mat41 reviewed Freie Geister by Ursula K. Le Guin
Definitely a reading recommendation
5 stars
Leguin’s social study on anarchism and capitalism is as entertaining as it is instructive.
rústica con solapas, 456 pages
Español language
Published Dec. 27, 2021 by Minotauro.
Shevek, un físico brillante, originario de Anarres, un planeta aislado y «anarquista», decide emprender un insólito viaje al planeta madre Urras, en el que impera un extraño sistema llamado el «propietariado». Shevek cree por encima de todo que los muros del odio, la desconfianza y las ideologías, que separan su planeta del resto del universo civilizado, deben ser derribados.
En este contexto la autora explora algunos de los problemas de nuestro tiempo: la posición de la mujer en la estructura social, la complejidad de las relaciones humanas, los méritos y las promesas de las ideologías, las perspectivas del idealismo político en el mundo actual.
Leguin’s social study on anarchism and capitalism is as entertaining as it is instructive.
Went into this book having heard not a lot about it, and did not expect it to turn into an anarchist manifesto, but was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the discussions between the characters and the vivacity of the world described. Will definitely purchase a copy for myself.
Primero la historia
El personaje es un físico, lo que ya me predispone bien
Sin embargo, mi profesión es común en las novelas de ciencia ficción, y me pregunto cuánto habrá tenido eso que ver con elegirla.
Sin embargo, el personaje de LeGuin es un físico muy real. Hay algo extremadamente familiar en la constante introspección, el aislamiento que se siente aunque no se sufre, y la necesidad de poner todo lo demás a un costado para aprender algo acerca del funcionamiento del universo.
No me había sentido tan identificado con un personaje desde... bueno, desde el Severian de Gene Wolfe que me dió un nick para las redes.
La manera de narrar, con una aproximación desde dos tiempos, el presente de Shevek en Urras y su vida anterior en Anarris, en capítulos alternados, funciona muy bien.
Vamos aprendiendo de Shevek y de Anarris a medida que él va aprendiendo …
Primero la historia
El personaje es un físico, lo que ya me predispone bien
Sin embargo, mi profesión es común en las novelas de ciencia ficción, y me pregunto cuánto habrá tenido eso que ver con elegirla.
Sin embargo, el personaje de LeGuin es un físico muy real. Hay algo extremadamente familiar en la constante introspección, el aislamiento que se siente aunque no se sufre, y la necesidad de poner todo lo demás a un costado para aprender algo acerca del funcionamiento del universo.
No me había sentido tan identificado con un personaje desde... bueno, desde el Severian de Gene Wolfe que me dió un nick para las redes.
La manera de narrar, con una aproximación desde dos tiempos, el presente de Shevek en Urras y su vida anterior en Anarris, en capítulos alternados, funciona muy bien.
Vamos aprendiendo de Shevek y de Anarris a medida que él va aprendiendo sobre la sociedad capitalista de Urras.
Lo conocemos a él mientras él nos conoce a nosotros.
Me parece muy buena estructura.
Leímos "Los desposeídos" en las ediciones 19 a 22 de nuestro Club de #LecturaMastodontica
mastodon.la/@SeverianX/105929916780916472 mastodon.la/@SeverianX/105969567767581383 mastodon.la/@SeverianX/106009205603057007 mastodon.la/@SeverianX/106048862564271434 mastodon.la/@SeverianX/106088459256548717
It’s a testament to Le Guin’s integrity and imagination that should could imagine so precisely the limitations of a social system she herself advocated for.
Like most Le Guin’s Hainish Cycle novels, this is primarily an anthropological work. It’s more concerned with society and ideology than with plot or characters.
A classic of speculative fiction, The Dispossessed is a seminal work of the genre.
On a personal note, I loved the subplot about a gay character who wishes he could have children of his own, even in a society where child rearing is communal. While not the focus of the story, it touches briefly on subject that remains a strong taboo in the gay community to this day.
Un libro di fantascienza geniale, avvincente e al tempo stesso ricco di significato. Negli ultimi anni ho tratto grande piacere dallo studio del pensiero anarchico e delle sue differenze con il comunismo autoritario (e chiaramente con il capitalismo). Penso che il pensiero anarchico sia criminalmente escluso dagli studi scolastici e che moltissime persone, per questo motivo, non sappiano realmente cosa sia. I reietti dell'altro pianeta immagina un'utopia anarchica, dandole però sostanza: è bellissimo vedere come funzionerebbe una società anarchica secondo Ursula Le Guin, anche perché ne presenta anche le possibili criticità. La critica feroce alla concezione del lavoro e dello sfruttamento nel capitalismo sono da pelle d'oca. Ho imparato più sull'anarchia leggendo lei che leggendo Kropotkin!
Content warning Spoliers
I love Ursula but this has been my least liked book of hers so I'm giving 4 stars instead of 5. I enjoyed the heavy intellectual ideas. I enjoyed the romance. I was utterly destroyed that she made this main character who I had thoroughly liked, out of nowhere sexually assault a woman because he experiences alcohol for the first time in his life. The way it's written is really fucking blaming the woman victim character while our main character dude just gets to brush it off and go on with his life as the hero and doesn't even think about this incident for even one goddamn second for the rest of the book. I know Ursula took some serious thoughts about feminism later in life and made some apologies and changes in her writing with the Earthsea series which I thought was wonderful. I really wish she had taken the time to go back and edit or at least write an apology about this. It fucking sucks. The rest of the story is great. This one scene should be deleted. It's fucking horrible. And no it's totally not believable that creating an anarchist communist society would suddenly erase rape and that rape is just an invention of capitalism and greed. Yea no. I can't bite down on that idea at all. The other heavy ideas make sense but only up to a point and then it's just like trying to say capitalism causes humans to rape. Like no fuck you. Rapists are psychopaths. They are the same as murderers. They are born with it in their brain. They cannot feel empathy. They are predators. Society can't make them do it or not do it. They exist in every society through all time. They can't be fixed either. And a man who is absolutely loving to his true love, his little daughters will not just suddenly sexually assault a woman because he got exposed to capitalism and alcohol and "went crazy." Fucking bullshit rape apology sexist bullshit. And then feel absolutely no remorse about it? Cmon!!
