kapcsolatot bénító pontossággal megragadó talentumát olyan eszköznek tekintjük, ami a fantasztikus témát elemeli önmagától és érzelmi-gondolati komplexitással ruházza fel, akkor máris megvan, mi katapultálja ezeket a szövegeket a legmagasabb szintű irodalmi produktumok közé.
Nem emelnék ki egy novellát sem. Mind más miatt tetszett. Akad köztük sötéten filozofikus és sziporkázó humorral átszőtt is, és gyakran visszatérő elem bennük a nemek egymáshoz való viszonya – de mindben pulzál a kreativitás, no meg az írni tudás, ami segít Le Guinnek abban, hogy amit eltervezett, azt pontosan úgy tudja megírni, ahogy eltervezte. És mivel eleve jól tervezte el, le is nyűgözött.
– Nem, nem szabad!
– És rabbi, szabad dohányzás közben a Talmudot olvasni?
– Hát persze, a Talmudot mindig szabad olvasni!
Ha az előző kötetnél az volt a problémám, hogy az ötlet időnként ellopta a levegőt az emberi kapcsolatok amúgy érzékeny ábrázolása elől, hát most meg azt élveztem piszokul, hogy a központba helyezett ötletet mennyire feldúsította az emberi kapcsolatok érzékeny ábrázolása. Hogy mi a kettő között a különbség? Hm, talán nem sok. Le Guin ezen elbeszélései mindenesetre egyértelműen (egyértelműbben) sci-fi és fantasy történetek, nem sok kacérkodás van bennük a „komoly” realizmussal, és ez felettébb jól áll nekik. A sci-fi és a fantasy (ahogy laikusként látom) jellemzően ötletközpontú formák: a szerző új nézőpontból kap el egy nagyon is ismerős problémát egyszerűen azzal, hogy az egész cselekményt teljesen idegen közegbe helyezi, legyen az a közeg a Mars vagy akár Középfölde. Amivel persze nem azt akarom mondani, hogy a sci-fi és a fantasy nem több allegóriánál, álöltözetbe bújtatott társadalomfilozófiai problémagyűjteménynél – ám gyakran van egy ilyen olvasata is. És ha Le Guin ember és ember közti kapcsolatot bénító pontossággal megragadó talentumát olyan eszköznek tekintjük, ami a fantasztikus témát elemeli önmagától és érzelmi-gondolati komplexitással ruházza fel, akkor máris megvan, mi katapultálja ezeket a szövegeket a legmagasabb szintű irodalmi produktumok közé.
Nem emelnék ki egy novellát sem. Mind más miatt tetszett. Akad köztük sötéten filozofikus és sziporkázó humorral átszőtt is, és gyakran visszatérő elem bennük a nemek egymáshoz való viszonya – de mindben pulzál a kreativitás, no meg az írni tudás, ami segít Le Guinnek abban, hogy amit eltervezett, azt pontosan úgy tudja megírni, ahogy eltervezte. És mivel eleve jól tervezte el, le is nyűgözött.
August 21, 2025
3.6⭐
A collection of Ursula K Le Guin's fantasy and/or science fiction short stories. All the stories were previously published elsewhere; several including Semely's Necklace, Nine Lives and The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, have been heavily anthologized.
As usual with Le Guin, all of the stories are interesting although I personally felt many of them were among her lesser works. There are a few stories from her Hainish cycle including Solitude and The Matter of the Seggri and one set in her Earthsea universe The Rule of Names. Most of the included stories are stand alone tales.
I would descibe many of the tales as feminist and as satirical. All, imho, are worth reading.
A collection of Ursula K Le Guin's fantasy and/or science fiction short stories. All the stories were previously published elsewhere; several including Semely's Necklace, Nine Lives and The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, have been heavily anthologized.
As usual with Le Guin, all of the stories are interesting although I personally felt many of them were among her lesser works. There are a few stories from her Hainish cycle including Solitude and The Matter of the Seggri and one set in her Earthsea universe The Rule of Names. Most of the included stories are stand alone tales.
