Ursula K le Guin RIP

[Hobbit]

Just hearing news that Ursula has died.

LATER LINK ADDED: https://www.tor.com/2018/01/23/ursula-k-le-guin-1929-2018/

Coincidentally I am in the middle of reading her collected non-fiction and essays for a book due out in February, and what shines throughout is what an enormous loss to the genre, both in SF & Fantasy, this is!

A true defender of the genre from the outset.

Rest in Peace, Ursula.

Mark

 

[The Big Peat]

My mouth hung open for a solid ten seconds on reading this. I guess at 88 its not that big a surprise. A Wizard of Earthsea is one of those books that will stick with me forever.

Rest in Peace and I hope her loved ones are well.

 

[kennychaffin]

OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm Devastated!!

 

[Facing]

She accomplished so much and inspired so many. Her insights will be missed.

 

[Windshadow]

Such an important part of the last 70 years of F & SF

88 no longer seems as old to me as it once did. Its amazing how ones perspective on what "a long life well lived" changes as you get older yourself.

 

[Andrew LH]

Terribly sad.

 

[Av Demeisen]

RIP

 

[Ropie]

I love The Left Hand of Darkness, I've read it more times than any other book and will read it again and again. I thought she was older than 88 so I suppose she should have lived longer. And only a few months after Brian Aldiss - too many of the legendary figures are leaving us.

 

[kennychaffin]

Tribute from John Scalzi

"... "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas," which is as much a parable for our time as anything that anyone has written, or likely will."

http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-leguin-scalzi-20180123-story.html

http://harelbarzilai.org/words/omelas.txt

 

[jackdaw]

Certainly one of those writers predominantly associated with fantasy/SF genres where there’s a strong case for wondering why they don’t/ didn’t win major literary awards outside the genre itself.

I suspect she may have felt that way herself..she always seemed confident of her talent. (I assume report of her reaction to being called “America’s greatest living SF/ Fantasy writer”....”I would sooner be called an American novelist” was substantially true?”)

 

[farseer2]

Whoa! I just saw this thread and I had no idea. I'm very sorry to hear this. What a great loss for the genre, she was a giant. I'm glad she got the respect and recognition her writing deserves, both inside and outside the genre, while she was still living, and that we don't have to discover her posthumously.

Another obituary:
Ursula K Le Guin, by Margaret Atwood: ‘One of the literary greats of the 20th century’
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/24/ursula-k-le-guin-margaret-atwood-tribute

 

[Jennifer P]

A great loss. I found much of her work too literary for my personal taste, but the beautiful way in which she engages with gender in Left Hand will stay with me forever.

 

[kennychaffin]

A great loss. I found much of her work too literary for my personal taste, but the beautiful way in which she engages with gender in Left Hand will stay with me forever.

I'm curious what you mean by 'too literary?'
Also wondering if you feel the same about Neil Stephenson?

Thanks.

 

[kennychaffin]

Whoa! I just saw this thread and I had no idea. I'm very sorry to hear this. What a great loss for the genre, she was a giant. I'm glad she got the respect and recognition her writing deserves, both inside and outside the genre, while she was still living, and that we don't have to discover her posthumously.

Another obituary:
Ursula K Le Guin, by Margaret Atwood: ‘One of the literary greats of the 20th century’
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/24/ursula-k-le-guin-margaret-atwood-tribute

That a great tribute!

 

[Jennifer P]

I'm curious what you mean by 'too literary?'
Also wondering if you feel the same about Neil Stephenson?

Thanks.

I generally prefer a more transparent, lighter style. But no, I mostly don't feel that way about Stephenson, even at his most obtuse. So it's just aesthetics, I suppose. (Well except for The Baroque Cycle, which I found almost unreadable).

But I DID love The Left Hand of Darkness, so...

 

[kennychaffin]

I generally prefer a more transparent, lighter style. But no, I mostly don't feel that way about Stephenson, even at his most obtuse. So it's just aesthetics, I suppose. (Well except for The Baroque Cycle, which I found almost unreadable).

But I DID love The Left Hand of Darkness, so...

Okay....got ya ... probably just a style thing.

 

[jackdaw]

I generally prefer a more transparent, lighter style. But no, I mostly don't feel that way about Stephenson, even at his most obtuse. So it's just aesthetics, I suppose. (Well except for The Baroque Cycle, which I found almost unreadable).

But I DID love The Left Hand of Darkness, so...

Then if you’ve not tried the “Annals of the Western Shores” series you may find it to your taste. I think she really stripped back her usual style there.

And I thought the approach worked really well..certainly I thought the story “moved quickly”, and yet her prose was deeply moving..at times I re-read sentences to try to work out how such simple (seeming) language could pack such an emotional punch.

 

[Ropie]

Christopher Priest has written a short piece on her:

https://christopher-priest.co.uk/ursula

 

[Randy M.]

Thanks for that, Ropie.

Bereft is a good word. It's surprising to me that the death of a writer, the majority of whose writing I have yet to read, should leave me feeling bereft, as if the world really is a lesser place for her loss.

Randy M.

 

[Hobbit]

As I said at the top, I've been dipping into these collected essays/speeches of Ursula's for the last month or so in readiness for a book publication in February. (I've also been involved with something on Brian Aldiss for the BSFA at the same time: lots of fun!)

Whilst I might not always agree with what she says, the way she says it is wonderfully written, thoughtful and yes, literate. Whilst I see and agree with what Jennifer (and Chris Priest, of course) says about her being seen as 'literary' in style, (as was Brian) Ursula has always defended the importance of the genre, its relevance to the modern world and, most of all, the need for a voice to reflect that.

I can't take quotes from the book and show you at the moment (not allowed!), but there are some wonderful points made in there. The speech that Chris links to is in there too.

It is a voice that will be missed. But at least we will always have her words.

And talking of which, I now have to go and rip up what I've written already....