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The Left Hand of Darkness

(Hainish Cycle #4)

Ursula K. Le Guin

4.08 · Rating details · 124,593 ratings · 9,548 reviews

Genly Ai is an ethnologist observing the people of the planet Gethen, a world perpetually in winter. The people there are androgynous, normally neuter, but they can become male ot female at the peak of their sexual cycle. They seem to Genly Ai alien, unsophisticated and confusing. But he is drawn into the complex politics of the planet and, during a long, tortuous journey ...more

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Paperback, SF Masterworks, 304 pages

Published March 9th 2017 by Gollancz (first published 1969)

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Jan 15, 2012 Nataliya rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Nataliya by: Tracy

Shelves: hugo-nebula, favorites, ursula-k-le-guin, 2013-reads, location-is-the-true-protagonist, 2018-reads, 2012-reads

The question that permeates Le Guin's 1969 sensational for its time novel about the ambisexual society is what remains once the male and the female labels are stripped away? What is underneath the labels - is it simply humanity?

'Androgynous' - Which is how I could not help but picture the Gethenians.

"A man wants his virility regarded, a woman wants her femininity appreciated, however indirect and subtle the indications of regard and appreciation. On Winter they will not exist. One is respecte

'Androgynous' - Which is how I could not help but picture the Gethenians.

"A man wants his virility regarded, a woman wants her femininity appreciated, however indirect and subtle the indications of regard and appreciation. On Winter they will not exist. One is respected and judged only as a human being. It is an appalling experience."

Like some readers, Genly Ai, the protagonist of this brilliantly written leisurely-paced cerebral sci-fi classic, for a while just cannot seem to move past the ambisexuality aspect. Ai is an ambassador to the planet Gethen to convince its leaders to join the interplanetary union Ekumen. The inhabitants of Gethen differ from other humanoid races in two aspects: (1) they have adapted well to tolerate the Ice Age climate of their world, and (2) they are ambisexual. For the majority of lunar cycle they are essentially neuter, and for several days they enter a sexual phase, kemmer, during which they attain either male or female characteristics and become capable of sex.

"What is a friend, in a world where any friend may be a lover at a new phase of the moon? Not I, locked in my virility: no friend to Therem Harth, or any other of his race. Neither man nor woman, neither and both, cyclic, lunar, metamorphosing under the hand's touch, changelings in the human cradle, they were no flesh of mine, no friends; no love between us."

The landscapes of Gethen. Minus the Star Wars thingies.

Ai, a male proud of his virility, does not feel comfortable among the Gethians. He is always suspicious, always mistrusting of these people whose essence he refuses to understand. He views himself as "a stallion in harness with a mule", chuckles at the idea of a pregnant King. He tries to view the Gethenians as male, and is appalled at all the femininity that he sees in them, feeling that it is wrong, inferior, alien to him. In the world of wholeness, not of duality, he feels lost and isolated without the familiar stark division that rules our lives. After all, the first question that people immediately ask at birth is - boy or girl? Man or woman?

[Sidenote: Remember the whole relatively recent conundrum about Canadian parents who decided to raise their child without telling the society the child's gender? They received death threats for that attempt, so ingrained is the gender division among us].

Ai is not a bad guy. He is just lost, confused, and isolated - a human, in the other words. He is so out of his comfort zone he does not comprehend how to deal with the society that he views as passive, where there is less competitiveness, and where crying is perfectly fine. He finds it so hard to accept this world without the quientesential 'maleness' or 'femininity' - even though he struggles to define exactly what it is that separates men from women.

Ai becomes so terribly isolated in his alienness, longing for something familiar. In this strange and unfamiliar world of wholeness, he clings to the eternal human "Us vs. Them" divide, refusing in his loneliness and fear to look beyond the usual, the prejudice. Until circumstances force him to get to know Estraven, and Ai finally sees in him "not a man's face and not a woman's, a human face."

"A profound love between two people involves, after all, the power and chance of doing profound hurt."

But it's really Therem Harth Estraven, who, in my opinion, is the true hero of this story. Estraven sees the promise that the union with Ekumen has for his world. In his attempts to help Ai, he becomes viewed as a traitor (view spoiler). But it takes a long time and many trials and tribulations for Ai to recognize Estraven for what and who he is - just HUMAN, to move past the uncomfortable and the prejudice and discover simple human love.

"It is yin and yang. Light is the left hand of darkness... how did it go? Light, dark. Fear, courage. Cold, warmth. Female, male. It is yourself, Therem. Both and one. A shadow on snow."

The language of this book was initially a stumbling block for me. It was dry and very cerebral, making it difficult at first to become immersed in the story. But that was the language of Genly Ai, the man who was not meant to be likeable at the very start. But then I got to the first interlude - short and very poetic legends of Gethen which help shed light on the nature of this world and help us see the events of this story in a different context and different light. The beauty that Le Guin's language reaches during these interludes is breathtaking. The segments of the story written in Estraven's voice are also very distinct, very urgent, simple, and filled with so much dignity and quiet resolve that it made my heart leap and weep at the same time.
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The Left Hand of Darkness is a deep story of humanity, love, betrayal, alienation, and acceptance. But it is not an easy book to read. It is not meant to take you on an exciting whirlwind ride. Instead its aim is to make the readers think and reflect. It may be slow to start, but it's hard to put down as well. I walked away from it feeling that a part of me has been changed forever - and for the better.

I walked away from it with more questions than I had when I started - and that's a very good thing, as far as I am concerned.

"And I saw then again, and for good, what I had always been afraid to see, and had pretended not to see in him: that he was a woman as well as a man. Any need to explain the sources of that fear vanished with the fear; what I was left with was, at last, acceptance of him as he was."

