Paradises Lost

[altariel]

Not to turn this journal into a constant Le Guin lovefest, but I finished up her anthology The Birthday of the World yesterday. Even when she's at her weakest (the title story, for example) she's pretty damn good.

But I wanted mostly to blog impressions of the last, long story (novella) in the book, 'Paradises Lost'. Because it is so outstanding, and because it's not a story of hers that I hear talked about much. It is a story about a ship from Earth travelling to a new planet, and the 'middle generations' - the generations that have never seen Earth, and may not see the new world. (I suppose spoilers follow, if it matters to you.)

Some of the voyagers have, by the time this story starts, with the fourth and fifth generation, invented a new religion which makes the continuation of the voyage the purpose of existence ("bliss"). And some still want to reach their new destination, exchange their state of innocence for experience. A war in heaven ensues (quite a gentle and moderately conducted war, this being a Le Guin story, but terrifying nonetheless).

I can't say enough good things about this story, but I'll pick out one moment: when the main female character, carrying her baby, steps out on the new planet (leaving the ship is called "doing eva" - DOING EVA, FOLKS!), the sense of banishment is overwhelming. How gutsy is Le Guin as a writer? It's like, "OK, I've done Milton. What next? Oh, yes, Vergil."

I'm now reading Octavia E Butler's Kindred, a time travel story in which a black woman and her white husband fall through time from 1970s America to antebellum Maryland. I have been dying to read this book for ages, and then it came through via BookMooch just after Christmas. I've been so excited about receiving it that I've not been able to start reading it until now. This copy has come to me from Iceland, via Finland. BookMooch is a wonderful thing.

Comments

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love that story - it's the one that stood out for me in that anthology, too. The bit that I remember most from it is the anguish of the doctor when the guy dies of the septic ankle.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I liked 'The Matter of Seggri' too (tho' it was very depressing), however this one blew me away. I was sitting in the kitchen reading it, and kept having to run into the front to tell Mr A about the next brilliant thing I'd just read.

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

Which one is The Matter of Seggri? Is that the one with the four-people marriages? I didn't really know what to make of that one. I thought it was wonderfully insightful, as always, but there was something about it that bothered me. I don't know if I found it depressing as such, just sort of, huh.

ETA - I just looked it up and realized it's the one where the men live in castles. Yes, that one was depressing.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

it's the one where the men live in castles

That's the one - really good, but bleak, bleak, bleak.

The ones with the four-people marriages are 'Unchosen Love' and 'Mountain Ways' (which I liked a great deal, because it was very tender).

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I read the collection about three years ago. I liked the collection a lot, but my memories of the individual stories are by now rather fuzzy. The novella was very good, I recall, but I did like the title story a lot too. I also liked the story (I think it was in that collection) about the species of extreme introverts.

I think that the stories as a whole can best be described as anthropological SF.

One of the pleasures of reading anything by Le Guin is the sheer quality of the prose. She really does write beautifully, with not a word wasted.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I also liked the story (I think it was in that collection) about the species of extreme introverts.

Yes! 'Solitude'. I liked that one a great deal too, especially how the extraverted mother didn't 'get' it.

I love the prose too, the care and precision of it.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Not yet, I want to read The Aeneid first.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I read that collection last year, and enjoyed the novella very much, with all the details like the VR teaching environments and how their society slowly changed over the generations. I love the last scene where the old couple dance slowly in the dirt.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yes, the end was beautiful. It reminded me a lot of a short story from The Compass Rose, 'The Eye Altering'. I loved how the names of Earth and New Earth became Dichew and Shindychew.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I assumed they were Chinese for those names. Did I miss something?

Look! Someone's done an opera--for chamber orchestra with laptop computer. I am rather intrigued.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I assumed they were Chinese for those names. Did I miss something?

No, you didn't miss anything. I just loved the Chinese names had been picked up by the (presumably) English speakers, and then worn down slightly. I like that kind of thing (like the whole of Riddley Walker).

Ooh, that opera does look interesting... wonder if I dare download the mp3s?

[greylin.livejournal.com]

If I could keep the books of only one author, at the moment I think it might be Le Guin. I have just finished and loved another short story, The Diary of the Rose - bleak, but beautiful. Have you read The Wind's Twelve Quarters? It contains a short Earthsea tale, The Word of Unbinding.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

The Wind's Twelve Quarters has some fantastic stories: 'Semley's Necklace' and 'The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas' (OMG THAT STORY!), but I think my favourite collection is The Compass Rose (with 'Sur', and 'The Eye Altering' and 'The Pathways of Desire'). The Compass Rose is one of the few things I remember reading as a teenager, and 'The Diary of the Rose' was incredibly impactful on my imagination. (I sort of fanficced it later, when I was doing B7 fanfic.)

Did I rave about 'The Annals of the Western Shore' at you? I think I may have liked Powers more than the Earthsea books.

You know, I think I'd pick Le Guin too. (Well, I've mostly got Tolkien memorized! *g*)

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

I need to re-read this collection too - I forget which stories go in which collection although it comes back to me as I read the comments in this post.

