In celebration of the Library of America's new issue of a definitive collection of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea stories, the publisher sponsored an online panel today about Earthsea, with Brian Attebery (scholar who worked with Le Guin and has edited the LoA's Le Guin volumes), Karen Joy Fowler (fiction author who knew Le Guin well), and Nghi Vo (representing I guess the next generation of fiction authors, influenced by Le Guin).
They discussed a lot of points, among them that the original Earthsea books were published as children's fantasy but they're not really children's books. Sober, Fowler called them, and she doubted she'd have appreciated them fully if she hadn't been in her 20s by the time she read them. I'm in somewhat the same place, having come across Earthsea when the first uniform paperback edition was published when I was 18. That's what sold me on Le Guin: I took one look at those maps and said, "This author has seen within my soul," and after that I'd follow her anywhere.
Later on they touched on Le Guin's comment that she was lucky she was in her 20s by the time The Lord of the Rings came out, so that she was mature enough to absorb it without it overwhelming her. The book from her childhood that did overwhelm her that way? She told Attebery it was Islandia by Austin Tappan Wright, and Attebery said he sees Wright's influence in the societies of Gethen (Left Hand of Darkness) rather than Earthsea.
One of the audience questions was about the current breed of libertarian society leaders who grew up reading Heinlein. What did the panel think would have happened if they'd read Le Guin instead? Answer, not much. Vo quoted the line that personality precedes politics, and Attebery chimed in by saying that they'd probably have misread Le Guin the way they've misread Tolkien.
Islandia is a wonderful book, even though rather dated now. Not sure I agree about Gethen vs. Earthsea in terms of influence. The Islandians are more like Ged's people.
ReplyDeleteThe recording of the event is now available on the Library of America's YouTube channel.
ReplyDeleteYour comment about the Earthsea maps being what sold you on Le Guin as a writer got me thinking...what was it that hooked me? When I read The Wizard of Earthsea, it was simply the presence of wizards and dragons. But as I got deeper into the first three books, it was her approach to magic that hooked me. I didn't realize, when I first read the books, how deeply steeped in Taoism her approach was. Now, looking back on almost 50 years of reading and reflecting on the Tao Te Ching and studying aikido, I'm not surprised that her approach to magic is what hooked me.