This book blew. My. Mind. I'm serious, for this alone Ursula K Le Guin became my fav sci-fi author, leaps and bounds above anybody else. She showed me what you can do with science fiction, how you can break the limits of the imagination. It is the first time I actually managed to picture a non-hierarchical society and it is so real, so visceral, that things clicked and I realized that "wait, this is possible!?" And she does that with a completely made up story set in two completely made up societies, both fleshed out with their greatness and infamy, their ideologies and contradictions.
It is NOT an easy read: Le Guin happily forces your brain to do some mental gymnastic, where things don't make any sense until a few pages later when they suddenly, perfectly do, things click in place and your mind is blown.
It is the book …
This book blew. My. Mind. I'm serious, for this alone Ursula K Le Guin became my fav sci-fi author, leaps and bounds above anybody else. She showed me what you can do with science fiction, how you can break the limits of the imagination. It is the first time I actually managed to picture a non-hierarchical society and it is so real, so visceral, that things clicked and I realized that "wait, this is possible!?" And she does that with a completely made up story set in two completely made up societies, both fleshed out with their greatness and infamy, their ideologies and contradictions.
It is NOT an easy read: Le Guin happily forces your brain to do some mental gymnastic, where things don't make any sense until a few pages later when they suddenly, perfectly do, things click in place and your mind is blown.
It is the book that made me understand how the limits of our current society are, first and foremost, limits of our imagination, and I don't say this lightly. This book blows our minds, because we have been robbed of the ability to imagine a better, if imperfect, world.
Wow. What else is there to say? This book was a buffet of ideas ranging from sexism, capitalism, socialism, the military-industrial complex, and politics. I especially enjoyed Le Guin's writing on women, but anarchist and archist, through the eyes of the anarchist main character. For the first few chapters I was amazed at Le Guin's interpretation at an anarchist utopian, and took it as a blueprint for the work we socialists have to do here on Earth. But as the book progressed we learned more about the so-called utopia and it's possible fault -- one of which being politics and the formation of government--and I finished the book with more questions than answers. This was a delightful and nerdy read.
Wonderful and well written book tackling more issues than you would think could fit into the pages it has. Le Guin manages a surprising shift in narrative well, giving us the perspective of an anarchist looking at a capitalist society. A particular joke stuck especially with me, flipping a common argument on its head:
"But all the people he met, and all the people he saw, in the smallest country village, were well dressed, well fed, and, contrary to his expectations, industrious. They did not stand about sullenly waiting to be ordered to do things. Just like Anarresti, they were simply busy getting things done. It puzzled him. He had assumed that if you removed a human being’s natural incentive to work — his initiative, his spontaneous creative energy — and replaced it with external motivation and coercion, he would become a lazy and careless worker."
Beyond that, she manages …
Wonderful and well written book tackling more issues than you would think could fit into the pages it has. Le Guin manages a surprising shift in narrative well, giving us the perspective of an anarchist looking at a capitalist society. A particular joke stuck especially with me, flipping a common argument on its head:
"But all the people he met, and all the people he saw, in the smallest country village, were well dressed, well fed, and, contrary to his expectations, industrious. They did not stand about sullenly waiting to be ordered to do things. Just like Anarresti, they were simply busy getting things done. It puzzled him. He had assumed that if you removed a human being’s natural incentive to work — his initiative, his spontaneous creative energy — and replaced it with external motivation and coercion, he would become a lazy and careless worker."
Beyond that, she manages to describe certain phases of teenagers incredibly well. I never cared much for coming of age books as a teenager, but the few chapters she spends on the topic probably would have spoken more to me then than any coming of age book i know of.
Overall, a good book because I enjoy SF and I was mentally stimulated by some of the ideas about social structures. The reason why I give it 3 stars and not 4 is that it seemed to me that the author was trying too hard to describe the philosophy at the cost of the SF aspect.
I found this hard work, I'm not sure why. The self-sacrifice rings true but the isolated research doesn't. My least favourite of the Hainish cycle so far.
Test test (:
Le Guin explores why and how an anarchist society can work, undaunted by complexity and in vivid detail. At the same time a reflection on individuality, sense of purpose, and the nature of abstraction. Probably one of the best books I've ever read.
Le Guin was put the light on the despicable society whom is ours by describing through the eyes of an anarchist.
L'autrice met la lumière sur la méprisable société qui est la notre en décrivant à travers les yeux d'un anarchiste.
I've heard this book called “a bundle of ideas disguised as a book,“ but honestly, I don't think that's fair. It's a pretty good balance between world-building and character— better than a good chunk of SF, at least. What can I say? It's a good book that gives insight into anarchist ideals, the compatibility between freedom and human nature, and human relationships. Also gives you some cool words to throw around. “Egoizing,” “propertarian,” what a goddamn masterpiece. I think Le Guin has a quote that fits, actually (that I'm paraphrasing from memory): “A mark of a good book is feeling that you've learnt something, even if you can't put your finger on what it is.”