One of the very best must-read novels of all time – with a new introduction by Roddy Doyle
‘A well told tale signifying a good deal; one to be read again and again’ THE TIMES
‘The book I wish I had written … It’s so far away from my own imagination, I’d love to sit at my desk one day and discover that I could think and write like Ursula Le Guin’ Roddy Doyle
‘Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power’ OBSERVER
The Principle of Simultaneity is a scientific breakthrough which will revolutionize interstellar civilization by making possible instantaneous communication. It is the life work of Shevek, a brilliant physicist from the arid anarchist world of Anarres.
But Shevek’s work is being stifled by jealous colleagues, so he travels to Anarres’s sister-planet Urras, hoping to find more liberty and tolerance there. But he soon finds himself being used as a pawn in a deadly political game.
‘A well told tale signifying a good deal; one to be read again and again’ THE TIMES
‘The book I wish I had written … It’s so far away from my own imagination, I’d love to sit at my desk one day and discover that I could think and write like Ursula Le Guin’ Roddy Doyle
‘Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power’ OBSERVER
The Principle of Simultaneity is a scientific breakthrough which will revolutionize interstellar civilization by making possible instantaneous communication. It is the life work of Shevek, a brilliant physicist from the arid anarchist world of Anarres.
But Shevek’s work is being stifled by jealous colleagues, so he travels to Anarres’s sister-planet Urras, hoping to find more liberty and tolerance there. But he soon finds himself being used as a pawn in a deadly political game.
Reviews
One of the most important science fiction novels of the last several years
Le Guin's most philosophical novel ... a study of character, ideology and the constant of change
THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS and THE DISPOSSESSED challenged me to reimagine what human culture might look like - challenged me to imagine how we might throw off the death grip of capitalism, and its attendant values of patriarchy and racism. In each of them, I was transported by Le Guin's prose - lyrical and rich and deliberate in its rhythms. And in each one of them, I found, there was a scene I stopped to reread, sometimes more than once - a scene so powerful it actually moved me to tears
A work of extraordinary imagination and compassion
A seamless creation: everything is made up, nothing seems arbitrary
Le Guin's book ... is so persuasive that it ought to put a stop to the writing of prescriptive Utopias for at least 10 years
The book I wish I had written ... It's so far away from my own imagination, I'd love to sit at my desk one day and discover that I could think and write like Ursula Le Guin
Le Guin's characters, especially Shevek and his family, are complex and haunting, and her writing is remarkable for its sinewy grace
[Le Guin had] the heart of a poet who knew all too well the difference between miracle and eureka, revelation and revolution
A deeply imagined work of art
Written with thought, care - even love
The Dispossessed is still one of Sci-Fi's' smartest books . . . Remains a thoughtful exploration of politics and economics nearly 50 years later
Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power
This remains a challenging and urgent book
Dystopia and utopia are entwined in Le Guin's story of hierarchy-bound Urras and its anarchist neighbour planet Anarres. With stylish prose and intellectual rigour, Le Guin charts the journey of young physicist Shevek, whose theories cause upheaval on both planets, as he struggles to survive, falls in love and contemplates human society
Le Guin's storytelling is sharp, magisterial, funny, thought-provoking and exciting, exhibiting all that science fiction can be
A well told tale signifying a good deal; one to be read again and again
One of the great American political novels . . . Full of intrigue and drama
I think that everyone on earth, and everyone who cares about being alive, should read THE DISPOSSESSED
The Dispossessed paints a hopeful; and complex portrait of a society rooted in collectivism
An extraordinary work ... [Le Guin] created a working society in exquisite detail ... a fully realised hypothetical culture [as well as] living breathing characters who are inevitable products of that culture
I would be hard pressed to think of another novel that made as strong an impression on me
One of our finest projectionists of brave old and other worlds
