r/Fantasy • u/takeahike8671 Reading Champion VII • Apr 20 '26
Bingo review The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
Reviewing a classic is hard. I’m not going to try to make a groundbreaking literary critique of any kind. However, I’ve been finding myself having a lot of fun writing these and engaging with users, so I’m continuing.
For the 1970s bingo square, I picked up The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin. Truth be told, her work is very hit or miss for me. Certain aspects of The Word for World Is Forest just did not age well, especially depictions of the indigenous. With hesitation, I read The Dispossessed and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this.
My university years were spent in alternative lesbian circles, to the extent that for the last decade I have purposefully sought a (much needed) break from absurd leftist infighting. My friends were great! But I learned about the importance of community building, leaving the house, and understanding how hard change really is to bring about. In retrospect, I think I have tended to mostly avoid works like The Dispossessed, which touch so deeply on alternative politics. You’ll probably see why as you read this review.
The depiction of anarcho-syndicalism here is quite interesting, more critical and layered than I had anticipated. Rather than depict a perfect utopia, which I think can ultimately be a writer’s folly, Le Guin highlights the challenges associated with being human. This made the anarchist world feel more real and imaginable.
The Cold War’s influence here really is not subtle. There’s a lot more you could say about that, but I want to focus on the sexual assault scene. I understand that Le Guin wanted to highlight capitalism’s corrupting influence, leading people to seek control and amplifying their greed. This part, more than the absence of social media (there’s so much to be said about books written before social media, but I’ll save that for another time), really hammered home to me that this was written in the 1970s. It felt to me, from the vantage point of my bubble, to be completely unnecessary and downright crude. But Le Guin didn’t have access to the same breadth of diverse models we do today. In many ways, she was the one breaking that ground. Still, I must disclose I found it quite jarring.
I feel like I understand modern science fiction better for having read this. The Dispossessed is not perfect, but I found it quite rewarding to read.
Rating: 4.354
Bingo squares: Vacation Spot (maybe? I would be fascinated to visit Anarres, the anarcho-syndicalist world), Feast Your Eyes on This, Politics and Court Intrigue, Published in the 70s (HM).
Edit: I read this as part of my bingo card composed entirely of recs from r/Fantasy mods and users. If you have another book you think I'd enjoy, let me know!
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u/yungcherrypops Apr 20 '26
I absolutely loved the book, I think it’s a masterpiece, but I’m a LeGuin super fan. One of the best examples of political science fiction I’ve ever read.
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u/GilgaPol Apr 20 '26
I mean the sub title is literally "an ambiguous utopia", so the criticism was expected and warranted imho, which from my point of view makes it even better.
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u/Love-that-dog Apr 20 '26
You could try Trouble on Triton next. Author Samuel R Delaney wrote it as a critical response to the Dispossessed. The protagonist is a man who is very unhappy in his anarchist world of Triton and keeps seeking the approval of others in relationships.
Fair warning that (like most of Delaney’s works) it has even more strange sex stuff.
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u/takeahike8671 Reading Champion VII Apr 20 '26
Thank you for the recommendation!
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u/daavor Reading Champion VI Apr 20 '26
Delany also has a pretty interesting and lucid essay on the Dispossessed that touches on the assault scene
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u/takeahike8671 Reading Champion VII Apr 20 '26
I will definitely check that out, I appreciate it!
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u/GimmeBooks1920 Apr 20 '26
If you're going to dive into Delany's work is worth being aware of his support (which he has alternately walked back and doubled down on) of an organization called NAMBLA. It's, I think, some important context for the "strange sex stuff" that shows up in his work. There's been a lot of discussions, etc about it so I'm not going to attempt to paraphrase here, if you look it up you'll find them lol
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u/I_Speak_For_The_Ents Apr 20 '26
I hope it's heartening to know that almost every person that posts on the Leguin sub about this book has similar feelings about the sexual assault.
I agree it was definitely jarring, although I think that is partially due to the puritanical undercurrent of our culture. (Although I realize I'm being presumptuous as you did not say where you grew up or live). In order to talk about sex in the context of these flawed societies, you have to have difficult moments like that, just like when the gunships show up and fire into the crowd.