...more

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Oct 12, 2018 Emily May rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Emily May by: Tatiana

Shelves: classics, sci-fi, 2018

“I'll make my report as if I told a story, for I was taught as a child on my homeworld that Truth is a matter of the imagination.”

I can't say why it's taken me so many years to finally get to The Left Hand of Darkness. Perhaps because every time I passed it in a bookstore or library it looked like a typical dated 1960s sci-fi novel. But it is so much more than that.

This book is quite astonishing. Hannah Gadsby has made me reluctant to say "ahead of its time" but if any book is ahead of its ...more

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Jul 03, 2007 Liz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, owned

I've become rather bitter with sci-fi over the years, as it used to be my favorite genre. But you can only read so many space operas and pretentious near futures before it gets to you a little.

And then you decide to give an author a go because of some weird research string you were on... and it rekindles your love of why you started reading it in the first place.

LeGuin approaches sci-fi as it should be; a thought experiment. Instead of spending pages upon pages describing the minutiae of every ...more

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Apr 21, 2013 Cecily rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi-future-speculative-fict, sexuality-gender-lgbtq, usa-and-canada

The meagre 2* is more a reflection of my enjoyment rather than an objective measure of the book (it has won prestigious awards). It wasn't to my taste, and that was exacerbated by mismatched expectations. It is not really sci-fi, the gender and sexuality were a bit of a side-show, leaving curious combo of political intrigue and Boys' Own tale of derring-do in an inhospitable climate. The setting is another planet in the future, but right from the start, mentions of rain and reign contributed to ...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Lyn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin has a voyeuristic quality, as if a description to a studious observation. I could not help thinking that I was reading a National Geographic article about a reporter visiting Winter, or Gethen as its inhabitants know it.

Many readers cannot help but comment upon the Gethenians physiological androgyny, and this is certainly a central theme of the story, but there is so much more to fascinate the reader. Le Guin has demonstrated again how she can crea ...more

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Sep 05, 2018 s.penkevich rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: gender_roles, sci-fi, feminism, favorites

“If civilization has an opposite, it is war.”

In the nascent days of summer, I read a book that I can’t stop thinking about and can’t stop recommending. I’m stirring from my Goodreads silence to tell you about this book, Left Hand of Darkness, by the late Ursula K. Le Guin. Written in 1969 and the winner of both the Hugo and Nebula awards, this book is just as relevant and important today as it was when it first hit the shelves. Left Hand of Darkness is a gorgeous sci-fi novel of political intrig ...more

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Apr 23, 2019 Sean Barrs rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, reviewed-for-fantasy-book-review, 5-star-reads

This was written in the sixties, though it feels like it was written yesterday. Ursula K. Le Guin creates a vivid culture of ambisexual humanoids that come with a detailed history and culture. And it is truly fascinating to read about because such discussions and representations of gender and sex are str ...more

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Dec 19, 2019 Leonard Gaya rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

It took me a few minutes to get a grip on myself after finishing this novel. The Left Hand of Darkness is a fantastic book. It has the quaint flavour of the old sci-fi novels, especially reminiscent of Asimov’s Foundation series (it’s just way better!), Frank Herbert’s Dune, and the Star Trek TV series (released at around the same time as Le Guin’s novel).

This book was published shortly after A Wizard of Earthsea, and both novels are similar in many ways. Both contain the same world-building tro It took me a few minutes to get a grip on myself after finishing this novel. The Left Hand of Darkness is a fantastic book. It has the quaint flavour of the old sci-fi novels, especially reminiscent of Asimov’s Foundation series (it’s just way better!), Frank Herbert’s Dune, and the Star Trek TV series (released at around the same time as Le Guin’s novel).

This book was published shortly after A Wizard of Earthsea, and both novels are similar in many ways. Both contain the same world-building tropes of fantasy: an alien planet with a specific geography, biology, culture, language, religion, calendar, political system. Both have the same storyline, about a voyage into the wilderness and about a friendship — Ged and Vetch, Ai and Estraven. Both have an obsession with names, either social or intimate. Above all, both stories are about an initiatory journey, a discovery of oneself.

But Left Hand is more fully developed than A Wizard. Especially because the whole novel is consistently built on the concept of a transfer between opposites, such as light and darkness or the Taoist dualism between Yin and Yang.

Firstly, this concept translates into the novel’s complex composition: there is a switch of point of view (Ai or Estraven’s journal entries) on almost every chapter break, which makes the narrative both challenging and captivating — some scenes are depicted alternatively, from both points of view in this way. And the whole thing is interspersed with myths and tales. We, the readers, in the middle of it all, are expected to construct and interpret what is going on.

This idea of translation or alternation is also expressed in political (and religious) terms. The frozen planet of Gethen/Winter is divided between two opposing powers — much as was the Earth at the time of writing. The two forces illustrate different forms of despotism: a mad king, on the one hand, a chilling bureaucracy on the other. And between them, an alien and a traitor, who travel between the realms, hoping to unify this world.

More importantly, though, still another alternation is at the core of Le Guin’s idea, which touches on the sexuality of the aliens. Indeed, the Gethenians embody a variation instead of opposition between the genres. They are not so much androgynous (at some indefinite point between male and female) as they are ambisexual, sequentially both one and the other, transitioning from male to female and from asexuality to overwhelming sexual arousal. This, of course, has profound consequences on the mentality of these aliens and is an invitation to question our prejudices. In this sense, Le Guin’s novel has had a significant influence on feminism, gender studies and, more broadly, on LGBTQ+ movements. I also suspect Margaret Atwood (another feminist writer) had this book in mind when she conceived of the sexually modified Crakers in Oryx and Crake.

