The Left Hand of Darkness

[MacGregor]

I just finished listening to The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. For those unfamiliar, this well regarded sci-fi novel is set on a planet where humans have become ambisexual, becoming either male or female for a few days each month in order mate. I found this 1969 novel very good and extremely well written. Anyone else read it?  Any lessons or cool themes we have/could explore in OA?

[Drashner1]

I just finished listening to The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. For those unfamiliar, this well regarded sci-fi novel is set on a planet where humans have become ambisexual, becoming either male or female for a few days each month in order mate. I found this 1969 novel very good and extremely well written. Anyone else read it?  Any lessons or cool themes we have/could explore in OA?

I haven't read this particular book, but have read some of the other works by Le Guin set in the same universe. By and large they aren't overly to my taste, but the books/stories are well done and Le Guin is one of the giants of the SF field.

In terms of lessons that OA might learn - Given that OA genetic tech could potentially produce something like the sex/gender changes described, we might use this book for inspiration in exploring that sort of thing within OA more fully. Also, SF that has different nation-states on the same planet (and therefore some form of politics) is relatively rare. While OA says that some places have multiple nation-states in the same system/on the same planet we don't generally explore those things in much depth, either in the EG or in fiction. So room to play there as well and possibly some lessons to be learned from Le Guin's work.

My 2c worth,

Todd

[selden]

I read LHoD a very long time ago, and don’t remember much of it, other than it was quite good. I stopped reading her books some years later when the treatment of the protagonist of one of her feminist stories by the story’s other characters made me quote angry. I couldn’t finish it. She was a very effective writer.

[stevebowers]

Left Hand of Darkness is one of my favourite novels of all time. The inhabitants of Gethen are a partial inspiration for the Parthene clade in OA, but they use quite a different method of reproduction. Maybe some day we can write about a different hermaphroditic strategy that resembles the Gethenians more closely.

In particular I like the historical and mythological details Le Guin incorporated into the story.

[ATMLVE]

I read this book in college for my sci fi class! Don't remember much, but I wrote an essay on their society. I did think I rremembered them being just a race of non-binary aliens, and the guy was there to try and get them to join some sort of federation of something.

[MacGregor]

Good feedback guys. Looks like I was late to the party reading it. Yeah, some more gender/sex diversity in our clades would be interesting to explore.