Post by MaxQuad on Mar 20, 2005 11:16:02 GMT -5
The Left Hand of Darkness
You would think a book about a planet known in some parts of the Universe as Winter would be like reading about home to someone from Buffalo, wouldn’t you? (OK, I can move on and talk about the book now that the requisite Buffalo weather joke has been delivered.)
This is a very quiet and cold book. Certainly not an action thriller. I’ll be honest, it was not until I finished it and reflected back on it that I moved from being ambivalent to impressed.
After hearing last evening of a suicide bomb explosion in quiet and dusty Doha, Qatar on the second anniversary of the initiation of the war in Iraq, I could not help but recall a late passage in The Left Hand of Darkness.
“…I wondered, not for the first time, what patriotism is, what the love of country truly consists of, how that yearning loyalty that had shaken my friend’s voice arises: and how so real a love can become, too often, so foolish and vile a bigotry. Where does it go wrong?”<br>
Couple that with, “Fear’s very useful. Like darkness; like shadows.” What do we fear? And who is using it now?
Perhaps I digress.
The book provides an interesting contrast between societies on a cold planet; contrasts that eventually lead one to the conclusion that the same treachery is possible in both, though by different methods.
“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.”<br>
The fluid nature of Gethenian gender adds to the theme of “two are one,” like life and death, like hands joined together. An interesting concept – that the potential each of us has for reflecting both masculine and feminine qualities manifests itself physically and physiologically on Winter. A genetic manipulation gone bad or the natural extension of what we see around us at all times?
“To learn which questions are unanswerable, and TEXTnot to answer themTEXT: this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness.” Excellent advice which I may need to heed at this point in my life. Certain questions are unanswerable. Now to figure out which are and which are not – and move on as best as I can.
Stu, thanks for the endorsement of this book. It is a work that will likely yield more fruit upon re-reading some day, which, in my estimation, is a sign of an excellently written book.
Griff
You would think a book about a planet known in some parts of the Universe as Winter would be like reading about home to someone from Buffalo, wouldn’t you? (OK, I can move on and talk about the book now that the requisite Buffalo weather joke has been delivered.)
This is a very quiet and cold book. Certainly not an action thriller. I’ll be honest, it was not until I finished it and reflected back on it that I moved from being ambivalent to impressed.
After hearing last evening of a suicide bomb explosion in quiet and dusty Doha, Qatar on the second anniversary of the initiation of the war in Iraq, I could not help but recall a late passage in The Left Hand of Darkness.
“…I wondered, not for the first time, what patriotism is, what the love of country truly consists of, how that yearning loyalty that had shaken my friend’s voice arises: and how so real a love can become, too often, so foolish and vile a bigotry. Where does it go wrong?”<br>
Couple that with, “Fear’s very useful. Like darkness; like shadows.” What do we fear? And who is using it now?
Perhaps I digress.
The book provides an interesting contrast between societies on a cold planet; contrasts that eventually lead one to the conclusion that the same treachery is possible in both, though by different methods.
“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.”<br>
The fluid nature of Gethenian gender adds to the theme of “two are one,” like life and death, like hands joined together. An interesting concept – that the potential each of us has for reflecting both masculine and feminine qualities manifests itself physically and physiologically on Winter. A genetic manipulation gone bad or the natural extension of what we see around us at all times?
“To learn which questions are unanswerable, and TEXTnot to answer themTEXT: this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness.” Excellent advice which I may need to heed at this point in my life. Certain questions are unanswerable. Now to figure out which are and which are not – and move on as best as I can.
Stu, thanks for the endorsement of this book. It is a work that will likely yield more fruit upon re-reading some day, which, in my estimation, is a sign of an excellently written book.
Griff