Womens Fantastic Adventures. Stories. ( Fremdsprachentexte).

by Ursula K. Le Guin, Judith Moffett, Brigitte Scheer-Schäzler (editor)

187 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1992

About the author

Ursula 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.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this booklet on a flee market, mainly as it features Ursula K. LeGuin, one of my favourite Fantasy writers. It is in fact in English with some words translated for German readers.

Out of its 4 stories by female authors I actually liked most Judith Moffett's "Surviving", about a girl who was brought up by chimps like Tarzan. LeGuin's story "Sur" is a surprising read as well. I liked this book, but will not put it on my bookshelf for potential re-reading.