As for me, I was particularly moved by the last quarter of Le Guin’s novel: the dangerous trek across the ice sheet and the growing love between the two protagonists. The ending is both hopeful and heartbreaking. A pity that the Penguin Galaxy edition (presented by Neil Gaiman) doesn’t include a map of Gethen. In any event, The Left Hand of Darkness is a masterful and visionary story, one of the most beautiful SF novels I have read. ...more

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Jun 24, 2013 Samadrita rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-and-more, in-by-about-america, hugo-nebula-locus-awards, gender-studies-sexuality, dystopian-fiction, post-apocalyptic, omg-aliens, adoration, real-issues-fake-people, sci-fi-speculative

They should do away with these tags - science fiction, speculative fiction and all them other clever maneuvers designed to erect barriers between the strictly literary and the mainstream - when it's Atwood who is writing or a Le Guin. Woe betide anyone who begs to differ. This deeply entrenched contempt of the other and this instinctive loathing of anything we fail to understand after a perfunctory once-over are not only the center of the man-made hullabaloo of gender but the root cause of all f They should do away with these tags - science fiction, speculative fiction and all them other clever maneuvers designed to erect barriers between the strictly literary and the mainstream - when it's Atwood who is writing or a Le Guin. Woe betide anyone who begs to differ. This deeply entrenched contempt of the other and this instinctive loathing of anything we fail to understand after a perfunctory once-over are not only the center of the man-made hullabaloo of gender but the root cause of all friction in this very reality of ours.

A few years ago my cab had once been caught up in traffic at a crossing when I was taken unawares by somebody knocking on my window. I was startled at the discovery of the unexpected apparition who was the cause and source of this interruption - a sari-clad transgendered individual asking me for loose change. I must have flinched visibly because I recall the hopeful expression on his-her (see how our pronouns, too, betray the third sex?) face being gradually replaced by a look of mild mortification and apology. Apology for causing momentary distress to a young college-bound girl because apology is something owed only to the privileged and the ones born with society-approved sexual organs. Unable to successfully communicate, thus, he-she drifted away to another car window while I kept staring at his-her receding back, embarrassed at the sudden loss of my powers of speech. Fragments of this memory have risen to the surface of my consciousness time and again since then. But not until Le Guin familiarized me with Ekumen envoy Genly Ai and Gethenian citizen, ambisexual Estraven's mutual suspicion of each other was I able to pinpoint the cause of my visceral dread in that cab years ago. Like Genly and Estraven, I have been unknowingly initiated into the cult of fearing the unfamiliar.

"No, I don't mean love, when I say patriotism. I mean fear. The fear of the other. And its expressions are political, not poetical: hate, rivalry, aggression. It grows in us, that fear. It grows in us year by year."

I am the product of a patriarchal societal order which is only starting to awaken to the far-reaching implications of 'misogyny' and the sociocultural fallout of holding heteronormative gender roles in higher regard than humanity. 'Homophobia' is a term which is yet to acquire a firm foothold even in the imaginations of the Indian intelligentsia since both our judiciary and the executive have proselytized on the unnaturalness of loving whomever we want to. Maybe in a couple of decades we'll rectify this foolishness too.
But what about the members of the third sex, those hapless outcasts even our gender-biased language fails to address?

Our government believes that making it conventional for transgenders to extort money from parents of newborns at hospitals could pass for employment opportunities.* These young parents feel righteously terrorized by their appearance and breathe a sigh of relief after they have finished with their loud performances celebrating the birth of a healthy child and left with their 'payments'.
What seems less surreal? The daily enactment of this aforementioned ritual and the rationale (or lack thereof) behind it or Le Guin's ambisexual Gethenians who keep alternating between two genders?
Again, you and I will choose what we know of and discard what we don't.

"And I saw then again, and for good, what I had always been afraid to see, and had pretended not to see in him: that he was a woman as well as a man. Any need to explain the sources of that fear vanished with the fear; what I was left with was, at last, acceptance of him as he was."

Several realities clash violently every moment in this perplexing drama of life; which of them get to be bestowed with the stamp of normality and which of them get dismissed as aberrations depends on the will of the majority and what they identify with. And I can't imagine what could have been a more effective way of shedding light on this farce other than plotting this narrative the way Le Guin did - the meeting and eventual synthesis of two cultures, each fashioning its existence around contradictory value judgement systems.

"And I wondered, not for the first time, what patriotism is, what the love of country truly consists of, how that yearning loyalty that had shaken my friend's voice arises: and how so real a love can become, too often, so foolish and vile a bigotry."

I thank that anonymous person years ago, whose humanity we have whittled down to the distinctness of his-her gender, for causing me to take notice of injustices I help perpetuate every moment with my ignorance and indifference. And I have Le Guin to thank for helping me realize that the apologetic look should have been on my face that day instead of his-her, that I can either hide behind these inherited labels of race, religion, gender and nationality or I can aspire to the ambition of becoming a citizen of the world and, in turn, the Cosmos. As ever the choice lies with me. With us.
___

*Only recently (April, 2014) has the Supreme Court of India stirred awake and given legal recognition to the 'third gender' who had so far been deprived of their fundamental rights as citizens. ...more

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May 30, 2019 BlackOxford rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: american, sci-fi, sociology

The Challenge of Sex

Sex is awkward no matter how you look at it - arguably yet another design flaw in our species. Solo sex is likely to be unsatisfying. Straight sex is fraught with gendered miscommunication. Gay sex presents serious reproductive issues. Transgender sex is... well, complicated. And all those don't even consider the morass of multiple simultaneous partners. But Ursula la/le Guin introduces a whole new level of awkwardness in her ambisexual humanoid aliens who shift gender monthl The Challenge of Sex

Sex is awkward no matter how you look at it - arguably yet another design flaw in our species. Solo sex is likely to be unsatisfying. Straight sex is fraught with gendered miscommunication. Gay sex presents serious reproductive issues. Transgender sex is... well, complicated. And all those don't even consider the morass of multiple simultaneous partners. But Ursula la/le Guin introduces a whole new level of awkwardness in her ambisexual humanoid aliens who shift gender monthly in response to their partners’ pheromones. No one knows if they’re hitting on getting hit on until the touching starts.

