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Apr. 9th, 2014 08:33 amI love that when I go to the Amazon page for LeGuin's The Dispossessed, the "also-boughts" includes a handful of other LeGuin novels, Russ' The Female Man, and something called Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? HELLO, CENTRAL QUESTION OF THE NOVEL. It's very clear that LeGuin began to write by having a kind of conversation with herself:
LEGUIN: Capitalist realism ... IS THERE NO ALTERNATIVE?
LEGUIN: OK, but what about socialism? What if it really did work?
LEGUIN: Right, right, okay, say there was a functional large-scale socialist society ... I mean, that sounds nice, but people would probably screw something up about it, right? People are people, we screw things up, that's what we do.
LEGUIN: Still better than capitalism, though. God, capitalism. UGH.
Basically, The Dispossessed just sort of flat-out transplants the Cold War to the alien planet of Annares, then throws a slight wrench into the works by positing the existence of a group of anarchist-socialist-separatists who make such a nuisance of themselves that the US-equivalent just kind of gives them a moon and tells them to go away. The socialist-separatists promptly go off and build themselves a giant and reasonably successful kibbutznik society on the moon, cheerfully teach their children about the Evils of Capitalism, and pursue a general policy of NO CONTACT EVER except the occasional trade ship and some scientific radio transmissions.
Enter our protagonist Shevek, a brilliant scientist, who decides he's going to be the first person since the moon settlement to return to Evil Capitalist Annares, For SCIENCE. The book alternates between chapters showing Shevek's experiences on Evil Capitalist Annares, and the life he's led in his anarchist-socialist-separatist moon society that made him think it was a good idea to leave in the first place.
While the book is super, super Cold War -- seriously, EXACT PARALLEL Cold War; kind of hilariously, there's a whole Soviet spy drama going on in the background that is not really a plot point because Shevek doesn't care about it AT ALL -- it's not like it's not ... still relevant? LeGuin has put a lot of thought into how a socialist-anarchist-separatist moon society could actually work, and how the structures instituted by that society would shape the kids who grow up in it, which is one of the most fascinating parts about the novel. The worldbuilding and culture-building is super solid, even aside from the political implications.
I mean, it would be interesting to see the version of Evil Capitalist Anarres she would write now, instead of in the seventies. I bet a lot of the gender stuff, especially, would be extremely different. But it wasn't at all for me like reading Heinlein or even Russ; none of that sense of "I'M TRAPPED IN THE SEVENTIES AND CAN'T GET OUT." The book works. I suspect it will go on working. Also, I need to read more classic LeGuin.
(Although I will say, the culture-building is really strong, but the sense of nonhuman culture, not so much. I kept forgetting the protagonists were not just basically meant to be humans until a character from Earth popped up at the end all "HELLO I AM AN AMBASSADOR FROM EARTH AND YOU ARE NOT HUMANS. JUST IN CASE THE READER HAD FORGOTTEN, WHAT WITH THE FACT THAT THIS IS LITERALLY THE COLD WAR.")
LEGUIN: Capitalist realism ... IS THERE NO ALTERNATIVE?
LEGUIN: OK, but what about socialism? What if it really did work?
LEGUIN: Right, right, okay, say there was a functional large-scale socialist society ... I mean, that sounds nice, but people would probably screw something up about it, right? People are people, we screw things up, that's what we do.
LEGUIN: Still better than capitalism, though. God, capitalism. UGH.
Basically, The Dispossessed just sort of flat-out transplants the Cold War to the alien planet of Annares, then throws a slight wrench into the works by positing the existence of a group of anarchist-socialist-separatists who make such a nuisance of themselves that the US-equivalent just kind of gives them a moon and tells them to go away. The socialist-separatists promptly go off and build themselves a giant and reasonably successful kibbutznik society on the moon, cheerfully teach their children about the Evils of Capitalism, and pursue a general policy of NO CONTACT EVER except the occasional trade ship and some scientific radio transmissions.
Enter our protagonist Shevek, a brilliant scientist, who decides he's going to be the first person since the moon settlement to return to Evil Capitalist Annares, For SCIENCE. The book alternates between chapters showing Shevek's experiences on Evil Capitalist Annares, and the life he's led in his anarchist-socialist-separatist moon society that made him think it was a good idea to leave in the first place.
While the book is super, super Cold War -- seriously, EXACT PARALLEL Cold War; kind of hilariously, there's a whole Soviet spy drama going on in the background that is not really a plot point because Shevek doesn't care about it AT ALL -- it's not like it's not ... still relevant? LeGuin has put a lot of thought into how a socialist-anarchist-separatist moon society could actually work, and how the structures instituted by that society would shape the kids who grow up in it, which is one of the most fascinating parts about the novel. The worldbuilding and culture-building is super solid, even aside from the political implications.
I mean, it would be interesting to see the version of Evil Capitalist Anarres she would write now, instead of in the seventies. I bet a lot of the gender stuff, especially, would be extremely different. But it wasn't at all for me like reading Heinlein or even Russ; none of that sense of "I'M TRAPPED IN THE SEVENTIES AND CAN'T GET OUT." The book works. I suspect it will go on working. Also, I need to read more classic LeGuin.
(Although I will say, the culture-building is really strong, but the sense of nonhuman culture, not so much. I kept forgetting the protagonists were not just basically meant to be humans until a character from Earth popped up at the end all "HELLO I AM AN AMBASSADOR FROM EARTH AND YOU ARE NOT HUMANS. JUST IN CASE THE READER HAD FORGOTTEN, WHAT WITH THE FACT THAT THIS IS LITERALLY THE COLD WAR.")