I would descibe many of the tales as feminist and as satirical. All, imho, are worth reading.
February 7, 2017
"Betrayals," "The Matter of Seggri," "Solitude," and "The Wild Girls" are among the best short stories I've ever read. More anthropology than fiction, but also more realism than spec. Incredibly emotional and moving, but also largely set on alien world with nonhumans. They're hard to explain, but I feel like a whole new world of literary expression has opened up before me, and I am in awe. You just have to read it.
December 7, 2018
Liked
* The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas - frustrating but it stays with you.
* Betrayals - a quiet piece involving a cat
* The Matter of Seggri - a matriarchy story that goes beyond boring reversals. I’m not happy how the lesbian relationship is treated in this story (the het relationship is framed as the great love story that could have been if men were treated equally) but it’s still an interesting story.
* She Unnames Them - short, charming enough.
* Sur - this is really very different from her other stories and I really love what this story is doing.
* The Rule of Names - everything in this story is expected but it doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. Love earthsea, always.
* The Wife’s Story - a fun reversal
* The Silence of the Asonu - on anthropology and racism. I’m surprised by how often Le Guin calls out anthropology as a field in these stories tbh.
* The Fliers of Gy - the winged people story
Hm
* Nine Lives - a cloning take which would be more interesting to sci-fi fans than to me.
* The Shobies’ Story - hm
* Solitude - vaguely interesting new world
* The Poacher - I really like the concept, letting the enchantment remain, but not impressed by the DV that is never dealt with and the rape scene. I think the story would have been better had the protagonist been a woman and had rescued the step mom.
* Small Change - could have gone somewhere interesting and didn’t
* The Wild Girls - it doesn’t hit the right notes for a story on slavery imo.
Pass:
* Mazes - ARA that’s aged poorly.
* Semley’s Necklace - a faerie story that’s not worth much.
* The First Contact with the Gorgonids - don’t like how racism and sexism are handled here.
* Jar of Water - pass on parables
* The Author of the Acacia Seeds - just didn’t care
* The Ascent of the North Face - why was this included?
* The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas - frustrating but it stays with you.
* Betrayals - a quiet piece involving a cat
* The Matter of Seggri - a matriarchy story that goes beyond boring reversals. I’m not happy how the lesbian relationship is treated in this story (the het relationship is framed as the great love story that could have been if men were treated equally) but it’s still an interesting story.
* She Unnames Them - short, charming enough.
* Sur - this is really very different from her other stories and I really love what this story is doing.
* The Rule of Names - everything in this story is expected but it doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. Love earthsea, always.
* The Wife’s Story - a fun reversal
* The Silence of the Asonu - on anthropology and racism. I’m surprised by how often Le Guin calls out anthropology as a field in these stories tbh.
* The Fliers of Gy - the winged people story
Hm
* Nine Lives - a cloning take which would be more interesting to sci-fi fans than to me.
* The Shobies’ Story - hm
* Solitude - vaguely interesting new world
* The Poacher - I really like the concept, letting the enchantment remain, but not impressed by the DV that is never dealt with and the rape scene. I think the story would have been better had the protagonist been a woman and had rescued the step mom.
* Small Change - could have gone somewhere interesting and didn’t
* The Wild Girls - it doesn’t hit the right notes for a story on slavery imo.
Pass:
* Mazes - ARA that’s aged poorly.
* Semley’s Necklace - a faerie story that’s not worth much.
* The First Contact with the Gorgonids - don’t like how racism and sexism are handled here.
* Jar of Water - pass on parables
* The Author of the Acacia Seeds - just didn’t care
* The Ascent of the North Face - why was this included?