There are clear advantages of ambisexuality. Sexual equality is a matter of course. Since voluntary participation is necessary, rape is impossible. Everyone experiences the respective burdens of testosterone as well as child-bearing. Sexual jealousy and violence is eliminated. And the Incel movement has no reason to exist. Ambisexuality also probably reduces the propensity to war and the gender-induced machismo of two-sex societies.

On the other hand, there are a few problems. Gendered pronouns are out; but so is the neuter; the ambisexual are persons after all. Family relationships are rather more complex - one’s father may be one’s sister’s mother, for example (not even Yiddish has words for this sort of relation). Maternal and paternal genealogical lines can become indistinguishably mixed, leading to some rather interesting inheritance issues. Playing Mum off against Dad is unlikely to prove a winning childhood strategy.

Generally ambisexual individuals are about as ethically, psychologically, and politically diverse as binaries, even if a bit more emotionally intelligent on the whole. This seems to lead to less overt coercion but more covert intrigue. They tend to plot rather than hit each other. And while machismo is absent, a certain sort of complex politesse is essential for smooth social functioning. Subtlety for its own sake is de rigeur and tends to slow down discussion and decision to a crawl.

In her Introduction, la/le Guin provides an interesting explanation about the contents of this story. “Fiction writers,” she says, “at least in their braver moments, do desire the truth: to know it, speak it, serve it. But they go about it in a peculiar and devious way, which consists in inventing persons, places, and events which never did and never will exist or occur, and telling about these fictions in detail and at length and with a great deal of emotion, and then when they are done writing down this pack of lies, they say, There! That's the truth!”

The truth la/le Guin is referring to appears to be that while sex is an irresistible force that profoundly influences the institutional structure of a society, it is not the determining factor of individual personality, purpose, or neuroses. Society adapts to the reality of its members, or should. When it doesn’t, by designating difference as perversion for example, it fails in its function of creating peaceful flourishing within itself and between it and other societies. Blessed are the peace-makers after all, especially the literate ones. ...more

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Apr 05, 2013 Ian "Marvin" Graye rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: my-sci-fanta-side, read-2013, reviews, reviews-5-stars, le-guin

No Mere Extrapolation

"The Left Hand of Darkness" is a work of science fiction published by Ursula Le Guin in 1969.

At the time, it sought to differentiate itself from most other science fiction in two ways.

Firstly, as Le Guin explains in a subsequent introduction, it didn’t just take a current phenomenon and extrapolate it scientifically into the future in some predictive or cautionary fashion.

Secondly, it explored the nature of sexuality as a subject matter from a sophisticated, feminist point ...more

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May 10, 2019 William2 rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Sublime in tone and voice. There’s not a superfluous line in it. Beautiful.

Mr. Ai is 17 light years from the nearest planet affiliated with his interstellar league, Ekumen. Karhide is a monarchy on the frozen planet of Gethen. Ai has come to Karhide on a diplomatic mission and has found a receptive ear in Estraven, the prime minister. The novel has a Gothic feel but soon hints of palace intrigue. Sure enough, before you can whistle Dixie, Estraven falls from royal favor. The king it turns out is Sublime in tone and voice. There’s not a superfluous line in it. Beautiful.

Mr. Ai is 17 light years from the nearest planet affiliated with his interstellar league, Ekumen. Karhide is a monarchy on the frozen planet of Gethen. Ai has come to Karhide on a diplomatic mission and has found a receptive ear in Estraven, the prime minister. The novel has a Gothic feel but soon hints of palace intrigue. Sure enough, before you can whistle Dixie, Estraven falls from royal favor. The king it turns out is insane and—surprise!—suspicious of everyone on his planet of human androgynes.

Ai finally has his long-sought audience with the king, and though his mission is the reason for Estraven’s fall, he’s given his freedom. For reasons opaque at first, he decides to travel to the hinterlands—getting the hell out of Dodge. He joins a long-haul electric caravan whose drivers take him even farther north where it’s even colder. It’s a barren brutal landscape. Ai mentions the possibly of consulting the oracles there known as the Foretellers of the Handdara. He eventually does so and is given an answer.

Ai never has a problem passing for a native. He is a traditional male from a male/female human society. Gethenians by contrast, although human in physiology (mostly), assume a gender upon entering rut/estrus one day per month. At this time the normal human lusts prevail—from monogamy to orgiastic promiscuity. But the rest of the time the Gethenians have no erotic character to their culture. They are hermaphroditic neuters 5/6ths of the time.

There’s no flirting or hitting on others or cruising for sex or one-nights stands because a set physiological period of rut/estrus makes all that superfluous. And this is a big problem for the visiting envoy, Ai, who’s an old-school human male, not a genetically modified androgyne.

“Consider: There is no unconsenting sex, no rape. As with most mammals other than man, coitus can be performed only by mutual invitation and consent; otherwise it is not possible. Seduction certainly is possible, but it must have to be awfully well timed.

“Consider: there is no division of humanity into strong and weak halves, protective/protected, dominant/submissive, owner/chattel, active/passive. In fact the whole tendency to dualism that pervades human thinking maybe found to be lessened, or changed, on Winter [Gethen].” (p. 94)

Ai goes to neighboring Orgoreyn when he fails in Karhide. There is a semblance of a republic here, and Ai is at first given an entirely different welcome than he received in Karhide. It’s warmer, even friendly; there’s enthusiasm for his mission. Orgoreyn has no police force; there appear to be no laws; disputes are settled by something like arbitration. Moreover the media is controlled; as in Karhide, certain content can be broadcast only if the powers that be approve. But Orgoreyn is ultimately mistrustful of Ai too. Bad things begin to happen to him. Consider this a teaser. There’s much more here, thriller elements, and cross-genre elements—the heroic quest, the harrowing adventure etc—I haven’t mentioned.

