The Word for World is Forest
Ratings72
Average rating4.1
15
Ratings72
Average rating4.1
Centuries in the future, Terrans have established a logging colony & military base named “New Tahiti” on a tree-covered planet whose small, green-furred, big-eyed inhabitants have a culture centered on lucid dreaming. Terran greed spirals around native innocence & wisdom, overturning the ancient society.
Humans have learned interstellar travel from the Hainish (the origin-planet of all humanoid races, including Athsheans). Various planets have been expanding independently, but during the novel it’s learned that the League of All Worlds has been formed. News arrives via an ansible, a new discovery. Previously they had been cut off, 27 light years from home.
The story occurs after The Dispossessed, where both the ansible & the League of Worlds are unrealised. Also well before Planet of Exile, where human settlers have learned to coexist. The 24th century has been suggested.
Terran colonists take over the planet locals call Athshe, meaning “forest,” rather than “dirt,” like their home planet Terra. They follow the 19th century model of colonization: felling trees, planting farms, digging mines & enslaving indigenous peoples. The natives are unequipped to comprehend this. They’re a subsistence race who rely on the forests & have no cultural precedent for tyranny, slavery or war. The invaders take their land without resistance until one fatal act sets rebellion in motion & changes the people of both worlds forever.
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Sensacional. Precisamente no limite entre contexto ficcional e discurso real, do jeitinho que eu gosto.
A maneira que Le Guin dá identidade a cada personagem através da narração é clara e certeira. O ponto de vista de Davidson é odioso e egocêntrico, o de Selver é sonhador e inclui a atmosfera e o ambiente ao redor. Apesar de usar a terceira pessoa, a narração assume totalmente a perspectiva do personagem que segue, gerando uma visão respeitosa e naturalizada sobre a cultura dos nativos alienígenas. Essa forma de tratamento me gerou boas reflexões sobre perspectiva, apreço e pertencimento.
A narrativa também traz um discurso sobre a dualidade pacifismo-violência que deixa questões em aberto na medida certa. A brutalidade é uma ferramenta ou uma doença trazida pelos colonizadores? Até certo ponto, ambas. A sociedade de Athshe a usou para se libertar, mas segue para sempre sob a sombra da sua possibilidade, mudada.
Cutting down the trees
making slaves of the natives
that's the human way.
Pierde o stea pentru că antagonistul este exagerat de caricatural și deci nu poate fi credibil, dar în rest, deși oarecum simplistă și din perspectiva de azi complet previzibilă de la un capăt la altul (ceea ce nu era la vremea ei), este surprinzător de captivantă și eficientă în a transmite emoții și aborda teme “grele”. Totul în 125 de pagini, dar nu se simte prea scurtă, e perfect dimensionată pentru intrigă. Mi-a plăcut mai mult decât mă așteptam. Recenzie pe bloguldesefe.
Always a pleasure reading Le Guin and her so accurately described class / power struggles.
Also I wonder how much “Avatar” and George Lucas Ewoks were inspired by this work.
Note: try and get the SF masterwork edition for her introduction to it.
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9 primary books12 released booksHainish Cycle is a 16-book series with 9 primary works first released in 1966 with contributions by Ursula K. Le Guin, Katarzyna Staniewska, and 3 others.