October 23, 2017
Outer Space, Inner Lands is the second of two volumes collecting together the best of Ursula Le Guin’s short fiction. It’s also the one containing all the SF work, or at least all the less realistic work, and it contains stories like ‘Those Who Walk Away from Omelas’, one of Ursula Le Guin’s most famous stories (at least among people I know) — though not my favourite, as I think the moral is obvious from the beginning.
As always, Le Guin’s writing is clear and strong, and the stories chosen here span her career and showcase all kinds of different ideas and different phases of her work. I prefer it to the first volume, because I find Le Guin’s speculative fiction more accessible.
She’s brilliant. Do yourself a favour.
Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.
As always, Le Guin’s writing is clear and strong, and the stories chosen here span her career and showcase all kinds of different ideas and different phases of her work. I prefer it to the first volume, because I find Le Guin’s speculative fiction more accessible.
She’s brilliant. Do yourself a favour.
Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.
September 9, 2020
Stanislaw Lem anno élesen kritizálta az amerikai sci-fi irodalmat annak elpongyolásodása miatt. Akárhogy is volt, Le Guint nem érheti vád efelől. Ez a novelláskötet a minőségi irodalmat képviseli.
Megalkotott egy világot, amihez minden egyes novella, ami betagozódik ebbe az univerzumba, hozzáad valamit, tovább írja azt. Nagyon jól adagolva az olvasónak az ismeretlen megismeréséhez szükséges információkat.
Le Guin történeteit szerintem nem csak (és nem mindig) az élénk fantázia emeli magas szintre, hanem a perspektíva is, ahonnan megközelíti őket.
Megalkotott egy világot, amihez minden egyes novella, ami betagozódik ebbe az univerzumba, hozzáad valamit, tovább írja azt. Nagyon jól adagolva az olvasónak az ismeretlen megismeréséhez szükséges információkat.
Le Guin történeteit szerintem nem csak (és nem mindig) az élénk fantázia emeli magas szintre, hanem a perspektíva is, ahonnan megközelíti őket.
April 23, 2018
3.5/5.0
June 23, 2024
So many great stories it deserves 5 stars. Full of empathy and with a great sense of where to take premises (to the point where they hurt but feel cathartic at the same time)
December 9, 2012
This collection of LeGuin's short stories (non-earthly division) is a real treasure. Beginning with old favorites from my youth like "Semley's Necklace" and the amazing "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", moving through her intensely anthropological Hain-universe stories, and ending with more fairy-tale inflected stories, the storytelling is uniformly strong. "Semley's Necklace" makes literal the admonition that magic and technology are only differently understood, and "Omelas" is, to anyone who knows it, unforgettable. The more anthropologically-oriented stories show some of the real possibilities of what genre fiction can do -- by observing different societies (or sometime by the representation of members of those societies) the Hainish and their descendants explore different possibilities for gender roles, social organization, and so forth, throwing new light on our own perceptions. There is a shapeshifting story from an unusual point of view, an all-female expedition to Antarctica, and an interesting take on the Cinderella story. While one or two stories impressed me less ("The Ascent of the North Face" is amusing but felt a little silly), overall this collection is a winner. I do recommend reading this collection slowly, a story or two at a time -- the stories are dense and thought-provoking, and the anthropological ones could too easily blend together, but are in fact each unique and well-developed.
I received a free PDF of this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program. (I enjoyed the book so much that I am currently considering purchasing the set of two in hardcover, even though many of my book purchases are in eBook form these days. That says something.)
I received a free PDF of this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program. (I enjoyed the book so much that I am currently considering purchasing the set of two in hardcover, even though many of my book purchases are in eBook form these days. That says something.)
May 30, 2013
My parents have all of Ms. Le Guin's books, including every previous collection, and I grew up reading her stories. When I bought these at Atomic in December I planned to read them all again in Ms. Le Guin's curated order. It has taken a while. I kept the book next to my bed, and I read one story every night, except sometimes I went back and reread one from the night before or the night before that. 'Cause here's the thing: these are GREAT stories. I notice something new every time.
