Review by Booklist Review
Best known for her science fiction, Le Guin also boasts a fair reputation as a feminist philosopher. It was her interest in alternative social possibilities, in fact, that originally drew her to the realm of science fiction. For those to whom her major genre is unappealing--and, of course, for those to whom each new Le Guin book is an event--this volume will be enormously satisfying. A self-described "angry, aging woman," she takes on everything from contemporary narrative to attacks on the freedom to read, from the lack of the housewife-artist in women's fiction to sloppy Christianity in print. Many of the pieces were originally speeches, and Le Guin's voice comes through strongly. --Pat Monaghan
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Chronologically arranged, these 33 talks and essays and 17 reviews of books and films, dating from 1976 through 1987, record Le Guin's responses to ethical and political climates, the transforming effect of certain literary ideas and the changes of a supple, disciplined mind. Aiming ``to subvert as much as possible without hurting anybody's feelings,'' the noted science fiction writer eloquently discusses feminism, social responsibility, literature and travel. We read her deeply considered views on abortion, menopause, motherhood, family planning; censorship, criticism, myth in contemporary life, women writers, the reciprocity of prose and poetry, the language of power; the advantages and pleasures of travel by Amtrak; heroism in Scott and Amundsen; the ideas of Doris Lessing and Italo Calvino; and how science fiction addresses the issue of nuclear war. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Le Guin is one of the most important American fiction writers working today. With this anthology, which collects her essays, addresses, and reviews from the last decade, she demonstrates that she is also one of the most significant. These pieces, which include Le Guin's reflections on her own work, writing in general, women, and the world, comprise a record of recent history as experienced by one actor/observer whose social critique does not exclude self-analysis and revision. Le Guin is an irreverent demystifier of the industry currently known as ``literary criticism'' and a consummate storyteller who enlightens with her perfect weave of myth and fact, fantasy and common sense. Essential reading for anyone who imagines herself literate and/or socially concerned or who wants to learn what it means to be such. Mollie Brodsky, Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A very mixed bag indeed, comprising 36 talks and essays (1976-88) and 17 reviews (1977-86), ranging from travel pieces and literary discussions to feminism, commencement addresses, and social-consciousness-raisers. Nonfictional Le Guin is not an easy writer to grapple with: her style veers from mercurial and eclectic through straightforward and banal to wholly elusive. For instance, the essay discussing her famous novel The Left Hand of Darkness (""Is Gender Necessary?"") tends to dodge the real issue; a ""redux"" presented here alongside the original essay clarifies some points but elsewhere muddies the waters still further: in fact, the novel is its own testament, perhaps above interpretation. Essays on narrative, character, and storytelling do good work breaking up old, misogynous categories, only to delineate new, albeit feminist, ones (""The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction,"" ""Heroes,"" etc.). The travel pieces often pique the interest without breaking any new ground. The reviews, too, suffer from similar encumbrances. Le Guin demolishes Star Wars and Close Encounters as both science fiction and film (an all-too-easy task) without explaining or even acknowledging the movies' vast popularity. Again, she savages C.S. Lewis--he's in a mode where he thoroughly deserves it--but only by comparing him to J.R.R. Tolkien, whom she uncritically admires. Le Guin's unabashed feminism can be an eye-opener, and much of what she has to say is eminently sensible and often penetrating. But all too soon she'll wobble off toward terra incognita, leaving her readers floundering, bored, or frustrated in her wake. Her often brilliant fiction scores higher by setting aside the didacticism. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
