The Left Hand of Darkness

January 1, 2025 10:11 AM

The Left Hand of Darkness was among the first books in the genre now known as feminist science fiction and is described as the most famous examination of androgyny in science fiction. A major theme of the novel is the effect of sex and gender on culture and society, explored in particular through the relationship between Ai and Estraven, a Gethenian politician who trusts and helps Ai. When the book was first published, the gender theme touched off a feminist debate over the depiction of the ambisexual Gethenians. The novel also explores the interaction between the unfolding loyalties of its two main characters, the loneliness and rootlessness of Ai, and the contrast between the religions of Gethen's two major nations. -
posted by bunderful (8 comments total)

I love this book so much!! I just reread it over the summer. It's a great read when it's hot out because it's such a chilly novel.
posted by potrzebie at 10:07 PM on January 1

The best book.
posted by eustatic at 10:26 PM on January 1 [1 favorite]

I've read a lot of books where there is a difficult trek across an arctic landscape. In this book, Le Guin does it better than anyone else. You get the feeling of hopeless monotony, without the act of reading the book being monotonous. I found it thrilling. Yes, this book has profound philosophical thoughts in it, but it as also a fun read.
posted by Quonab at 7:14 AM on January 2 [3 favorites]

My dad, a very straight aging boomer, cites this Le Guin whenever she is mentioned. You can tell it blew his mind in 1960-whatever when he read it the first (possibly the only?) time.

It is a profound book and a great story.

While I think its meditations on gender are deep and rewarding, it's also a very straight (white, american) woman's thoughts on gender in a moment where she probably couldn't have gotten a mortgage by herself. It's good to note that she was imagining herself into a man's consciousness and then forcing him to acknowledge that women are really human, and she did it by imagining a world where nobody's gender was fixed - i.e. it's certainly not the only way to break down the gender binary in fiction, it is in fact the product of a very specific historical moment and storyteller.

It's on my list of yearly rereads.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 12:15 PM on January 2 [2 favorites]

I forgot how it ended re-reading it after a decade and burst into tears at a cafe.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 7:14 AM on January 5 [4 favorites]

There are other things to think about in this book. The attitude to technology and speed and the implications of only having electricity, and not using hydrocarbons. The meaning of loyalty and honour. The cultural impact of a harsh climate.

But yes. What it means for desire and fucking to be coralled into a tidy and designated period and place, sanctioned and celebrated in that place - Genly is a pervert. Kemmer as an analogue for menstruation that is positive and accommodated in society.

And the ending always gets me too. Nooooooooo!
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 2:18 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]

It's so good! The myths and just-so stories between the chapters are So Good!!

As a note to new readers- The first section of the book was very confusing to me, because it introduces several alien civilizations and twisty events in rapid succession, which I found very quick even for a genre novel wherein you might expect to be introduced to alien civilizations. It took me a few tries to get through it. Just keep in mind that it is merely a setup to place two characters into a politically fraught situation, after which they need to travel together in isolation for most of the rest of the story.
posted by panhopticon at 12:13 PM on January 9 [1 favorite]

Worth finding an edition where Le Guin revisits her choice to use he/him pronouns for Gethenians. She admits that even something like five years later, she would have made a different choice. She rewrites the first chapter with other pronouns so the reader can get a sense of their own different assumptions and biases.

I was struck - being a woman, a feminist, pretty well-read these days in terms of gender-exploratory speculative fiction, and having read this book perhaps 3 or 4 times - how different my perceptions of Estraven were reading the first chapter with he/him vs. she/her pronouns. As he/him, he seemed secretive but probably justified in his careful way of communicating, and I assumed once I learned why he was being evasive I'd understand more. As she/her, I found her coy, withholding, snobbish and frustrating. Basically, using he/him pronouns meant I gave characters more of the benefit of the doubt, and more space to be complex. That was a real wake up moment for me.

Because I'm a librarian, some suggested follow up reading:
- Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel Delany
- Ammonite by Nicola Griffith
- Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
posted by Isingthebodyelectric at 12:46 PM on January 15 [5 favorites]