I have nothing against ideas per se—I am an intellectual, after all—but when they become didactic, self-righteous, or just opinion then they get tiresome. What I was struggling against was not the reception of The Dispossessed in particular, though it is often treated as if there is nothing in it but ideas, but the tendency to intellectualize not only science fiction but all literature. It is often taught with questions like “What is the author saying?” and “What is his message?” [Sighs with exasperation.] Any work of art consists of more than verbal thoughts that can be paraphrased verbally.
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