Book Review 135
"The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin (published in 1969)
This is the last (chronologically) novel from a Hainish cycle. Before reading this one, I was familiar only with "Rocannon's World", which is set in the past to this book, but not connected to it directly.
Ursula Le Guin was one of the grand masters of Sci-Fi. Many know her by her "Earthsea" cycle, which fully shows her world creation skills.
This book is one of the most award winning Sci-Fi novels, but there is not a lot of science. There are spaceships (which are exists somewhere outside of this novel brackets) and faster than light communication device (which almost not impacting the plot), but any principles of those are intentionally not described. Because scientific speculations is not the thing for this novel. The thing is its atmosphere.
It is the world where reader can loose himself and find again. And where the protagonist is doing exactly this thing. It is a journey. A journey of a man from the stars, who's task is to prepare a new planet to enter an alliance of worlds. Not a spy, not even an ambassador, but an envoy.
This setup, when a lone man is exploring a mysterious world, not comprehending, but barely touching it, while being changed himself, is a common topic for Le Guin. But because of that it is not becoming dull or outdated.
The planet we up to explore in this book is inhabited by a peculiar branch of humans. They can change their gender. The mechanics of this process is a bit complex, but the important part is that every member of this society posses both feminine and masculine touch. And even though they are not really obsessed with a perfect balance, this balance became a cornerstone of their society, and made it so different of ours.
Various gender related twists and deviation now considered as a hot topic of any literature. Some even take it as a mandatory one. It wasn't as hot in late 1960s, albeit not fresh as well. But the angle which Le Guin took when writing about it was. This novel forced people to recognize, that apart of men and women there could be some other way, original and not crimpled. And its not related to the genitalia (at all).
To enjoy this book you don't need to be obsessed with the gender deviations. It is still a beautiful, tranquil, philosophical fiction. But if you are obsessed, it may become your Bible (even though I don't think it was author's intention).