If you had asked me about "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" I would have said yeah, yeah, I've read it a million times. That's the story with the beautiful city hiding an ugly secret about how they can have their happiness as long as they keep a child caged and abused beneath the city. And sure, that is what it's about, exactly as I remembered from reading it in 8th grade. I wasn't expecting to be absolutely floored by the language, the way I was this time. The first sentence is exquisite: "With a clamor of bells that set the swallows soaring, the Festival of Summer came to the city. Omelas, bright-towered by the sea." The early passages of the story are poetry in prose. Then, as the narration turns to the child, the words close down like a prison. They become ugly, harsh, oppressive. I didn't remember any of that from reading this as a kid. The other stories are like that too, revealing new prizes and new challenges on my return.
If you had asked me about "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" I would have said yeah, yeah, I've read it a million times. That's the story with the beautiful city hiding an ugly secret about how they can have their happiness as long as they keep a child caged and abused beneath the city. And sure, that is what it's about, exactly as I remembered from reading it in 8th grade. I wasn't expecting to be absolutely floored by the language, the way I was this time. The first sentence is exquisite: "With a clamor of bells that set the swallows soaring, the Festival of Summer came to the city. Omelas, bright-towered by the sea." The early passages of the story are poetry in prose. Then, as the narration turns to the child, the words close down like a prison. They become ugly, harsh, oppressive. I didn't remember any of that from reading this as a kid. The other stories are like that too, revealing new prizes and new challenges on my return.
September 30, 2019
Hosszan olvastam ezt a második kötetet is, de nem azért mert unalmas volt, épp ellenkezőleg. Egy-egy történet olyan erősen dolgozott bennem, annyira lekötötte a gondolataimat, mint máskor, máshol egy egész regény - így ha befejeztem egy novellát, rendszerint képtelen voltam csak úgy, minden további nélkül a következőre ugrani.
Ahogy gondolkodtam ezen az értékelésen, bámultam a tartalomjegyzéket és ide-oda forgattam a kötetet, próbáltam felidézni magamban a 21 novella mindegyikét, hogy kiemelhessem a kedvenceimet, vagy megjegyzéseket fűzzek a gyengébb darabokhoz. Magam is meglepődtem, de nem megy. Mindegyik novella különleges és egyedi élmény volt, aligha tudnám bármiféle képzeletbeli sorba rendezni őket. Ez egy ilyen ritka tökéletes válogatás.
Magával a szerzővel ez már sokadik találkozásom, de csak most találtam meg az írásaiban, ami eddig rejtve maradt előttem. Másképpen szólva, most érintett meg, méghozzá számtalan új formában egyszerre. Szerencsére nem kell ennyivel beérnem, itt vár a polcon a következő gyönyörű kötet, aminek így már a címe is egészen új jelentéssel bír, hiszen a korábbi, kevéssé sikerült magyar átültetések hatására Le Guin számomra majdnem "elveszett"...
Ahogy gondolkodtam ezen az értékelésen, bámultam a tartalomjegyzéket és ide-oda forgattam a kötetet, próbáltam felidézni magamban a 21 novella mindegyikét, hogy kiemelhessem a kedvenceimet, vagy megjegyzéseket fűzzek a gyengébb darabokhoz. Magam is meglepődtem, de nem megy. Mindegyik novella különleges és egyedi élmény volt, aligha tudnám bármiféle képzeletbeli sorba rendezni őket. Ez egy ilyen ritka tökéletes válogatás.
Magával a szerzővel ez már sokadik találkozásom, de csak most találtam meg az írásaiban, ami eddig rejtve maradt előttem. Másképpen szólva, most érintett meg, méghozzá számtalan új formában egyszerre. Szerencsére nem kell ennyivel beérnem, itt vár a polcon a következő gyönyörű kötet, aminek így már a címe is egészen új jelentéssel bír, hiszen a korábbi, kevéssé sikerült magyar átültetések hatására Le Guin számomra majdnem "elveszett"...