The only problem I really have is with the stretches of exposition. The Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer, in a Paris Review interview, from the 1970s, I think, once spoke about exposition as a place where novels go to die. Stick with the facts and the action, he said; don’t explain. But SF could not exist without exposition. It wouldn’t be SF; it would be more like surrealism. Other than that genre-specific quibble, I found the writing here lean and muscular, compressed. The author has a wonderful gift for evoking mood. Her plotting seems effortless and her characterizations deft. Engrossing. ...more

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Nov 14, 2016 Lizzy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2016, scifi, favorites, stars-4

“The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next.
Is Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness only a science fiction story? Far from it, and that is why I enjoyed it so much. Oh, I like reading science-fiction, sometimes just for the entertainment of it. But this goes much beyond that. Different from some reviews, for me it did not seem a feminist advocacy. I would venture and say it is an anti-prejudice assertion. It is just a b
“The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next.
Is Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness only a science fiction story? Far from it, and that is why I enjoyed it so much. Oh, I like reading science-fiction, sometimes just for the entertainment of it. But this goes much beyond that. Different from some reviews, for me it did not seem a feminist advocacy. I would venture and say it is an anti-prejudice assertion. It is just a brilliant, endearing novel about people, relationships, and desires; that leads to insight and questionings on plenty of topics. While we are reading Le Guin's novel, we wonder about the impact of gender on human cultures and dualism versus unity. Even more, the difficulty of being isolated in a foreign land, and how people can survive and interact in such harsh climates. Le Guin discusses sentiments so close to us, such as fear, deception, and misunderstanding; patriotism and power struggles; and last, but not less important, facts versus truth.

No, I don't mean love, when I say patriotism. I mean fear. The fear of the other. And its expressions are political, not poetical: hate, rivalry, aggression. It grows in us, that fear. It grows in us year by year.

Le Guin’s narrator is Ekumen’s envoy Genly Ai, a young man from Earth, that is in Gethern, on Winter, to bring the planet to his multi-world federation. The most striking characteristics of Winter is that the whole population are hermaphrodites. And only when in kemmer are either one or the other sex and feel desire. So, the peculiarity is that Genly is always male among people who are each in themselves neither and both female and male.

Light is the left hand of darkness and darkness the right hand of light. Two are one, life and death, lying together like lovers in kemmer, like hands joined together, like the end and the way.

But at the beginning, Genly is too different and alien for that. He might repulse some of the local population, but there is no closer relationship until later. And enters the main Gethenian character, Estraven, Karhide’s Prime Minister. He is labeled a traitor and has to flee to the entirely different culture of Orgoreyn, where behind every man is the inspector.

Genly and Estraven’s relationship grows from mutual suspicion to a deep friendship, and I found captivating to be along with them as their bond evolves. Much happens, but I loved to read about how Estraven and Genly escape through the freezing environment of icy mountains as they flee Orgoreyn on foot.

And I saw then again, and for good, what I had always been afraid to see, and had pretended not to see in him: that he was a woman as well as a man. Any need to explain the sources of that fear vanished with the fear; what I was left with was, at last, acceptance of him as he was.

Differences usually lead to prejudiced, but we are free to act on it or to accept and understand. Le Guin’s creativity and originality coupled with its significance make The Left Hand of Darkness great literature and should not be missed. Highly recommended.
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
___ ...more

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Aug 12, 2010 Kaion rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf, queer

The Should I Read This Book Quiz: Ursula Le Guin is considered a Very Important science fiction writer for her anthropological chops, and The Left Hand of Darkness her classic in which a lone representative of the Ekumen is sent down to a heretofore un-contacted planet to convince its denizens to join this interplanetary human collective. Genly Ai’s mission is complicated by his inexperience with their society—the most significant difference with his own being that all Gethenians are neither mal ...more

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Aug 30, 2014 Agnieszka rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopia, favorites, 2014, reviewed

They say that The Left Hand of Darkness is a landmark in the field of science fiction literature. Albeit such typecasting seems to be unfair simplification and trivialization since that novel goes much further and deeper than any other of that genre. In view of her interests including cultures, ecology, anthropology, Zen philosophy LeGuin writes humanistic science fiction, focused on creating unusual social models and analyzing living in them people. That way The Left Hand of Darkness can They say that The Left Hand of Darkness is a landmark in the field of science fiction literature. Albeit such typecasting seems to be unfair simplification and trivialization since that novel goes much further and deeper than any other of that genre. In view of her interests including cultures, ecology, anthropology, Zen philosophy LeGuin writes humanistic science fiction, focused on creating unusual social models and analyzing living in them people. That way The Left Hand of Darkness can be read as a cross between a philosophical parable and anthropological and sociological report, only wrapped up in sf costume.

Main protagonist and narrator ( in fact there are two narrators ), like a galaxy Marco Polo, arrives at the planet Gethen also called Winter. Genly Ai, it’s his name, is an envoy of Ecumen, semi-political, semi-economical organization gathering on a voluntary basis other planets inhabited by humans and which name clearly connotes ecumenism .

He arrives with a mission to the planet Winter, to a country where there are sixty two terms for lying snow, and much more for falling one and ice. To the country ruled by a mad king adhering to specific code of conduct and driven by fear of the new and unknown. Finally, to the country inhabited by androgynous residents what becomes pretext to interesting discussion. What really defines us ? Race, nationality, common history and cultural heritage ? Or maybe gender ? How to find common ground between such different worlds ? Is society in which every parent can be a mother better or worse ? End to patriarchy and matriarchy, end to discrimination, violence or abuse ?

