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The Left Hand of Darkness

Published in 1969, Usrsula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness has become a science fiction classic. It was one of the first "feminist" science fiction books, although by today's standard many would consider it sexist rather than feminist. The feminist aspect of the book centers around what Le Guin calls her "thought-experiment," in which she paints her own unique vision of the consequences of an absolute removal of gender and sexuality from everyday life. She makes her Gethenians androgenous, or without sex, thus enabling a society where "Anyone can turn his hand to anything. This sounds very simple, but its psychological effects are incalculable. . . . Burden and privilege are shared out pretty equally; everybody has the same risk to run or choice to make. Therefore nobody here is quite so free as a free male anywhere else" (Le Guin, 93). The book is monumental mostly because it opened the door for further feminist SF from authors such as Joanna Russ and Margaret Atwood. Despite its flaws, acknowledged both by critics, and later by Le Guin herself in her reworked article, "Is Gender Necessary? Redux," published in her collection of essays Dancing on the Edge of the World, LHD was the first novel to win both the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

This website is devoted to sharing my own interpreations of the novel, providing a brief overview of the novel, and providing further resources for study of LHD.

Praise for The Left Hand of Darkness

"One of the most compelling science fiction books I’ve ever read, The Left Hand of Darkness is a complex novel containing several layers."—literatureview.com

“More than politics, more than science, The Left Hand of Darkness is a rich and complex story of friendship and love.” -- Sarah LeFanu Saturday January 3, 2004 Guardian

“This is fiction that aims to transform the world one mind at a time, to shed light on age-old problems from a new angle, and from that standpoint, it succeeds phenomenally.” -Michelle Erica Green, greenmanreview.com.

“Le Guin's sometimes mischievous narrative tone is crisp and fresh”—Mark Wilson, www.scifi.com.

"a heartwarming tale of emerging statehood and evolved androgeny on a wintery planet sixty light-years from Earth" John Updike in The New Yorker June 23, 1980.

Picture courtesy of the Russian website http://www.ergeal.ru/pix/other/0003.htm.

Website Author:

Joanna Kieschnick, class of 2009 DePauw University, English Literature Major, Website made for HOnors Scholar 102 B: Science Fiction. any comments? e-mail me at joannakieschnick_2009@depauw.edu.

Last Updated April 27, 2006.