The Dispossessed
John W. Campbell Memorial Award, 1975
One of the very best must-read novels of all time – with a new introduction by Roddy Doyle
‘A well told tale signifying a good deal; one to be read again and again’ THE TIMES
‘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
‘Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power’ OBSERVER
‘There was a wall. It did not look important – even a child could climb it. But the idea was real. Like all walls it was ambiguous, two-faced. What was inside it and what was outside it depended upon which side of it you were on…’
Shevek is brilliant scientist who is attempting to find a new theory of time – but there are those who are jealous of his work, and will do anything to block him. So he leaves his homeland, hoping to find a place of more liberty and tolerance. Initially feted, Shevek soon finds himself being used as a pawn in a deadly political game.
With powerful themes of freedom, society and the natural world’s influence on competition and co-operation, THE DISPOSSESSED is a true classic of the 20th century.
‘A well told tale signifying a good deal; one to be read again and again’ THE TIMES
‘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
‘Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power’ OBSERVER
‘There was a wall. It did not look important – even a child could climb it. But the idea was real. Like all walls it was ambiguous, two-faced. What was inside it and what was outside it depended upon which side of it you were on…’
Shevek is brilliant scientist who is attempting to find a new theory of time – but there are those who are jealous of his work, and will do anything to block him. So he leaves his homeland, hoping to find a place of more liberty and tolerance. Initially feted, Shevek soon finds himself being used as a pawn in a deadly political game.
With powerful themes of freedom, society and the natural world’s influence on competition and co-operation, THE DISPOSSESSED is a true classic of the 20th century.
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Reviews
A well told tale signifying a good deal; one to be read again and again
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
Le Guin's storytelling is sharp, magisterial, funny, thought-provoking and exciting, exhibiting all that science fiction can be
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
[Le Guin had] the heart of a poet who knew all too well the difference between miracle and eureka, revelation and revolution
A deeply imagined work of art
An 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 culture
Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power
