The Dispossessed
by Ursula K. Le Guin
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ursula K. Le GuinEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1994-10-20
ISBN: 0061054887
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Book Reviews of The Dispossessed
Book Review: A Classic of Speculative Fiction
Summary: 4 Stars
Science fiction is no stranger to social commentary nor to utopias/dystopias. The structure of the totalitarian state has been dissected so thoroughly now by various writers in the sci-fi tradition that it has become just another piece of furniture in the world of science fiction. But there has been a distinct lack of good science fiction that has analyzed the structure and mechanics of the anarchistic society. Among a few short stories, the two that really stand out are Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Ursula K. LeGuin's The Dispossessed. These two works, of course, cover opposite ends of the spectrum of anarchy: Heinlein the anarcho-capitalist side and LeGuin the anarcho-syndicalist side. LeGuin's novel is far superior in this aspect, to my mind, because of its thorough and non-ideological analysis of the good and bad aspects of this society. It is by far the most honest and compelling analysis of an anarchy that I have ever seen. Even better is Le Guin's ability to extrapolate and discuss the underlying philosophical framework of this society. There is a scarcely a more compelling creation in all of fiction.
The plot is straight-forward enough: over a hundred years prior to the start of the novel a communist revolution, led by a woman named Odo, swept the world of Urras. Rather than waste time and resources waging a bloody war against them, the council of world governments on Urras decided to let the revolutionaries claim their uninhabited desert moon, Anarres. The revolutionaries built a utopian anarchistic society on the moon and, for the next hundred or so years the two worlds have built walls of hatred and distrust between one-another (yes, this novel is, in part, a cold war allegory). This wall of separation is breached and challenged by a Anarrestian physicist, Shevek, who wants to find common ground in-between the two worlds.
This book is not perfect, however. While she does many things right (her beautiful writing style; her storytelling abilities; her realistic and fully-developed characters; a novel structure that jumps between two time-lines and which expertly interweave; her compelling look at the world of the Anarresti), other aspects aren't up to par. The story, for one thing, seems to run out of energy near the end, and it is if Le Guin did not know how to end her novel. There is little to no plot resolution. The only lesson the main character learns from his quest seems to be that the entire thing was a bad idea (you could make the case that he understands his role in the "social organism" of Anarres better, and that the trip was a necessary revolutionary action, but one shouldn't have to read so far into the story to justify the lack of necessary resolution by the author). So while the characters grow and learn, the story as a whole seems to just lose energy and fall over. Moreover, while Anarres is fascinating, the world of Urras is merely a foil and reads like a bad parody of nineteenth century Britain. LeGuin makes Anarres complex and fascinating, but she seems content to leave the Urrasti as caricatures of a very simplistic (and thus problematic) socialist worldview. She doesn't challenge herself by creating a complex capitalistic society and then looking at its positive and negative traits, as she does with the communists on Anarres. Instead, she creates a society so shallow, socially stratified, and brutal that almost anyone would want out. It's as if she chose Chile under Pinochet as representative of all 'archist' or even capitalistic societies.
For its faults, however, this is still a fascinating, complex, and thought-provoking read, wherever you are on the political spectrum.
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