The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction

Ursula K. Le Guin; Susan Wood

ISBN 10: 0060168358 / ISBN 13: 9780060168353

Published by HarperCollins, 1992

About this Item

Ex-Library copy with typical library marks and stamps. First edition THUS. Shelf and handling wear to cover and binding, with general signs of previous use. Boards betray fading and nicks and other signs of wear and imperfection commensurate with age. Binding is tight and structurally sound. Interior pages with text without any extraneous marks. New mylar added to ensure future enjoyment. Secure packaging for safe delivery.

Seller Inventory # 1565563836

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication Date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060168358
• ISBN 13: 9780060168353
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
• Weight: 1.3 pounds

About this title

Synopsis

A Nebula and Hugo Award-winning writer of science fiction presents a collection of essays that explores the various issues, concepts, challenges, and paradoxes that confront the science fiction writer.

Reviews

For Le Guin, writing science fiction or fantasy is an intuitive, self-exploratory act, an inner-space voyage in which she unearths dreams and archetypes that connect her with the outer world. In these conversational, feisty essays, an energizing mind trip for SF fans, she dissects her own fiction, discusses technique and explores the potential of SF and fantasy, which she considers different branches of the same form of writing. Most SF has been regressive and unimaginative, she argues, by portraying authoritarian dystopias instead of democratic socialist societies. She also berates the genre for its marginalization of women, both as fictional characters and as writers. This is essentially a reissue of a 1979 compilation that went out of print in 1982.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Originally published in 1979 ( LJ 5/1/79), revised in 1989 for British publication, and finally republished here in the revised edition, this work by one of fantasy and sf's greats is a welcome treat for anyone who loves words and stories. Le Guin ( Searoad: The Chronicles of Klatsand , HarperCollins, 1991) is as expert in creating mellifluous and enchanting essays as she is in creating the luscious and complex worlds of her fiction. Stylistically, she manages a balance between quasi-academic seriousness and conversational humor (a balance that original editor Susan Wood does not attain in her introductions). Despite being three to 13 years out of date, depending on the extent of revision, her comments on the state of the genre, the process of writing, and the influence of gender on literature are as fresh as ever. The book is dated only in its ratio of female to male writers of fantasy and sf, which is now closer than it was when Le Guin first wrote. Highly recommended for all literature and women's studies collections.
- Keith R.A. DeCan dido, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.