On "The Dispossessed" and putting actual characters in Sci Fi
A review of Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Dispossessed" (1974)
Overall Rating: ★★★★★ (5 out of 5)
Science Fiction: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5)
Literary: ★★★★★ (5 out of 5)
Vibe: ★★★★★ (5 out of 5)
[No spoilers section]
The first book with a wikipedia entry in my series of reviews that isn’t given a ‘hard’ sci fi categorization, it was the best so far. Le Guin’s novel doesn't suffer from the limitations of the previous three reviews1: the ingrained sexism of Three Body is challenged through imagining a different society, the lack of character arcs in Diaspora is rectified as even minor characters change, and the pretentious and awkward language of The Revelations is replaced with a master of selecting the best word in both form and function.
Le Guin builds a believable anarchist quasi-utopian society — complete with merits and faults. The main character, Shevek2, also has merits and faults, and genuinely grows as a person over the course of the novel. In fact, there are almost two arcs for Shevek as we simultaneously see the path leading up to him leaving his home planet as well as his experience on another through alternating chapters. It serves as a prequel to the Hainish cycle.
Le Guin’s work has been called ‘soft’ science fiction3. She preferred “social science fiction” and it is no less a genuine extrapolation from perturbations to social systems as the extrapolations from perturbations to technological systems — in fact, it’s even more direct. The reason you read this book is for that world building, the illustration of how people live within in that world, and the chronicles of how people react to different kinds of worlds. It’s the kind of thing Star Trek would go on to do well in The Next Generation, but we spend so much more time on Annares and Urras that we go beyond the thought experiment, beyond the political theory, and into creating a kind of simulation of how such a society would actually work.
[Spoilers section]
The reason I read this Le Guin story in particular is twofold: 1) Annares is a representation of an anarchist utopia that runs on a voluntary task economy4, and 2) it is something of a backstory to the development of the faster-than-light communication technology called the ansible that appears in earlier books in the Hainish cycle. These are both related to elements of the novel I am working on — instead of appropriating concepts, I hope to at least create enough of an obvious reference that it is clear when I’m making no claim to originality. I’ll probably call the system MinLab (Ministry of Labor) as a direct reference to DivLab (Division of Labor) in The Dispossessed.
However, the ansible (or really the theory behind the ansible) is more of a MacGuffin that doesn’t have much to do with the worlds of Annares and Urras. They are not separated by light years (Annares is the moon of Urras), so faster than light communication does not solve any particular problem. It could have been a good metaphor for two societies that have basically broken off communication, but given it is only referenced as abstract theory and the only applications mentioned (on Urras) are to developing faster than light travel and the military-industrial complex it only serves as the age-old moral quandary of science being appropriated for war and profit. There’s not even a specific military application as one might see in Einstein’s development of special relativity the corollary E = mc² as the key to nuclear weapons.
While the novel has well-defined characters with almost every character appearing being well-rounded or having an arc, you could almost say it is an embarrassment of riches. Le Guin doesn’t really talk about Shevek’s theory except in vague generalities that sound more like religious philosophy than science, but it is ever-present as the energy source for the plot. Shevek’s work on the theory runs him into the practical issues in an economy where labor is divided among the population, allowing him to witness the emergence of a de facto bureaucratic government (anarcho-syndicalism devolving into the original sense of the word bureaucracy of government by bureaucrats). The theory is Shevek’s key to leaving Annares to visit Urras5, and it is Shevek’s realization the theory and its applications will just become property for capitalist exploitation on Urras that gets him back to Annares. You could probably reconstruct this story with a development in the biological sciences — a medicine that could be used as a chemical weapon or sold for profit — without changing it6. This is probably my only disappointment with the book — the lack of a deeper connection of the theory with the story besides its (effective!) functioning as a MacGuffin.
It was only after reading The Dispossessed that I realized how much my short story Aegis Sierra is a similar story — but inverted. Instead of a physicist developing a theory in a kind of autonomous zone, taking it outside the zone into a larger outside world where it gets tangled in capitalism and violence, and then returning to the autonomous zone, Aegis Sierra is a story of a previously developed theory in a exploitative world being co-opted for violence, a physicist developing the counter to the violence and exploitation creating the ability to build autonomous zones, and then returning to the larger outside world. Miranda Sierra and Shevek have a lot in common — even down to cooperating with the would-be exploiters of their ideas due to ulterior motives.
That said, Le Guin is still a master of language so my own scribblings pale in comparison. The Dispossessed is one of the best sci fi novels out there and an example to aspire to.
This review took longer and so came out of order after my review of The Fifth Season and my review of Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang. I did read them in the intended order of the reviews, but struggled to think of something to say about The Dispossessed beyond “it was awesome.” That said, that’s probably the highest praise I could give it. I was mostly in shock from the whiplash between The Revelations and this book.
I did not on purpose select now three books with physicists as main characters. Regardless, the next review will break that streak. [Ed. note: See footnote 1 — this came out of order.]
I am surprised it doesn’t get designated ‘hard’ science fiction in that there is no faster than light travel — the only criterion that seems to exist for the designation.
I’ve started calling it a “side quest” economy — people in it take on tasks voluntarily based on what needs to be done. In Inner Horizon, the tabulating of these tasks are aided by the processing capabilities of hyperquantum computers.
The theory is basically useless on Annares since the moon doesn’t have the resources to apply it — this is what makes it valuable on Urras.
Or dare I say improving the metaphor of the story because Anarres would distribute it via universal health care but wouldn’t have the resources to produce it at scale while Urras (which does) would sell it for profit and use it’s chemical warfare dual nature.