This is a story about loneliness and need for closeness as well. Can you imagine bigger loneliness than two people from different worlds, in a tiny tent in the middle of an ice desert ? So close yet so distant ? But it is also a timeless tale about friendship, about overcoming initial prejudices and distrusts and attempts to understanding and acceptance of the Other. In any context, cultural, sociological, ideological, at the level of faith and knowledge, feelings and views. On getting rid of fear, contemptuous disregard and acceptance of the Other as someone autonomous yet complementary. Like light and shadow.

It is yin and yang. Light is the left hand of darkness... how did it go ? Light, dark. Fear, courage. Cold, warmth. Female, male. It is yourself, Therem. Both and one. A shadow on snow .

And how significant, how universal in its simplicity is Genly’s observation when, after several weeks of murderous march through the Ice, saw another man, a young, serious face, not a man's face and not a woman's, a human face . It is hard to find more humanistic message. ...more

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Aug 17, 2011 J.G. Keely rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: america, novel, science-fiction, reviewed, space-opera

The term 'Speculative Fiction' was developed out of a desire by some authors to separate themselves from the more pejorative aspects of the Sci Fi genre. Harlan Ellison famously hated the term 'sci fi', scorning the implication that his stories had anything in common with Flash Gordon or Lost in Space.

In Speculative Fiction, technology is not there to facilitate the plot, or to dazzle readers with fantasy, but to provide the author with an opportunity to explore the human mind in unexpected, inn ...more

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May 18, 2011 Apatt rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: pre-80s-sf, sci-fi

“It was daunting, also, to me as a novelist. To invent a radically different sexual physiology and behaviour, not just as a speculation, but embodied in a novel, a story about people – people who most of the time were quite sexless but went into heat once a month, one time as a woman another time as a man? To get into the hearts and minds of such strange beings, bring them to being as characters – that would take some skill, not to mention chutzpah.”

So says SF legend, Ms. Ursula K. Le Guin, in h ...more

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Jan 31, 2016 Markus rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, 2016

Light is the left hand of darkness,
And darkness the right hand of light.

On the distant world of Winter, ambisexual beings have lived in solitude for as long as anyone can remember. This peace is shattered when an envoy arrives from the Ekumen, offering the nations of Winter the opportunity to join a vast alliance of thousands of worlds…

This book was my first foray into the science fiction works of Ursula K. Le Guin, already one of my favourite authors. I did not find it quite as strong as th ...more

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Jul 28, 2017 Matthew Quann rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, penguin-galaxy, sff-award-winners

It has been a bit of a personal project of for the past year or so to sample from the classics of the sci-fi genre. It’s not that I think modern sci-fi is undesirable—indeed, I’m a huge fan—rather, there is a lot of reward in visiting trends in sci-fi from other times, seeing the foundations of modern sci-fi, and having a base understanding of the language of science fiction. Sci-fi is endlessly self-referential and to be well versed in the genre it is almost a requirement that certain books be It has been a bit of a personal project of for the past year or so to sample from the classics of the sci-fi genre. It’s not that I think modern sci-fi is undesirable—indeed, I’m a huge fan—rather, there is a lot of reward in visiting trends in sci-fi from other times, seeing the foundations of modern sci-fi, and having a base understanding of the language of science fiction. Sci-fi is endlessly self-referential and to be well versed in the genre it is almost a requirement that certain books be read. This has led to a sampling of books that have challenged, awed, and befuddled me in equal measure.

One of the treats that has been afforded to me in my readings is a deeper appreciation for sci-fi as a vehicle for any type of story to be told. Thus far, the Penguin Galaxy series has been the ideal selection of classics from which to broaden my horizons. Dune is a spectacle of world-building, a metaphor for climate change, and a thrilling political drama that seems almost a precursor to George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Neuromancer presented a drug-addled future in which the lead character is equally as concerned with his next score and lay as the underlying AI-based mystery. It follows then, that Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness is of similar experimental pedigree and was nothing at all what I expected.

Genly Ai is an envoy from the Ekumen—your standard giant space empire—to the planet of Gethen, or Winter. He is sent alone, as per the Ekumen custom, to bring the planet into the fold of the interplanetary collective. What makes Gethen such a unique place, aside from the inhospitable constant winter, is the Gethenian people. There are no men, no women, only androgynous beings that assume a gender when they enter “kemmer”, or a reproductive state, which happens on a regular cycle. Thus the world of Winter is unlike our own in climate and culture.

Though there are guaranteed to be thought pieces, theses, and reviews that have put it more eloquently than myself, The Left Hand of Darkness is a different breed of sci-fi. I like to think of it as a more anthropological sci-fi. Genly Ai’s journey to come to grips with a culture that holds no gender roles is more philosophical and emotional than I’d expect from most sci-fi. Where other books would spend time with physical conflict, The Left Hand of Darkness relishes in the expansion of Genly’s personal understanding of gender.

It certainly makes for as topical a read today as it did when first published back in 1969. Gender and sexuality seem to so often fall into circuitous discussions in public and on the internet, and it was a breath of fresh air to read what is essentially a long treatise on what it would truly mean to live without consideration of another human’s genitalia. It also makes for a reading experience that is fairly challenging. Estraven, the Gethenian character with whom the reader spends most of their time, is difficult to imagine. In fact, the struggle to remove my own ingrained perception of gender during my reading of The Left Hand of Darkness stretched my mind in interesting new directions. If the intention is to challenge our preconceived notions of gender, Le Guin succeeds.