July 9, 2018
Interesting and well-told, if a bit puzzling. It's the story of a whole people who have feathers and sometimes some of them start sprouting wings when they reach puberty. In rural areas, they get killed, either ceremoniously as sacrifices or unceremoniously as freaks. In more enlightened places they are allowed to live and then they have to decide whether they want to fly with all the dangers this entails or stay on the ground.
What had me puzzled was that I was never sure what the story was supposed to be a metaphor for. Maybe it's not a metaphor for anything, but truly an original concept, but it felt like there was an answer that I never grasped.
What had me puzzled was that I was never sure what the story was supposed to be a metaphor for. Maybe it's not a metaphor for anything, but truly an original concept, but it felt like there was an answer that I never grasped.
March 13, 2016
"Sur", guys. A fictional expedition that reaches the South Pole first in 1910... with an all-women crew. They leave no trace. I'm not gonna cry. Not gonna cry...
August 19, 2022
Average rating: 3.5 stars
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas - 4 stars
A tale about the utopian city of Omelas and what it means for a people to be happy. I can definitely see why it's one of those stories teachers love to use.
Favorite quote:
Semley's Necklace - 3.5 stars
On an alien planet, a woman named Semley goes on a quest to find the magnificent necklace once possessed by her forebears. Really interesting food for thought about how a simple story can become a legend.
Nine Lives - 5 stars
Pugh and Martin, surveyors on an alien planet, are faced with the arrival of a new Planetary Exploitation team composed of ten clones of the same person. This was such an interesting take on what it means to relate to other people, especially if you spend all your time with nine other copies of yourself. Really enjoyed this one.
Favorite quote:
Mazes - 2 stars
A short little story detailing the narrator's torture at the hands of a cruel alien creature (waaaay less graphic than I made it sound).
The First Contact with the Gorgonids - 3 stars
A man and his wife venture through the Australian Outback in search of Aboriginals. Not sure what the message of this one is besides, "men are arrogant" and "listen to your wife," but honestly, I vibe with that.
The Shobies' Story - 2.5 stars
The crew of the Shoby agree to be the first higher-intelligence life forms to test experimental transilience technology that will (hopefully) allow ships to achieve instantaneous travel. I'll be honest, this one confused me a lot... Kind of a mindfuck, in any case.
Betrayals - 1 star
An old woman named Yoss retreats to secluded marshes at the end of her life in search of spirituality. There, she meets Abberkam, a disgraced hero of the War of Liberation. Overall, this one left me feeling pretty meh.
The Matter of Seggri - 5 stars
A brief history of the alien planet of Seggri, where the women vastly outnumber the men, men's only value is in siring children, and sexism is flipped on its head. This was such a good exploration of gender issues. Definitely a favorite.
Solitude - 3 stars
A woman from off-planet details her life growing up on Eleven-Soro in a society—very much at odds with her mother's Hainish culture—that prizes solitude. There are some really interesting explorations of societal structures going on here.
The Wild Girls - 4 stars
The story of Dirt sisters Mal and Modh, who are kidnapped from their home and made slaves by a Crown man named Bela ten Belen. Fucked-up and tragic, in the best way.
Favorite quote:
The Fliers of Gy - 5 stars
A story about the few people of Gy who grow wings and have the ability to fly. Lovely worldbuilding.
The Silence of the Asonu - 4 stars
A story about the Asonu, who grow ever more silent as they grow older. Enjoyable, for sure.
The Ascent of the North Face - 3 stars
Journal entries from a climber's ascent up the North Face. Short, silly, and fun.
The Author of the Acacia Seeds - 5 stars
Selected excerpts from the Journal of the Association of Therolinguistics, a field which studies and seeks to interpret the languages of various animal species. All-around fantastic.
The Wife's Story - 4 stars
A wife tells the sad story of what happened to her husband. Short but good.
