The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

Hello, Stranger.

Let's talk about Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed.

The Short of It

Plot: For the first time in nearly 200 years a divided, militaristic, capitalist world will receive a visitor from its moon: an anarchist utopia.

Page Count: 387

Award: 1974 Nebula, 1975 Hugo and 1975 Locus

Worth a read: Yes
Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)
Bechdel Test: Pass
Technobabble: Moderate to high; frequently plot relevant.
Review: An enjoyable exploration of what society could be. Oft subtitled (quite fittingly) "An Ambiguous Utopia." Excellent world building - the joys and perils of anarchism. Definitely not subtle as advocacy for anarchism. Plot and characters both decent, but mostly used to show the world - a lot of monologues. 

The Medium of It

Spoiler Free!

I hope you're not in the mood for a subtle suggestion that capitalism begets violence, because you will not find that here. And if you wish to find something that implies that an anarcho-communist society would be superior, you'd better keep looking. 

Le Guin believes in subtext the same way she believes in capitalism - not here, not now, no way, no how.

That's not to say that this book is only that. It's also about... Physics! Sometimes. Mostly anarchy.

I do not mean to belittle the project that Le Guin undertook in writing The Dispossessed. Once again, she has done a truly astounding job of fully realizing a world, demonstrating how such a society could function, how it would appear to outsiders, and so on. World building is a solid ten out of ten.

A few things about the world. This is part of the Hainish Cycle, the same broad universe as The Left Hand of Darkness. The idea is that human colonies were established in the distant past, contact was lost, and now connections are slowly being remade; first contact by the Hainish is around 60 years before the start of The Dispossessed. Around 100 years before that was a revolution by the proletariat, following the lead of a woman by the name of Odo. The result of the revolution was the gifting of the moon, Annares, to the Odonians, who establish it as an anarchist utopia. Minimal contact is maintained between Annares and Urras.

This all sets the stage for the actual story: A physics prodigy - Shevek - from Urras going to Annares, the first visitor from one to another since the revolution. Many books like this use a reader-surrogate as the protagonist; someone who can see an alien society and say, "Hey, that's mighty alien" - the same way the reader would, were they exploring instead. Shevek, on the other hand, comes from a very different culture to look upon a world that is not unlike Earth. It's an inversion of the standard structure done to superb effect. We understand from his insights how sick our system looks.

The simple human interactions he has with his partner, his friends, and his kids do an excellent job of making him real; a necessity, if we're to agree with his views.

As a physicist, his main project is on Simultaneity; an attempt to make a faster-than-light engine for spacecraft. The physics sections may be engaging for some; I can't say I was sold. This is primarily based on how it impacts the pace and structure of the narrative.

Pacing is slow. Even dramatic events are usually portrayed with a minimum of fanfare. Characters frequently explain their different ideas through monologues. This is in some ways a necessity, the way the story is built; people have questions for Shevek about how Annares functions. Putting in physics as a major part of the plot, however, means that there are now multiple subjects that need to be explained via lecture. 

Chapters alternate between two different periods of time, with Chapter One falling at about the halfway point. Despite my broader misgivings about the physics/simultaneity portions of this book, structuring it as such is an excellent way to underscore that the past and present are all happening simultaneously. Very clever, Le Guin.

This is easily one of the best realized worlds I have encountered, and is worth reading as a masterclass on how to write a society. This is true whether or not you find any part of anarchism compelling. We explore every facet of life - from romance to naming of children to language to work to housing to food - and so on. It's pretty incredible, and worth a read for that alone.

Wow, this is a hard place to justify an affiliate link. Look, if you want to give this a read, and you should, I'd appreciate it if you used the link below - I'll get a few cents at no cost to you. But getting it from the library would definitely be truer to the concepts we've got to consider here...

I am the very link we set out to destroy!

The Long of It

Spoilers Ahead!

There are a few moments in this book that stand out to me as truly superb. The depiction of young Shevek in Chapter 2 is perfect. After being chastised, he tries to focus on other things, and thinks:

If a book were written all in numbers, it would be true. It would be just. Nothing said in words ever came out quite even. Things in words got twisted and ran together, instead of staying straight and fitting together. 

