Ursula K. LeGuin is my fav author, and one of my very fav heroes... the 149 books i read last year have more than a little to do with escape... Ursula K. LeGuin writes what i call 'the hardest scifi ever'. Sure, she doesn't care at all the explain how what she imagines can be explained by (xurrent) science/physics, but her books are so very, very committed to reality, the stories, the ideas, etc. Sometimes i will leave one of her books aside as i read the rest of Ilona Andrews or something., thinking 'this will be too real, to hard'... and yet every time i read them, they provide that perfect escape, somewhere in between the density of idea, imagination, and spine tingling prose. What a master!
I love this! I’ve been a fan of Ursula Le Guin for over 50 years ( yes, I am that old), but recently discovered that I somehow missed a number of her books, which I’m now reading. One of the things I love about her alternate worlds are that human beings remain messy and imperfect - but still manage to form and sustain societies that actually work for them unlike the hellscape we currently live under.
I found the Dani Cain books last July-ish and they started me on the anarchist utopian kick I didn't know I needed in the grueling end of the US election season. They (w Becky Chambers and A COUNTRY OF GHOSTS) were escape and engagement and a way to remind myself that in fact people made society and could remake it. Thanks for this and for the great gift of all your writing.
I had a similar middle school experience, though I escaped into Star Wars extended canon and Bret Saberhagen's Berzerker series. I spent weekends hunting for trashy SF in used bookstores. The helped me survive that shitty time. I eventually found my way to Ken MacLeod, Kim Stanley Robinson and Le Guin. KSR got me interested in alternative communities like cohousing and cooperatives like the Mondragon Corporation. These days I feel like Le Guin is more prescient than ever. Thank you for the reminder! You are a bright light in the darkness.
Holy shite, I love this essay so much. As a long time reader and writer of fantasy, this was so very affirming, thank you. Now I'm off to find Oscar Wilde's writings on socialism, etc., as I'm not familiar with that aspect of his work. Thank you!
Love this! I cut my literary teeth on Tolkien. His stories are loved by my family.
I’m a known Slavophile and lover of fairy tales. Someone gave me for Christmas the first of a trilogy based in 14 century Rus’ with Slavic fairy tales providing both framework and backdrop. Also part of the plot was the battle between paganism and Orthodox… The protagonist is a young witch! I’ve since finished the entire trilogy. The Bear and the Nightingale. Soooo good.
And I had a dream directly caused by the books. I figured out how to focus on a photo of a place I’d lived before, Tashkent, and by holding picture and place in my mind and heart was able to instantly be there. I was so excited about this new way to travel. I woke up thinking it true.
Ursula K. LeGuin is my fav author, and one of my very fav heroes... the 149 books i read last year have more than a little to do with escape... Ursula K. LeGuin writes what i call 'the hardest scifi ever'. Sure, she doesn't care at all the explain how what she imagines can be explained by (xurrent) science/physics, but her books are so very, very committed to reality, the stories, the ideas, etc. Sometimes i will leave one of her books aside as i read the rest of Ilona Andrews or something., thinking 'this will be too real, to hard'... and yet every time i read them, they provide that perfect escape, somewhere in between the density of idea, imagination, and spine tingling prose. What a master!
Thank you for your important words. Without a positive vision, or even utopia, in the face of the daily impositions of this pig system, it would be even harder to bear here. As in the last few times, here is my translation into German: https://www.trueten.de/archives/13526-Die-Pflicht-zur-Flucht-oder-Tolkien-und-Le-Guin-ueber-eskapistische-Fantasien.html
I love this! I’ve been a fan of Ursula Le Guin for over 50 years ( yes, I am that old), but recently discovered that I somehow missed a number of her books, which I’m now reading. One of the things I love about her alternate worlds are that human beings remain messy and imperfect - but still manage to form and sustain societies that actually work for them unlike the hellscape we currently live under.
I found the Dani Cain books last July-ish and they started me on the anarchist utopian kick I didn't know I needed in the grueling end of the US election season. They (w Becky Chambers and A COUNTRY OF GHOSTS) were escape and engagement and a way to remind myself that in fact people made society and could remake it. Thanks for this and for the great gift of all your writing.
Becky Chambers is a gift to the world.
I had a similar middle school experience, though I escaped into Star Wars extended canon and Bret Saberhagen's Berzerker series. I spent weekends hunting for trashy SF in used bookstores. The helped me survive that shitty time. I eventually found my way to Ken MacLeod, Kim Stanley Robinson and Le Guin. KSR got me interested in alternative communities like cohousing and cooperatives like the Mondragon Corporation. These days I feel like Le Guin is more prescient than ever. Thank you for the reminder! You are a bright light in the darkness.
Holy shite, I love this essay so much. As a long time reader and writer of fantasy, this was so very affirming, thank you. Now I'm off to find Oscar Wilde's writings on socialism, etc., as I'm not familiar with that aspect of his work. Thank you!
Oh how I needed this this week. ‘The world of our dreams does not inherently have less value than the waking world’ shall be my refrain. Thank you
Love this! I cut my literary teeth on Tolkien. His stories are loved by my family.
I’m a known Slavophile and lover of fairy tales. Someone gave me for Christmas the first of a trilogy based in 14 century Rus’ with Slavic fairy tales providing both framework and backdrop. Also part of the plot was the battle between paganism and Orthodox… The protagonist is a young witch! I’ve since finished the entire trilogy. The Bear and the Nightingale. Soooo good.
And I had a dream directly caused by the books. I figured out how to focus on a photo of a place I’d lived before, Tashkent, and by holding picture and place in my mind and heart was able to instantly be there. I was so excited about this new way to travel. I woke up thinking it true.