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bluestarfish's review against another edition
5.0
This is a wonderful collection of essays, transcripts of talks, poems & travelogues, and reviews covering UKLG work in 1976-1988. The first essay, The Space Crone, had me whooping internally and wanting to share it with the train carriage full of of strangers. Is Gender Necessary? Redux, the next essay, is supremely useful to me right now in that it shows that people are allowed to change their minds about what they think! What an amazing gift! The Fisherwoman's Daughter is splendid, but then so is much of what is on offer.
"Offer your experience as your truth" Pauline Oliveros is quoted saying and the evidence would suggest that UKLG has taken this to heart and generously shared with all of us. (Also, when did Doris Lessing write sf??) [2016]
This was a great re-read and I found the great pig quote that I hadn't remembered was (also) from an essay in this collection:
"My intent is not reactionary, nor even conservative, but simply subversive. It seems that the utopian imagination is trapped, like capitalism and industrialism and the human population, in a one-way future consisting only of growth. All I'm trying to do is figure out how to put a pig on the tracks."
The magazine ("Venom") that was created to be an antidote to book reviews that were indistinguishable from back cover blurbs was a brilliant idea. Each anonymous contributor had to write a savage take down of one of their own novels as the "price" of entry (so that people wouldn't know which were suicides and which were murders...) and UKLG's take on "The Beginning Place" was a lot funnier now that I've actually read it.
"Offer your experience as your truth" Pauline Oliveros is quoted saying and the evidence would suggest that UKLG has taken this to heart and generously shared with all of us. (Also, when did Doris Lessing write sf??) [2016]
This was a great re-read and I found the great pig quote that I hadn't remembered was (also) from an essay in this collection:
"My intent is not reactionary, nor even conservative, but simply subversive. It seems that the utopian imagination is trapped, like capitalism and industrialism and the human population, in a one-way future consisting only of growth. All I'm trying to do is figure out how to put a pig on the tracks."
The magazine ("Venom") that was created to be an antidote to book reviews that were indistinguishable from back cover blurbs was a brilliant idea. Each anonymous contributor had to write a savage take down of one of their own novels as the "price" of entry (so that people wouldn't know which were suicides and which were murders...) and UKLG's take on "The Beginning Place" was a lot funnier now that I've actually read it.
tauboi's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
4.0
general_kenobi's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Banger after banger from Ms. K Le Guin
streamthief's review against another edition
informative
reflective
4.0
Lovely book of essays, lots on writing and stories, and one particularly good one on sensorship and the responsibility of teachers to expose kids to good art. Sometimes a little dense for me, and the review section at the end wasn't very meaningful to me, but over all an enjoyable and thoughtful read
marenmk's review against another edition
Read the essays: The Space Crone; Is Gender Necessary Redux; and Bryn Mawr Commencement Address 1986
mrizzuto's review against another edition
4.0
(3.75) i’ll start off with really my only negative—i wish this were only thoughts on words and women rather than thoughts on words, women, places. the writing on travel seemed to me like it wasn’t really meant to be read by an audience? if it was, it felt at points like science fiction filled to the brim with proper nouns and concepts you’re unfamiliar with, as though it expects too much knowledge from the reader. a few of the essays in here were jargony in a similar way.
now that my only negative is out of the way: what a phenomenal collection of essays. le guin’s ideas are so deeply contemporary for having been written in the 70s and 80s, such incredible thoughts on feminism and gender as a whole (i truly recommend everyone reads at least The Fisherwoman’s Daughter, such a beautifully written essay on women in “literature”). i thought the commencement addresses were especially captivating, likely because they’re meant to be accessibly written and captivating. but her theoretical writing is so compelling as well. what an incredibly interesting author, such a fun and personal style of prose. i’d really recommend to anyone looking for a collection of essays or more le guin to read—i can’t wait to read her fictional works! such an interesting, intelligent, kind-hearted person.
now that my only negative is out of the way: what a phenomenal collection of essays. le guin’s ideas are so deeply contemporary for having been written in the 70s and 80s, such incredible thoughts on feminism and gender as a whole (i truly recommend everyone reads at least The Fisherwoman’s Daughter, such a beautifully written essay on women in “literature”). i thought the commencement addresses were especially captivating, likely because they’re meant to be accessibly written and captivating. but her theoretical writing is so compelling as well. what an incredibly interesting author, such a fun and personal style of prose. i’d really recommend to anyone looking for a collection of essays or more le guin to read—i can’t wait to read her fictional works! such an interesting, intelligent, kind-hearted person.