Chapter 1 had already established that he was a remarkable scientist, but mostly because other people have said as much. This scene makes it believable, as well as explaining his isolation - and how he could choose to go to another planet, despite the public calling him a traitor. Further, it adds some weight to his relationship with his partner, Takver. His struggle to find others like him bears fruit when they are together. 

Going a bit further with that relationship, as it is vital for the cohesion of this story. Takver makes Shevek more human, certainly. But we still interact with a number of cliches - she saw him years before, it was love at first sight, they instantly bond, etc. What redeems these is the non-chronological narrative. If we experienced this story from beginning to end, a continuous flow, it would feel ridiculous. Instead, Takver is mentioned in Chapters 1, 3, and 5 - all of which take place after they have been together for many years. 

Whenever he saw an animal, the flight of birds, the splendor of autumn trees, that sadness came into him and gave delight a cutting edge. He did not think consciously of Takver at such moments, he did not think of her absence. Rather it was as if she were there though he was not thinking about her. 

It is no longer a relationship that grows from a chance glimpse to true love, because we already know that he loves her, long before they (in the organization of the book) meet. 

My early instinct was to give this book a blanket -150 points for ridiculous names. Note: points have no bearing on anything. It turns out that they are, in this case, an excellent part of world building. Babies are named by a computer at birth - even their names are not possessions.

This is worth a bit more exploration. A number of books from the 60s and 70s have approached the idea of language shaping perception - Babel-17 and A Time of Changes come to mind. Le Guin takes that to a different level. The Odonians intentionally manufactured a new language when they settled Annares; one that de-emphasized the individual. People do not use possessives to speak of themselves in general. In fact, this follows a similar structure to A Time of Changes - but is done significantly better by Le Guin. 

There are a few exceptional monologues. The following is delivered while Shevek is drunk; a good justification for such a speech. When asked if Anarres is wonderful, he answers:

No. It is not wonderful. It is an ugly world. Not like this one. Anarres is all dusty and dry hills. All meager, all dry. And the people aren’t beautiful. They have big hands and feet, like me and the waiter there. But not big bellies. They get very dirty, and take baths together, nobody here does that. The towns are very small and dull, they are dreary. No palaces. Life is dull, and hard work. You can’t always have what you want, or even what you need, because there isn’t enough. You Urrasti have enough. Enough air, enough rain, grass, oceans, food, music, buildings, factories, machines, books, clothes, history. You are rich, you own. We are poor, we lack. You have, we do not have. Everything is beautiful here. Only not the faces. On Anarres nothing is beautiful, nothing but the faces. The other faces, the men and women. We have nothing but that, nothing but each other. Here you see the jewels, there you see the eyes. And in the eyes you see the splendor, the splendor of the human spirit. Because our men and women are free—possessing nothing, they are free. And you the possessors are possessed. You are all in jail. Each alone, solitary, with a heap of what he owns. You live in prison, die in prison. It is all I can see in your eyes—the wall, the wall!

Let's be clear - that's pretty much a summary of this book. There is more nuance, of course, which is worth reading, but Shevek really just spells it out. In case you missed it. Another superb line, an excerpt from Odo's writings:

For we each of us deserve everything, every luxury that was ever piled in the tombs of the dead kings, and we each of us deserve nothing, not a mouthful of bread in hunger. Have we not eaten while another starved? Will you punish us for that? Will you reward us for the virtue of starving while others ate? No man earns punishment, no man earns reward. Free your mind of the idea of deserving, the idea of earning, and you will begin to be able to think.

 Heavy handed, but some tasty thought-food.

I could probably keep writing more: the depiction of hypocrisy on Annares, the famine, the riots, the Deus Ex Hain at the end. There's a lot to unpack. But I can't unpack it all, and I will have to content myself with this review as it stands.

Dang, I didn't even talk about how Shevek's theoretical physics is used to create the ansible, which is already in use in The Left Hand of Darkness, so this must take place before.

It's fine. I'll be reading more Le Guin soon enough.