The New Utopian Politics of Ursula K. le Guin&#039;s the Dispossessed

Laurence Davis; Peter Stillman

doi:10.5771/9780739158203

Summary

The Dispossessed has been described by political thinker Andre Gorz as 'The most striking description I know of the seductions—and snares—of self-managed communist or, in other words, anarchist society.' To date, however, the radical social, cultural, and political ramifications of Le Guin's multiple award-winning novel remain woefully under explored. Editors Laurence Davis and Peter Stillman right this state of affairs in the first ever collection of original essays devoted to Le Guin's novel. Among the topics covered in this wide-ranging, international and interdisciplinary collection are the anarchist, ecological, post-consumerist, temporal, revolutionary, and open-ended utopian politics of The Dispossessed. The book concludes with an essay by Le Guin written specially for this volume, in which she reassesses the novel in light of the development of her own thinking over the past 30 years.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2005
ISBN-Print: 978-0-7391-1086-7
ISBN-Online: 978-0-7391-5820-3
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 325
Product type: Edited Book

1. Contents No access
2. Editorial Note No access
3. Introduction Laurence Davis No access
1. 1 The Dynamic and Revolutionary Utopia of Ursula K. Le Guin Laurence Davis No access
2. 2 Worlds Apart: Ursula K. Le Guin and the Possibility of Method Simon Stow No access
1. 3 The Dispossessed as Ecological Political Theory Peter G. Stillman No access
2. 4 Ursula K. Le Guin, Herbert Marcuse, and the Fate of Utopia in the Postmodern Andrew Reynolds No access
3. 5 The Alien Comes Home: Getting Past the Twin Planets of Possession and Austerity in Le Guin's The Dispossessed Douglas Spencer No access
1. 6 Individual and Community in Le Guin's The Dispossessed Dan Sabia No access
2. 7 The Need for Walls: Privacy, Community, and Freedom in The Dispossessed Mark Tunick No access
3. 8 Breaching Invisible Walls: Individual Anarchy inThe Dispossessed Winter Elliott No access
1. 9 Time and the Measure of the Political Animal Ellen M Rigsby No access
2. 10 Fulfillment as a Function of Time, or the Ambiguous Process of Utopia Jennifer Rodgers No access
3. 11 Science and Politics in The Dispossessed: Le Guin and the "Science Wars" Tony Burns No access
1. 12 The Gap in the Wall: Partnership, Physics, and Politics in The Dispossessed Everett L. Hamner No access
2. 13 From Ambiguity to Self-Reflexivity: Revolutionizing Fantasy Space Bulent Somay No access
3. 14 Future Conditional or Future Perfect? The Dispossessed and Permanent Revolution Chris Ferns No access
1. 15 Ambiguous Choices: Skepticism as a Grounding for Utopia Claire P Curtis No access
2. 16 Empty Hands: Communication, Pluralism, and Community in Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed Avery Plaw No access
A Response, by Ansible, from Tau Ceti Ursula K. Le Guin No access Pages 305 - 308
Further Reading No access Pages 309 - 310
Index No access Pages 311 - 320
About the Contributors No access Pages 321 - 325