Though this is all stimulating, the novel does lack a sense of forward momentum that made it a bit of a drag. In particular, there’s a good stretch in the back half of the novel where Genly and Estraven traverse the hostile world with hardly any provisions. This section seemed to drag on forever, and was infrequently warmed by the romance plot that runs alongside it. Though I kept expecting it, the intimacy here never becomes sexual, but is instead emotional, intellectual, and physical only in the sense of two people physically suffering together.

There is a bit of suffering involved in the reading of The Left Hand of Darkness. I took on the book at a time in which I was too busy to give it its proper due and conjuring a winter wasteland is painful when the summer’s sunlight lands across the book’s pages. It’s a book that’s more satisfying in the abstract than appealing during the actual reading. As an academic exploration of classic sci-fi, it fits the bill even if it doesn’t make for an enjoyable experience overall. ...more

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Mar 08, 2013 Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

Wow, there's a lot about this novel that I hadn't remembered. Like, basically the entire plot, other than the bare-bones outline.

I'm going to stick with 4 stars here. Review to come.

Initial post: Next up read from Ursula K. Le Guin: The Hainish Novels and Stories.* This one I read back in my college days, so my memories of it are pretty hazy. The unusual sexuality of the people on the planet Gethen, or Winter -- sometimes androgynous, sometimes male, sometimes female -- has stuck with me, but th ...more

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Jul 01, 2008 Jason Pettus rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

The CCLaP 100: In which I read for the first time a hundred so-called "classics," then write reports on whether or not they deserve the label
Book #18: The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K Le Guin (1969)

The story in a nutshell:
A highly unusual and controversial book at the time of its release (but mo ...more

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Jun 12, 2011 Jan-Maat added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century, usa, novel, science-fiction

I bought this book in Canterbury in 2009 and read its description of two people struggling across an icy wilderness on a planet locked in an ice age sitting in an armchair in the middle of Summer and felt thoroughly chilled. I had read The Dispossessed first as a child and a couple of vague memories of it stayed with me until I picked up a copy and read it again. That experience prompted me to read The Left Hand of Darkness.

This is a short novel and a lot is packed into a few pages. The central ...more

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Jan 04, 2010 Tatiana rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: fans of quality sc-fi, people who like to think

Shelves: 2010, nebula, sci-fi

As seen on The Readventurer

"The Left Hand of Darkness" turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise for me. I do not read science fiction often and had to abandon my last attempt ("The Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy") for its utter stupidity, but this book was a sci-fi of a completely different sort. It wasn't just another novel about green aliens or space travel, it was an extremely clever and deep exploration of gender.

Genly Ai is an emissary of the Ekumen (a union of human worlds) to planet Geth As seen on The Readventurer

"The Left Hand of Darkness" turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise for me. I do not read science fiction often and had to abandon my last attempt ("The Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy") for its utter stupidity, but this book was a sci-fi of a completely different sort. It wasn't just another novel about green aliens or space travel, it was an extremely clever and deep exploration of gender.

Genly Ai is an emissary of the Ekumen (a union of human worlds) to planet Gethen, or Winter (called so for its extremely cold climate). His mission is to convince inhabitants of the world to join the rest of humanity in exchange of ideas and technology. However Genly is met with some reserve as the decision to join is hindered by alien to him intricacies of Gethenian politics and culture. What makes Gethen so unique and thus so hard for Ai to understand is that it is inhibited by the race of ambisexual (hermaphroditic) beings. All Gethenians have an ability to be both male and female. Most of the time their sexualities lay dormant and awaken only a few days a month during a period called kemmer (mating period). At the time of kemmer each Gethenian can become either male or female. The choice of gender is always incidental. Between the kemmers Gethenians are asexual. This sexual peculiarity makes Gethen quite a subdued race - its inhabitants are not assigned any gender roles, they are not sexually driven or sexually frustrated, they are less violent and ambitious. As the story progresses, Genly learns to understand this strange world a little better and even finds love.

I was extremely impressed by Le Guin's imagination. The world of Gethen was thoroughly detailed and very well realized. Everything about Gethen - the direct effects of Winter's climate and Gethenians' ambisexuality on the social and political order, science, philosophy and even folklore - were developed in the most remarkable way. I was also amazed at how skillfully Le Guin presented romance in the story, because as you can imagine a love story between a man and an ambisexual being (or between two ambisexuals) can go horribly wrong in less talented hands.

My only reservation about the book was the language. It took a few chapters to get used to a huge amount of Gethenian words, names and concepts. At times I had to reread some passages to understand them, because they seemed a little too densely written (my recent obsession with YA literature might be blamed for the softness of my brain too I suppose). But this wasn't so overwhelming as to spoil the reading experience for me.

Highly recommended to those who enjoys quality science fiction. ...more

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Sep 13, 2011 Nandakishore Varma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

This is a pioneering work of science fiction. It is not space opera; it is not the hard SF of Asimov and Clarke which shows the impact of the science of the future on society; and it is not a fantasy where the scientific framework is used just as a convenient backdrop for the author to air her ideas. Ursula K. LeGuin explores deep questions of gender, about what it means to be a male or female, by creating a society of androgynous individuals, who take on male/ female sexual characteristics only ...more

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Oct 30, 2014 Candi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

“Light is the left hand of darkness
and darkness the right hand of light.
Two are one, life and death, lying
together like lovers in kemmer,
like hands joined together,
like the end and the way.”

This book will really make you think. It will make you consider what it means to be male versus female, and what it means to be human. How do we bridge the gap in differences among cultures and race? How do we learn to trust and earn friendship and love? What does love of one’s country mean?

Charged with the “Light is the left hand of darkness
and darkness the right hand of light.
Two are one, life and death, lying
together like lovers in kemmer,
like hands joined together,
like the end and the way.”