The Rule of Names - 3 stars
A story about a wizard named Mr. Underhill whose truename is a mystery to the residents of Sattins Island. I've always really loved the "names hold great power" trope in fantasy, so glad to see that here.
Small Change - 3 stars
The story of a girl in the aftermath of her aunt's death. Definitely quite strange.
The Poacher - 2.5 stars
A boy discovers a tall mysterious hedgerow in the forest and becomes determined to get to the other side. A story about those who don't get stories.
Sur - 4 stars
A story about a group of women undertaking an expedition to Antarctica in 1909. I liked this one.
Favorite quote:
She Unnames Them - 4 stars
Exactly what it says on the tin. Everyone gets unnamed. Quiet but powerful.
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas - 4 stars
A tale about the utopian city of Omelas and what it means for a people to be happy. I can definitely see why it's one of those stories teachers love to use.
Favorite quote:
Semley's Necklace - 3.5 stars
On an alien planet, a woman named Semley goes on a quest to find the magnificent necklace once possessed by her forebears. Really interesting food for thought about how a simple story can become a legend.
Nine Lives - 5 stars
Pugh and Martin, surveyors on an alien planet, are faced with the arrival of a new Planetary Exploitation team composed of ten clones of the same person. This was such an interesting take on what it means to relate to other people, especially if you spend all your time with nine other copies of yourself. Really enjoyed this one.
Favorite quote:
Mazes - 2 stars
A short little story detailing the narrator's torture at the hands of a cruel alien creature (waaaay less graphic than I made it sound).
The First Contact with the Gorgonids - 3 stars
A man and his wife venture through the Australian Outback in search of Aboriginals. Not sure what the message of this one is besides, "men are arrogant" and "listen to your wife," but honestly, I vibe with that.
The Shobies' Story - 2.5 stars
The crew of the Shoby agree to be the first higher-intelligence life forms to test experimental transilience technology that will (hopefully) allow ships to achieve instantaneous travel. I'll be honest, this one confused me a lot... Kind of a mindfuck, in any case.
Betrayals - 1 star
An old woman named Yoss retreats to secluded marshes at the end of her life in search of spirituality. There, she meets Abberkam, a disgraced hero of the War of Liberation. Overall, this one left me feeling pretty meh.
The Matter of Seggri - 5 stars
A brief history of the alien planet of Seggri, where the women vastly outnumber the men, men's only value is in siring children, and sexism is flipped on its head. This was such a good exploration of gender issues. Definitely a favorite.
Solitude - 3 stars
A woman from off-planet details her life growing up on Eleven-Soro in a society—very much at odds with her mother's Hainish culture—that prizes solitude. There are some really interesting explorations of societal structures going on here.
The Wild Girls - 4 stars
The story of Dirt sisters Mal and Modh, who are kidnapped from their home and made slaves by a Crown man named Bela ten Belen. Fucked-up and tragic, in the best way.
Favorite quote:
The Fliers of Gy - 5 stars
A story about the few people of Gy who grow wings and have the ability to fly. Lovely worldbuilding.
The Silence of the Asonu - 4 stars
A story about the Asonu, who grow ever more silent as they grow older. Enjoyable, for sure.
The Ascent of the North Face - 3 stars
Journal entries from a climber's ascent up the North Face. Short, silly, and fun.
The Author of the Acacia Seeds - 5 stars
Selected excerpts from the Journal of the Association of Therolinguistics, a field which studies and seeks to interpret the languages of various animal species. All-around fantastic.
The Wife's Story - 4 stars
A wife tells the sad story of what happened to her husband. Short but good.
The Rule of Names - 3 stars
A story about a wizard named Mr. Underhill whose truename is a mystery to the residents of Sattins Island. I've always really loved the "names hold great power" trope in fantasy, so glad to see that here.
Small Change - 3 stars
The story of a girl in the aftermath of her aunt's death. Definitely quite strange.