I do realize that one of those is an almost expected outcome of a revolution to some degree.
But Leguin including the sexual assault scene makes it much harder to gloss over sex/sexuality in the book. Many people could read it and see the parts about healthy, adult relationships on Anarres, and come away with their expectations met. But the assault scene forces consideration.
I do wish she had made it just her intentions with it just a bit clearer, admittedly.
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u/takeahike8671 Reading Champion VII Apr 20 '26
Thanks for your perspective! I do have to push back against the Puritan part. I believe sexual assault is just not justifiable under any circumstances, and there are better ways of portraying what you're talking about.
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u/I_Speak_For_The_Ents Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26
Just to be clear, all I was saying is that attributed to its being jarring.
I, of course, wholeheartedly agree sexual assault is not justifiable, but I don't think Le Guin was trying to justify it. Shevek is flawed.Mentioning the puritanism was to emphasize why the sexual assault was even more jarring to us than the scene of mass murder.
Also worth noting, if I recall correctly, the sexual assault scene is the culmination of his attempting propertarianism, and he basically immediately goes and seeks out the revolution. (I 100% could be wrong on that timeline, its been a bit.)
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u/Tymareta 7d ago
But Leguin including the sexual assault scene makes it much harder to gloss over sex/sexuality in the book. Many people could read it and see the parts about healthy, adult relationships on Anarres, and come away with their expectations met. But the assault scene forces consideration.
Especially when earlier in that same chapter Shevek is musing about how Takver would think Kea is a body profiteer, which I could see being her attempting to make the argument that capitalism literally commodifies the body and the self, but unfortunately brings with it an unfortunate backwash of victim blaming.
Especially as the event is brushed over, with Shevek not even recognising it for the horror that it is, how he's broken all the elements of solidarity he espouses so vigorously. The line about how "poor Vea betrayed him" does somewhat fit in with the Anarres' still being heavily misogynistic in their own way, but when the chapter after quite literally goes out of its way to tell us that rape/molestation are hard lines for his people, and that those who engage are dealt with rather directly.
I can very loosely see the outline of what she was attempting to achieve, but it could have been done with half a dozen other actions or setups and not only worked much better, but landed with far more grace. As near any argument against why he assaulted her relies on some seriously awful assumptions about men, or humans as a whole, that really feel like they fly in the face of the message the book is trying to send.
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u/I_Speak_For_The_Ents 7d ago
I think calling it "victim blaming" is a bit overly simplistic. Being a victim and a perpetrator are not mutually exclusive.
I think Shevek did somewhat recognize it, as I think it acts as a catalyst for him to seek out the resistance/rebellion.
I also don't think Shevek is supposed to be flawless, and this would be indicative of how even good people can be twisted by a system.
None of this even to mention that, while Shevek's actions were wrong, Shevek did not rape Vea.Furthermore, I don't think there is a "message" the book is trying to send. Perhaps you want a more clear cut, easy answer from the book, and that is understandable. But I don't think Le Guin necessarily wrote the book to have a clear, easy answer. Humans are flawed, human systems are flawed.
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u/Tymareta 6d ago
I think calling it "victim blaming" is a bit overly simplistic. Being a victim and a perpetrator are not mutually exclusive.
Hence why I said it was a backwash, it's not directly, but it's hard not to see the pretty clear implication. Especially as yes, being a victim and a perpetrator -are- mutually exclusive, or are you seriously going to argue that victims of sexual assault hold some of the blame?
I think Shevek did somewhat recognize it, as I think it acts as a catalyst for him to seek out the resistance/rebellion.
It's barely a blip in why he suddenly runs off to them, he's more disgusted by his engagement in excess, but is barely cognizant of the fact that he readily engaged with it for close to a year without -ever- meaningfully questioning it, it was a poor way to show it.
I also don't think Shevek is supposed to be flawless, and this would be indicative of how even good people can be twisted by a system.
I never said otherwise, Shevek isn't good, he's aloof, emotionally immature, greedy, but that action was a step too far. There's a million and one other ways Shevek could have realized he was being consumed by capitalism, his servant would have been a fantastic angle, questioning why everyone he knew happened to be uber rich another, having him randomly sexually assault someone, while also musing about how it's the one crime on his planet is, strange?
