The Dispossessed: A Novel (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)

387 pp. An important work of utopian fiction by Le Guin, which won the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards, and was nominated for the John W. Campbell award. On the surface, Le Guin's story of the brilliant physicist Shevek is a tale of a futuristic world, and the struggle of the civilizations on two separate planets to reconcile with each other's way of life. Beneath the surface run deep undercurrents of meaning -- philosophical, religious, and scientific themes that transcend the story itself. Shevek's quest to reconcile two seemingly antithetical schools of theoretical physics is also the individual's quest to reconcile individuality with social behavior, identity with belonging, and freedom with responsibility. Colored by the Taoist sensibilities with which Le Guin has long been fascinated, the parallels drawn in The Dispossessed are simultaneously vivid and subtle -- the style of writing embodies the very ideas that Le Guin attempts to convey. Widely praised even beyond the usual literary circles of science fiction, The Dispossessed is a true masterpiece, the consummation of a unique and detailed vision of a distant world surprisingly similar to our own. "Ursula K. Le Guin's award-winning classic - a profound and thoughtful tale of anarchism and capitalism, individualism and collectivism, and one ambitious man's quest to bridge the ideological chasm separating two worlds. A bleak moon settled by utopian anarchists, Anarres has long been isolated from other worlds, including its mother planet, Urras - a civilization of warring nations, great poverty, and immense wealth. Now Shevek, a brilliant physicist, is determined to reunite the two planets, which have been divided by centuries of distrust. He will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the walls of hatred that have kept them apart. To visit Urras - to learn, to teach, to share - will require great sacrifice and risks, which Shevek willingly accepts. But the ambitious scientist's gift is soon seen as a threat, and in the profound conflict that ensues, he must reexamine his beliefs even as he ignites the fires of change."