The Poacher - 2.5 stars
A boy discovers a tall mysterious hedgerow in the forest and becomes determined to get to the other side. A story about those who don't get stories.
Sur - 4 stars
A story about a group of women undertaking an expedition to Antarctica in 1909. I liked this one.
Favorite quote:
She Unnames Them - 4 stars
Exactly what it says on the tin. Everyone gets unnamed. Quiet but powerful.
September 8, 2023
This second volume of short stories by master storyteller Ursula K Le Guin was much more enjoyable to my ears that the first volume as it featured primarily science fiction and fantasy. I'm not a big fan of fantasy but the storytelling kept me absorbed. If you are familiar with Le Guin's Hainish Cycle of science fiction novel you'll get more out of this collection as a number of the stories are set in this universe.
Audible improved their game from the absolute disastrous formatting of the first volume but there was still a chapter with no announced title and the order was off a little from the paper copy order.
There were some some real gems in this collection. A few of my favorites were:
"Semley's Necklace" - set in the Hainish universe, a woman sets out to track down a family heirloom in a story featuring themes of time dilation and interaction amongst civilizations with different technological levels.
"First Contact with the Gorgonids" - the story of an abusive ass of a husband and his and his wife's first contact experience. I laughed on my way to work listening to this one.
"The Matter of Seggri" - interesting what-if tale which takes place on a matriarchal planet in which genetic engineering has resulted in only one in six (I think) births being male. How would such a society even operate?
"The Fliers of Gy" - takes place on a planet where a small number of people grow wings, and instead of flying being something wonderful and appreciated it is thought by many to be a negative attribute. It's a sad tale.
"The Wife's Story" and "Small Change" - two surreal fantasy stories about a beloved family member. Spellbinding story telling.
"She Unnames Them" - the collection's finale. What if animals were unnamed? Sounds pretty straightforward but develops in to a short and poignant tale.
Most of the stories in this collection of twenty-two were hits for me, with a few misses which is to be expected. If you enjoy Le Guin and/or fantasy/science fiction I would recommend, even if you are unfamiliar with her Hainish works. She does not disappoint.
Audible improved their game from the absolute disastrous formatting of the first volume but there was still a chapter with no announced title and the order was off a little from the paper copy order.
There were some some real gems in this collection. A few of my favorites were:
"Semley's Necklace" - set in the Hainish universe, a woman sets out to track down a family heirloom in a story featuring themes of time dilation and interaction amongst civilizations with different technological levels.
"First Contact with the Gorgonids" - the story of an abusive ass of a husband and his and his wife's first contact experience. I laughed on my way to work listening to this one.
"The Matter of Seggri" - interesting what-if tale which takes place on a matriarchal planet in which genetic engineering has resulted in only one in six (I think) births being male. How would such a society even operate?
"The Fliers of Gy" - takes place on a planet where a small number of people grow wings, and instead of flying being something wonderful and appreciated it is thought by many to be a negative attribute. It's a sad tale.
"The Wife's Story" and "Small Change" - two surreal fantasy stories about a beloved family member. Spellbinding story telling.
"She Unnames Them" - the collection's finale. What if animals were unnamed? Sounds pretty straightforward but develops in to a short and poignant tale.
Most of the stories in this collection of twenty-two were hits for me, with a few misses which is to be expected. If you enjoy Le Guin and/or fantasy/science fiction I would recommend, even if you are unfamiliar with her Hainish works. She does not disappoint.
October 10, 2022
My first introduction to Ursula Le Guin (and...sci fi?? Veryy late to the game wow) was Left Hand of Darkness and I was reluctant to say how much I struggled with it...but this was fantastic and I am a complete convert now!
Surprised by every single story, these were subvertive and immersing in a way that was so unbelievably refreshing. Truly such stimulation for the mind, heart and spirit. I was deeply impressed with the complexity and resolve she is able to create in under 30 pages, particularly with internal conflicts.