DOING EVA *sighs happily*

I can't remember if you've read Changing Planes? We did that in my reading group and it went down very well, even with the non-SF readers.

I'm looking forward to reading Lavinia too.

I've got a bunch of Octavia Butler books I haven't read yet, and Kindred is one of them.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Here's the full list, I think most of them have been talked about in this post by now!

'Coming of Age in Karhide': A first experience of kemmer
'The Matter of Seggri': Unbelievably depressing story (in anthropological report style) set on a world where there are very few men, and the sexes are segregated
'Unchosen Love': About the people of O and their four-person marriages
'Mountain Ways': Unconventional romance on O, delightful
'Solitude': Planet of the Introverts
'Old Music and the Slave Woman' set on Werel, one of the worlds in Four Ways to Forgiveness, a heart-wrenching piece of self-fanfiction
'The Birthday of the World': Odd story which reminded me quite a bit of The Tombs of Atuan, set in a civilization based on Incan society
'Paradises Lost': See Post Above!


I can't remember if you've read Changing Planes?

Taoist herons! Yes, I like Changing Planes a lot. Any one of the chapters would be the basis of an entire career's worth of books for any other writer.

Be interested in your impressions of the Octavia Butler books. I really loved the two Parable books, but haven't read any of the others.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the list! (I could have gone and checked the book for myself!) And thank you for the post, because I've enjoyed reading the comments.

Any one of the chapters would be the basis of an entire career's worth of books for any other writer.

Also something that was said in my reading group!

I've only read the first Parable book - since it ended on a slightly hopeful note, I couldn't bear to see that ripped away. I think I need to be in a very strong place to read Octavia Butler, and I just haven't been there for a while, because she is such a powerful writer.
I have read the Xenogenesis trilogy, but not re-read it. There was lots in that about re-building society, attempts to manage the re-building, and rebellion and so on. (My copy of the first book in the trilogy has the classic illustration of Lilith as a blue-eyed, willowy blonde.)

I ended up picking up an Anne McCaffrey or two this week, and have been noting how much and how often she infantilizes her female characters, with a side note as to wondering whether it's worth counting the ratio of male to female children produced by her major characters in her excessively patriarchal Pern, contrasted with Bujold, who does something similar, but explains it explicitly, and also creates the Koudelka family as a response. I think that Le Guin and/or Butler could be a good antidote.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed typing up the list and giving you my one-line review :-)

I think I need to be in a very strong place to read Octavia Butler

Yes, I know exactly what you mean: the first Parable book was a tough, tough read. I ended up gulping down Kindred, and had very conflicted feelings about the end, but will save this for when you have read.

(My copy of the first book in the trilogy has the classic illustration of Lilith as a blue-eyed, willowy blonde.)

Grrr aargh...

I really like that insight about McCaffrey and Bujold. I've still not read any McCaffrey, and I have a feeling that my time for reading them may be long past, that I would need to have read them at a more innocent age to be able to forgive aspects them (as I did with Tolkien).

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

I'll try and read Kindred. Having said that, I had better check that it definitely is one of the ones on my bookshelf!

I think you're probably right about the McCaffrey. I sent a lot of mine off to the charity shops this summer, but I have kept some. If you're going to read any, then maybe Dragonsong and Dragonsinger: Harper of Pern, the two that feature Menolly, might be your best bet. The former is about a girl misunderstood by her family, who runs away, and the latter is about her first two weeks at boarding schoolthe Harper Hall. At least in those two, she's fighting back.

I was trying to think of an equivalent SF society and how it was done differently, and Barrayar and the Koudelkas came to mind. Sometimes my brain does work!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Let me know if Kindred isn't on your shelf and I'll pop it in my bag for Redemption.

I'll keep an eye out for those McCaffreys in the shops round here, she's bound to turn up. I love runaway girl stories!

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

Let me know if Kindred isn't on your shelf and I'll pop it in my bag for Redemption.

Thank you for the offer! I did check the shelf and it is there, so I shall get on with it, soonish.

I should think they would turn up secondhand and I hope you enjoy them enough to make it worth it when they do.

[rakshathedemon.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love Kindred. Note that I am neither a feminist nor a political liberal; but this is one of (in my opinion) the best books by a wonderful writer; the story is so compelling...And while Kindred obviously (and honestly)examines racial issues, it doesn't take the easy path - I particularly liked the way Rufus is characterized; in fact his relationship with Dana is the most fascinating in the book, though I also like the Kevin-Dana relationship of course.

My other favorite book by Butler (who is sadly dead) is Wild Seed (a great prelude to her Patternist novels - Blood of My Blood and Patternmaster. I wasn't that into Butler's other books, though. Butler's favorite themes, that run through several of her novels, seem to be power and its usage and abuse, especially one person controlling others.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

The only other Butlers that I've read are Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, both of which I thought were excellent. I've not found it all that easy to track down her books in the UK.