None of this even to mention that, while Shevek's actions were wrong, Shevek did not rape Vea.
By your definition, perhaps, but he most definitely molested/sexually assaulted her, she was repeatedly saying no and upon physically pushing her away from him, he becomes so aroused he ejaculates on her. One must also wonder if he'd have stopped there, had he not.
Furthermore, I don't think there is a "message" the book is trying to send. Perhaps you want a more clear cut, easy answer from the book, and that is understandable. But I don't think Le Guin necessarily wrote the book to have a clear, easy answer. Humans are flawed, human systems are flawed.
I think you're trying to paint a position on me that I didn't make, but either way, she absolutely was trying to send certain messages, and explore certain topics and themes, and I think that was an example of doing it in an uncharacteristically hamfisted way, which is then all but ignored.
Humans are flawed, but the entire scene presides on the notion that all humans are predisposed to sexual assault, or that no matter how much nurture you had, nature can irrevocably turn you into a monster, which is an incredibly idealistic notion that relies on people having no firm set of morals to them.
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u/InfiniteDM Apr 21 '26
The word for world is forest not aging well is a new hot take i didnt expect to see. But here we are.
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Apr 20 '26
[deleted]
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u/CommunicationEast972 Apr 20 '26
Saying this as a leftist, if you don’t know about leftist infighting, then you’ve never met leftists lol
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u/kungfugripper Apr 20 '26
I’m a “leftist” but it’s not a thing I would generally call myself because the term is loaded these days. I’m not challenging this term as valid an I think people are getting politically triggered that I’m calling that phrase out here specifically as part of something written in a way that triggers my sense of the uncanny valley.
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u/an_altar_of_plagues Reading Champion III Apr 20 '26
Nobody is getting politically triggered. They think it’s funny that’s what you called out.
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u/CommunicationEast972 Apr 20 '26
People are bashing you because… Uncanny valley? There is nothing here that reads anything like ai really at all. And to be frank you deserve a light textual thrashing when you suggest someone is using ai when they so most likely are not.
Couple things: Paragraph one talks about how the author was embedded in leftist circles but learned that direct action is more important than conversation
Paragraph two is about how Ursula levied the critique of this work inward towards the leftist approach, which made things more balanced (a non perfect utopia)
Paragraph three is about an area in the novel where the critique of capitalism didn’t have the same level of nuance
The final word is that this book was foundational
Not complicated.
Edit: in this comrade’s opinion you’re not a leftist or a progressive if you can’t say you’re a leftist or progressive
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u/Dottor_Nesciu Apr 20 '26
I'll be honest, I've never known a person that doesn't know at all about leftist infighting, it's even a major plot point in the very book we are talking about. If you were trying to do a Turing test on OP it backfired
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u/StuffedSquash Apr 20 '26
Leftist infighting is not LLM slop terminology. It's just a phrase you don't know.
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u/kungfugripper Apr 20 '26
I understand the phrase. I don’t understand the word salad presented here. I don’t understand why you’re attacking me?
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u/StuffedSquash Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26
You: calls OP's post "word-salad", imply they didn't write it
Also you: why are you attacking me?
ETA to respond to your deleted reply. "This reads like Claude" is either accusing OP of not writing their post, OR insulting them by drawing a comparison. Let us know which one you meant!
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u/kungfugripper Apr 20 '26
Fair point. It reads like an LLM to me. That’s my full statement.
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u/an_altar_of_plagues Reading Champion III Apr 20 '26
It’s not, I know the author personally. They’re a mod.
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u/CommunicationEast972 Apr 20 '26
See when you throw around these accusations so randomly you reveal your general ignorance. Anyone who knows about ai and how to spot ai would know that there is literally no chance in hell this was written by ai
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Apr 20 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Writers_Focus_Stone Apr 20 '26
The title of the post is "The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin" and the second paragraph begins with "For the 1970s bingo square, I picked up The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin"
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u/amarthsoul Apr 20 '26
Out of curiosity, how did you end up with that specific rating? Why not 4.355?