Also didn't expect the level of affinity and gentleness she writes around animals, and in general her stories run with such hope, humour and kindness (apart from Wild Girls and damn she did well with the aftercare of that one.) The realisation that I'm still working through internalised misogyny and cancel culture anger when I get surprised that feminist authors have kindness as an undertone/overtone? Ooft.
Loved the overall theme of the real and unreal too, excellent curation. I think my favourite were Nine Lives (nearly cried at this one), Betrayals and The Author of Acacia Seeds. Huge fan grl energy now and excited to read more.
P.S Finished this at the end of a holiday that was a game changer for me, and I wouldn't say the book was the reason for it but it was certainly part of it and oh what a wonderful companion it was.
Surprised by every single story, these were subvertive and immersing in a way that was so unbelievably refreshing. Truly such stimulation for the mind, heart and spirit. I was deeply impressed with the complexity and resolve she is able to create in under 30 pages, particularly with internal conflicts.
Also didn't expect the level of affinity and gentleness she writes around animals, and in general her stories run with such hope, humour and kindness (apart from Wild Girls and damn she did well with the aftercare of that one.) The realisation that I'm still working through internalised misogyny and cancel culture anger when I get surprised that feminist authors have kindness as an undertone/overtone? Ooft.
Loved the overall theme of the real and unreal too, excellent curation. I think my favourite were Nine Lives (nearly cried at this one), Betrayals and The Author of Acacia Seeds. Huge fan grl energy now and excited to read more.
P.S Finished this at the end of a holiday that was a game changer for me, and I wouldn't say the book was the reason for it but it was certainly part of it and oh what a wonderful companion it was.
March 25, 2019
Most people familiar with Ursula K. Le Guin’s work will have read some if not all of these fantastic stories. Classics like “Semley’s necklace” which deals with the possible consequences of interstellar travel and of cultures at different technological levels interacting “the matter of Segri” which Imagens a world of extreme gender imbalance and “ The wife’s story” which takes an unusual look at the shape shifter myth are gathered together here under the banner of being sci-fi and/or fantasy stories. And the selection does a great job of highlighting the themes Le Guin has spent her career focusing on, issues of gender, sexuality, class and power. But they are also just good stories. The writing is beautiful, the stories are controlled though not particularly fast-paced. Sometimes you are reading a report from a distant land, sometimes a fable. Always, you are left thinking.
The one issue I can take with this collection is that for someone already familiar with the authors work there isn’t much new here. It’s a lovely and compact wait to revisit the familiar but won’t give you new stories you are unfamiliar with.
The one issue I can take with this collection is that for someone already familiar with the authors work there isn’t much new here. It’s a lovely and compact wait to revisit the familiar but won’t give you new stories you are unfamiliar with.
February 7, 2024
This short story collection is the more sci-fi counterpart to the previous bland one, but it's really not much better. The most well-known story here is obviously The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, and if you only know that through cultural osmosis you already have the full experience—it's very much as if Le Guin couldn't figure out how to work out the basic idea she had, and decided to just let the reader do it instead. As far as the rest is concerned, Solitude is a stand-out that would probably do well if it were rediscovered by audiences today (apparently it won a Nebula Award in 1996, so I guess it's not one of her more obscure ones anyway), The Author of the Acacia Seeds starts off very cutely but then keeps going for too long, and The Rule of Names is atypical Le Guin but nice old-school fantasy; everything else falls somewhere on the spectrum from uninteresting to a genuine slog.
Maybe Le Guin just isn't for me, actually.
Maybe Le Guin just isn't for me, actually.
October 14, 2018
I fear I’ll soon run out of positive adjectives to describe Le Guin’s writing. While some stories are not as sharp and full bodied as The Matter of Seggre (spelling varies), Solitude and The Wild Girls, all tales with heavy weight on social structures, gender and anthropology, I’m never bored for one moment. Her prose carries you like a shell upon the sea, easily and at her every whim and I find myself wanting to go wherever her flow of words leads me.
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