This book will really make you think. It will make you consider what it means to be male versus female, and what it means to be human. How do we bridge the gap in differences among cultures and race? How do we learn to trust and earn friendship and love? What does love of one’s country mean?

Charged with the task of adding another planet to the Ekumen, an intergalactic planetary alliance with the goal of protecting and serving mankind, Genly Ai is the sole ambassador to the outlying planet Winter. On Winter, or Gethen as named by its inhabitants, Genly finds a genderless society; one which is neither male nor female but is able to act as one or the other during the phase of kemmer for the purpose of procreation. On Winter, Genly meets Estraven, prime minister or councillor of the kingdom of Karhide. Genly struggles to trust Estraven, who is the one Gethenian who truly favors the alliance and makes it his mission to promote both Genly’s presence and the aim of the Ekumen. Genly admits “Though I had been nearly two years on Winter I was still far from being able to see the people of the planet through their own eyes. I tried to, but my efforts took the form of self-consciously seeing a Gethenian first as man, then as a woman, forcing him into those categories so irrelevant to his nature and so essential to my own… it was impossible to think of him as a woman… and yet whenever I thought of him as a man I felt a sense of falseness, of imposture: in him, or in my own attitude towards him?” Here Ursula Le Guin takes us on a journey of understanding what it means to be a man or a woman as well as what it means to simply be “human”. Just as a genderless society seems completely perplexing to Genly, Estraven and the other Gethenians cannot quite comprehend the idea of being in a phase of “permanent kemmer”. The king of Karhide himself considers the mankind of the world outside of Winter to be inhabited by innumerable societies of “perverts”. How can one person, one nation, and an entire world bridge such a gap?

For me personally, the most engaging part of the novel was Genly and Estraven’s flight across the stark and harsh landscape of the ice. This became a race for time and a matter of survival. Estraven, accustomed to the freezing climate of Winter, must work with Genly who is not adapted to this glacial reality. Unlike the earlier part of the novel, this part of the story became exciting and the journey perilous. The author wonderfully illustrates a world that the reader can easily envision. Here is where we learn to bridge the gap; in our isolation and loneliness is where we can finally understand our link with all of humanity. I believe that Genly had the most to learn of the two. Estraven is the true hero; he supports Genly from the beginning. Estraven reflects on first meeting Genly Ai: “How can I guess why Ai must not weep? Yet his name is a cry of pain. For that I first sought him out … hearing talk of “an Alien” I asked his name, and heard for answer a cry of pain from a human throat across the night.” Estraven answered that cry with a deep sense of loyalty.

An additional aspect of this novel which I found quite fascinating was the idea of country and patriotism. When thinking about humanity and our role in preserving mankind, this is another component on which we must reflect. “I wondered, not for the first time, what patriotism is, what love of country truly consists of… how so real a love can become, too often, so foolish and vile a bigotry. Where does it go wrong?” Genly asks himself this question. Shouldn’t we all ask ourselves this question? If we stop to think about this more often, would this help us to bridge the gaps in our own world? Could we become more accepting of one another? Can we, like Estraven, love our country but not serve it? Could we too serve mankind?

This book left a lasting impression on me and I highly recommend it to anyone that craves one that will make you think deeply for a long time to come. You don’t have to be a science fiction enthusiast to fall for this one. It is not a fast-paced, continuously action-packed novel, but it is one full of ideas about gender, patriotism, humanity, trust, friendship and love. 4.5 stars
...more

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Jan 24, 2018 Ashley Nuckles rated it liked it · review of another edition

I’m probably missing the whole gist of this book because it basically flew right over my head, but I’m sure if I read a few analyses of it I’d enjoy it more!

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Apr 02, 2013 Stuart rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: strong-female-characters, humanistic-sf, favorites

The Left Hand of Darkness: Brilliant depiction of an androgynous society on a frozen planet
Originally published at Fantasy Literature
The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), part of THE HAINISH CYCLE, won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best SF Novel, and is well known as one of the first books in the genre to intelligently explore the nature of gender and identity. Ursula K. LeGuin is a highly respected writer known for her anthropological and humanistic approach to SF, and her presence has attrac ...more

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Nov 22, 2018 Scott rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

This is my brain on Ursula Le Guin.

Amygdala: So. Sex and violence, huh?

Cerebral Cortex: Sorry, what? Where did that come from?

A: Well, we're reading The Left hand of Darkness aren't we?

CC: Yes, but this isn't some scantily-clad lady with a raygun, pew-pew-laserfest. This is a serious science fiction novel. You must have noticed that that we haven't had to hide the cover on the train. That's how serious it is.

A: Yes, but it's all about sex and violence.

CC: (sighs) Let’s look at this rationally. T ...more

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Jul 20, 2013 Lit Bug rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, fiction, owned, novels, ph-d, literary, sf

What is the first thing we ask when a child is born? - GENDER

The six-letter word, not the three-letter word "sex" of the child - because gender involves our perception of what the child will be, our expectations of what roles the child will perform in the future - the life of the child is determined right away when we ask this question. As Judith Butler puts it, Gender is Performance.

But imagine a world where genders can be changed at will - an androgynous world where humans remain in neuter ...more

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Nov 16, 2017 Bonnie Shores added it · review of another edition

Shelves: dnf, sci-fi

DNF 😠 This book began by lecturing me—for just about 12 minutes—on what science fiction was/wasn't and telling me that authors are liars. Said lecture, imo, came off as pompous and wholly unnecessary. Although I already thought I hated it, I magnanimously decided to continue to Chapter 1. By 7:32 into the first chapter, which was narrated by what sounded to me like a very disinterested, very old man, I was done. I had downloaded this book a while back and it fit a challenge requirement, so I was ...more

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About Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin

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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, Orego ...more