The Left Hand of Darkness

I last read this book something like twenty years ago. I thought it was a good book, not a great book, but it did stick with me. My book club selected this as our read for August... I was a little disappointed because I wanted to read something new for me. Well, turns out I got quite a lot more out of reading this the second time... and I'm now convinced that it's Le Guin's best book.

This book kind of gets flattened to being about gender in popular discourse and it is about gender... but it's also about politics and trust and survival. It's also about how gender impacts all of those things... Gender as a material condition.

I also feel that it's the case that all of the parts of this book come together very well. The asides into folk tales strengthen the illusion of the world Le Guin has built.

In this book Genly Ai is sent to the planet Gethen on behalf of the Ekumen, an alliance of human societies residing on far flung planets, to acquaint the inhabitants with the existence of the Ekumen and convince them to join the alliance. The Gethenians are unique: every individual has the potential to be a man or a woman during regular periods of time, referred to as "kemmer". The period of kemmer is the only time when a Gethenian has a defined sexuality. Throughout the course of the book any individual Gethenian is referred to as a "man". The narrative is told through two POVs, both in the first person: Genly Ai, the Envoy; and Estraven, who is the prime minister of Karhide, Mr Ai's liaison with the nation's king. Over the course of the narrative, Le Guin explores a society totally uninfluenced by sexuality which interestingly holds up a mirror to how sexuality /gender permeates every nook and cranny of our social existence. It was however the beautiful depiction of the progression of the relationship between Mr Ai and Estraven that made me fall in love with this book. The complete disconnect between the cultures of the two main characters initially made them misjudge each other leading to dangerous consequences. Later, unexpectedly thrown in together while traveling for days in the icy wilderness, they begin to understand and accept each other for who they are; the story ultimately culminating into it's heartbreaking conclusion. I will end with these beautiful lines:
"Light is the left hand of darkness
and darkness the right hand of light.
Two are one, life and death, lying
together like lovers in kemmer,
like hands joined together,
like the end and the way."

This is the first Ursula K. Le Guin book that I have read, and I enjoyed it. This book is the epitome of sci-fi. It has all the features of a good sci-fi novel: an alien race on an alien world, space-time travel, and the interaction of the familiar with the unfamiliar.

I liked the overlying question that Le Guin weaved throughout this book: What defines humanity? In a world without gender, does the human race lose its defining spark? Or is there still something under the surface that defies minor differences such as gender? Le Guin brought up the dualities that usually define the human experience: yin and yang, male and female, light and dark; she questioned the existence of such dualities in a world lacking the male and female distinction, and theorized the effect this lack would have on the growth of a culture.

To explore this question, the story follows the interaction between the Envoy, Genly Ai from the Ekumen, and the ex-Prime Minister of Karhide, Estraven. Estraven rescues Genly from a prison in Orgoreyn, and for me this is where the story really begins. They must cross the wastes of the land back to Karhide, without encountering anyone from Orgoreyn, who will capture Genly and Estraven who do not have papers which will pass inspection. Estraven is a surprising resource at this point, especially to Genly. Estraven prepares them for their journey, calculating how much food they will need and how quickly they will complete their journey. Of course, they run out of food and go several days over their initial calculations because of unforeseen problems during their journey. But during this time, they learn much about each other and become as close as they can be. It makes a profound change to the both of them.

The rest of the story is very political, and the plot wraps up quite nicely. The Envoy's mission is completed; Karhide is convinced to join the Ekumen by Genly's timely return. The story ends with Genly visiting Estraven's family to deliver his journals to them.

There were a lot of elements to this story that went unexplored; I admire Le Guin's ability to display the depth of culture in a people without overly describing it. Genly, of course, explores this society as much as we can, and we learn much through his perspective, but much else goes unexplained (or at least, explained in less detail than my curiosity would like). I wanted to know more about the Hearths and the family system--Le Guin hints at this a lot throughout the book. Shifgrethor is talked about a lot, but I don't think I ever truly understood it, and this is probably because Genly never truly understood it either. Le Guin does an excellent job of describing her world through the eyes of a stranger, one who can never fully explore or understand the depth of the culture he has entered into.