The Dispossessed

The book I wish I had written … It’s so far away from my own imagination, I’d love to sit at my desk one day and discover that I could think and write like Ursula Le Guin – Roddy Doyle * THE TIMES *The Dispossessed paints a hopeful; and complex portrait of a society rooted in collectivism – Naomi KleinAn extraordinary work … [Le Guin] created a working society in exquisite detail … a fully realised hypothetical culture [as well as] living breathing characters who are inevitable products of that cultureThis remains a challenging and urgent book * Guardian *A well told tale signifying a good deal; one to be read again and again * THE TIMES *Le Guin’s book … is so persuasive that it ought to put a stop to the writing of prescriptive Utopias for at least 10 years * NEW YORK TIMES *Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power * OBSERVER *I think that everyone on earth, and everyone who cares about being alive, should read THE DISPOSSESSED – adrienee maree brownA seamless creation: everything is made up, nothing seems arbitrary * New York Times Book Review *[Le Guin had] the heart of a poet who knew all too well the difference between miracle and eureka, revelation and revolution * Publishers Weekly *One of our finest projectionists of brave old and other worlds * Kirkus Reviews *One of the great American political novels … Full of intrigue and drama * LA Review of Books *Written with thought, care - even love * Times Literary Supplement *Le Guin’s storytelling is sharp, magisterial, funny, thought-provoking and exciting, exhibiting all that science fiction can be * Empire *The Dispossessed is still one of Sci-Fi’s’ smartest books … Remains a thoughtful exploration of politics and economics nearly 50 years later * Wired *A deeply imagined work of art * Encyclopedia of Science Fiction *Dystopia and utopia are entwined in Le Guin’s story of hierarchy-bound Urras and its anarchist neighbour planet Anarres. With stylish prose and intellectual rigour, Le Guin charts the journey of young physicist Shevek, whose theories cause upheaval on both planets, as he struggles to survive, falls in love and contemplates human society – Sophie Mackintosh * i Paper *A work of extraordinary imagination and compassion * Atlantic *Le Guin’s most philosophical novel … a study of character, ideology and the constant of change * New York Times *Le Guin’s characters, especially Shevek and his family, are complex and haunting, and her writing is remarkable for its sinewy grace * Time *One of the most important science fiction novels of the last several years * Library Journal *I would be hard pressed to think of another novel that made as strong an impression on me – Anthony Ha, author of LOVE SONGS FOR MONSTERSTHE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS and THE DISPOSSESSED challenged me to reimagine what human culture might look like - challenged me to imagine how we might throw off the death grip of capitalism, and its attendant values of patriarchy and racism. In each of them, I was transported by Le Guin’s prose - lyrical and rich and deliberate in its rhythms. And in each one of them, I found, there was a scene I stopped to reread, sometimes more than once - a scene so powerful it actually moved me to tears – Susan DeFreitas * Literary Hub *

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) was a trailblazing feminist science fiction author whose body of work includes novels, short stories, poetry, children’s books, five essay collections, and works of translation. The breadth and imagination of her work, including the iconic fantasy series The Earthsea Cycle, which began in 1968, earned her countless literary awards. In 2014 she was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and in 2016 joined the short list of authors to be published in their lifetimes by the Library of America.

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