Review: 'The Left Hand of Darkness' (Hainish Cycle) by Ursula K. Le Guin

 When Ursula K. Le Guin died in 2018 it hit me surprisingly hard, despite the fact that I was still mostly unfamiliar with most of her Sci Fi writing. So I decided I needed to very much acquaint myself with her wider work. It took some time but I've started the Hainish Cycle, smack-bam in the middle with the work whose name has always intrigued me.

Pub. Date: 7/1/2000
Publisher: Ace

A groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants can choose - and change - their gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters.

Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.

Science Fiction isn't all about exploring foreign planets, discovering alien races and predicting the future. This may seem surprising to those who equate Science Fiction with glittering highrise buildings, spaceships and lightsabers, but in an introduction to my edition Le Guin explains it perfectly. 

'Science fiction is not predictive; it is descriptive.'

Science Fiction like Frankenstein, for example, describes contemporary concerns about developments in science, not a vision of the future. The Handmaid's Tale does not speak of a future dictatorship but rather of the creeping misogynistic elements already present in our society. The complexity and skill of Science Fiction novels arises from the fact they take current concerns and events and put them at a slight remove, so we can see them through a new light. Things become clearer when we have a little distance. In The Left Hand of Darkness, a Science Fiction novel that could also double as a Philosophy book, Le Guin looks at gender, at war, at sexuality, all through the eyes of someone encountering a whole new world. 

Genly Ai has been on the planet Winter for a few years now, but is no closer to his mission of uniting it with the pan-universe community of humanoid worlds, the Ekumen. They are a stubborn kind of people, ambiguous in their gender and sex and highly aware of "losing face". When his mission seems to fail in one kingdom, he sets off to the neighbouring one, but becomes embroiled in factions and secret service messages. Finally, it is a trek across the impenetrable and never-melting ice that reveals the nature of Winter and its people to him, as well as his own. Genly Ai is human and despite his "advanced" concepts of humanity and space, he is still baffled by many of the aspects of Winter's societies. Especially their ambiguous sexuality continues to strike him, as his own thoughts still operate heavily in the human binary of male/female, him/her, a line that "cannot" be crossed. Seeing him cope with this, listening to him struggle to actually define what a human female is, is fascinating. First published at the end of the '60s, The Left Hand of Darkness still feels revolutionary in its approach to gender, which sadly says a lot about modern Science Fiction. 

What can I say about Ursula K. Le Guin that I haven't said before? Oddly enough my first introduction to Ursula K. Le Guin's writing was in No Time to Spare, the collection of her blog posts that covers everything from gender, to dying, to breakfast, to her love for a stubborn cat. From those writings I immediately fell in love with Le Guin's writing style, her wit, her insight, her humour and her ability to solidly analyse and discuss injustice wherever she saw it. I wondered how this would translate into Science Fiction and Fantasy writing. But I get it now. I understand why she is acclaimed and loved the way she is now. Because everything I loved about her non-fictional writing is also present in her fiction writing. With some writers their authorial voice is different from their own, more personal, voice, yet with Le Guin I saw the same mind shine through in her fiction. Her writing really is a gift.

I give this novel...

5 Universes!

I was riveted by The Left Hand of Darkness. Le Guin manages to spin both an exciting story and a story full of depth, empathy and discovery. I can't wait to read the rest of her work.