I would argue it is pretty much the foundation of humanist SF.
She was a fellow Columbia grad and yet I believe she lived near me --Winter Park, Florida. I never understand her overarching cosmos, but there is a line in Left hand of Darkness that stays with me every day when I think of science fiction. I will find it a link.
Benny I would argue that you are exactly right.
Maybe she had a winter home in Winter Park? But reading her blog – now, understandably, not updated – saw many references to her living in Portland, OR.
Yeah, I thought she was Pacific Northwest for life, yo. But I didn’t follow her personal details closely.
The Disposessed was formative in my younger years. To this very day the very core of my worldview is importantly informed by it. This and Pirsigs Motorcycle Maintenance are the books that define me.
For those of you interested, this will be on PBS soon:
Since this got bumped, might as well link this Wonkette Book Club piece that was posted recently. Spoilers ahoy if you haven’t read Left Hand of Darkness:
I just finished reading A Wizard of Earthsea to my kids! They loved it and want me to read the rest of the trilogy!
That’s awesome. How old are they?
Are you familiar with the rest of the trilogy (actually four or five books)? Because they’re pretty different from the first one. And each other. I loved them all, even as a ten year old, going from A Wizard… to The Tombs of Atuan was somewhat jarring.
Yeah The Farthest Shore was much more in line with A Wizard of Earthsea.
They’re 10 and 12. I read the other two (I guess she wrote more later?) a long time ago. Don’t remember anything about them.