Ursula K. LeGuin, 1929-2018:
Oddly enough, I've only reviewed one of LeGuin's books ,Gifts, which review is not available right now but will be showing up at Green Man Review sometime in the (relatively) near future. I did include her in a series of essays on sexual identity in science fiction, which, alas, is no longer available online and seems to be missing from my files. She was one of the science fiction/fantasy writers of the 1970s and '80s who redrew the map, so to speak, on what was permissible in the genre in terms of sex and gender. The Left Hand of Darkness was one of the ground-breakers in that regard; if you've never read it, hunt up a copy.
I didn't agree with her statement that genre was a marketing tool for publishers; there's a lot more to genre fiction than that, in that each genre has its own tropes and its own landscape, so to speak.
At any rate, there are some people who should live forever. LeGuin was one of them.
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| Photo: Wikimedia Commons |
Acclaimed science-fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin died Monday in her hometown of Portland, Ore., her agent confirmed. Le Guin was 88.
Although best known for her science fiction — particularly the Earthsea series — Le Guin was a creative, curious writer whose more than two dozen books encompassed fiction, poetry, essays, criticism, children's books, works of translation, fantasy and even blogging.
Oddly enough, I've only reviewed one of LeGuin's books ,Gifts, which review is not available right now but will be showing up at Green Man Review sometime in the (relatively) near future. I did include her in a series of essays on sexual identity in science fiction, which, alas, is no longer available online and seems to be missing from my files. She was one of the science fiction/fantasy writers of the 1970s and '80s who redrew the map, so to speak, on what was permissible in the genre in terms of sex and gender. The Left Hand of Darkness was one of the ground-breakers in that regard; if you've never read it, hunt up a copy.
I didn't agree with her statement that genre was a marketing tool for publishers; there's a lot more to genre fiction than that, in that each genre has its own tropes and its own landscape, so to speak.
At any rate, there are some people who should live forever. LeGuin was one of them.
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