Ursula K Le Guin – Gandalf Grand Master. How sweet is that? Sure, she’s won other awards, ranging from the Hugo to the Nebula to something called the Mythopoeic Award, but that is the one that sticks out. Honestly, I saw it, and I wanted to be a sci-fi/fantasy writer, just so I could win it (which, by the by, is what Ursula K Le Guin is, for those of you who don’t know). Seeing that it is no longer actually awrded, I suppose I’ll just have to be content with using Le Guin as the author for my English project.
Not that this award was the reason I chose Le Guin – I didn’t know about it until I started looking up some background on her. The actual reason I chose her (summed up very well here) is that she consistently manages to write books that have the appeal of good fantasy and sci-fi, but that make me stop when I finish, and go “Wow. That was deep.”. There’s nothing like thoroughly enjoying a book and afterward feeling virtuous for having read something literary. This article describes Le Guin’s work as having “seized the patriarchal-Christian fantasy tradition laid down by Lewis and Tolkien by the scruff of its neck and reimagined it from a feminist, post-Judaeo-Christian point of view”. To which I say: Score! (Side note: I also say “Score!” to this, the “supermouse” comic by Le Guin. For some mood music while reading them, you might try this song, featuring a variety of unlikely superheroes)
Seriously, though, as someone who honestly was not aware until recently that a large portion of the world views all sci-fi/fantasy as sub-literary and who still can’t figure out why this is the case, I’m attracted to Ursula K Le Guin’s views on the subject. She has spent so much time defending the value of the novel that the case for sci-fi/fantasy’s literary value can almost be considered her personal soapbox. Not that she doesn’t have many others, but I suspect I will be eternally grateful to this woman for giving me the chance to do an English project on books I would have read anyway. Sure, I enjoy the classics – but fantasy rocks the house.
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