Feminist Science-Fiction? Gender Aspects in Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Dispossessed" and Feminist Criticism

Feminist Science-Fiction? Gender Aspects in Ursula K. Le Guin's Author: Celine Briot
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3668032742
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 21

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Bonn (Anglistik), course: Science-Fiction, language: English, abstract: In recent decades the literary genre of Science Fiction has experienced a rising interest which might be attributed to the rapid technological development and the deep integration of it into daily life. Science Fiction offers writers a wide range of potential themes to explore and is thus a very complex genre. While often being considered male oriented, at least during the Feminist Movement in the 1960s, female authors found their way into the genre and raised questions about gender roles, political inequality and sexuality within their works. Among those female writers was Ursula K. Le Guin who gained wide recognition for her writing and is today regarded one of the most influential science-fiction and fantasy author of the twentieth century. Asscociated with feminist tendencies in her works, her most famous novel referred to be feminist science fiction is "The Left Hand of Darkness" in which she imagined an androgynous society in order to investigate what society would be if sex did not matter. But also many other of her works have received attention from critics interested in gender and feminism. In this paper I intend to analyse and discuss the depiction of gender and the realisation of feminist aspects in Le Guin's novel "The Dispossessed: An ambiguous Utopia". The novel won several important literary awards such as the Hugo and the Nebula and gained a lot of respect among critics for its great literary qualities and its extensive exploration of political ideas and social themes, including for example anarchism, capitalism and socialism. It is set on the fictional planets Urras and Anarres which inhabit two contrasting societies, one capitalist and class oriented and the other one following the principles of anarchism, avoiding any form of social hierarchy among its population. Anarres – apparently the utopian planet in Le Guin's work, is often called a feminist utopia for its conception of gender. However, Le Guin has been highly criticised from feminist for several problematic issues in her approach of sexual politics in the novel. The question therefore arises weather "The Dispossessed" really can be labeled feminist science-fiction and if Anarres really can be called a feminist utopia?

Feminist Science-Fiction? Gender Aspects in Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Dispossessed" and Feminist Criticism

Feminist Science-Fiction? Gender Aspects in Ursula K. Le Guin's Author: Celine Briot
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3668032742
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 21

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Bonn (Anglistik), course: Science-Fiction, language: English, abstract: In recent decades the literary genre of Science Fiction has experienced a rising interest which might be attributed to the rapid technological development and the deep integration of it into daily life. Science Fiction offers writers a wide range of potential themes to explore and is thus a very complex genre. While often being considered male oriented, at least during the Feminist Movement in the 1960s, female authors found their way into the genre and raised questions about gender roles, political inequality and sexuality within their works. Among those female writers was Ursula K. Le Guin who gained wide recognition for her writing and is today regarded one of the most influential science-fiction and fantasy author of the twentieth century. Asscociated with feminist tendencies in her works, her most famous novel referred to be feminist science fiction is "The Left Hand of Darkness" in which she imagined an androgynous society in order to investigate what society would be if sex did not matter. But also many other of her works have received attention from critics interested in gender and feminism. In this paper I intend to analyse and discuss the depiction of gender and the realisation of feminist aspects in Le Guin's novel "The Dispossessed: An ambiguous Utopia". The novel won several important literary awards such as the Hugo and the Nebula and gained a lot of respect among critics for its great literary qualities and its extensive exploration of political ideas and social themes, including for example anarchism, capitalism and socialism. It is set on the fictional planets Urras and Anarres which inhabit two contrasting societies, one capitalist and class oriented and the other one following the principles of anarchism, avoiding any form of social hierarchy among its population. Anarres – apparently the utopian planet in Le Guin's work, is often called a feminist utopia for its conception of gender. However, Le Guin has been highly criticised from feminist for several problematic issues in her approach of sexual politics in the novel. The question therefore arises weather "The Dispossessed" really can be labeled feminist science-fiction and if Anarres really can be called a feminist utopia?

The Politics of Gender

The Politics of Gender PDF Author: Adrienne Trier-Bieniek
Publisher: Teaching Gender
ISBN: 9789004381704
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 181

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Book Description
Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Match girls -- The future is intersectional: creating an inclusive feminist -- Movement -- Has hillary clinton shifted the media narrative of women in -- Leadership? -- #imwithher or #feelthebern: the impact of age, gender, and -- Intersectionality on politics -- The magic of michelle: an intersectional analysis of the -- (black) first lady -- The same-sex marriage (prohibition) act in nigeria: a critique -- Of body policing -- The incarceration of gender: assessing, managing, and treating -- The needs of transgender inmates -- The cost of the "lesbian obesity epidemic": pathologizing -- Sexuality in public health -- The gendered nature of firearm-related intimate partner violence -- "I'm female as fuck": samantha bee's full frontal as feminist -- Voice of resistance -- Conclusion - what's next? -- About the contributors

The Dispossessed

The Dispossessed PDF Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Publisher: Turtleback Books
ISBN: 9780785764038
Category : Anarchism
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A brilliant physicist attempts to salvage his planet of anarchy.

Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing

Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing PDF Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Publisher: Tin House Books
ISBN: 1947793004
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 124

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Book Description
Ursula K. Le Guin discusses her fiction, nonfiction, and poetry?both her process and her philosophy?with all the wisdom, profundity, and rigor we expect from one of the great writers of the last century. When the New York Times referred to Ursula K. Le Guin as America’s greatest writer of science fiction, they just might have undersold her legacy. It’s hard to look at her vast body of work?novels and stories across multiple genres, poems, translations, essays, speeches, and criticism?and see anything but one of our greatest writers, period. In a series of interviews with David Naimon (Between the Covers), Le Guin discusses craft, aesthetics, and philosophy in her fiction, poetry, and nonfiction respectively. The discussions provide ample advice and guidance for writers of every level, but also give Le Guin a chance to to sound off on some of her favorite subjects: the genre wars, the patriarchy, the natural world, and what, in her opinion, makes for great writing. With excerpts from her own books and those that she looked to for inspiration, this volume is a treat for Le Guin’s longtime readers, a perfect introduction for those first approaching her writing, and a tribute to her incredible life and work.

The Eye of the Heron

The Eye of the Heron PDF Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780765346124
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
In Victoria on a former prison colony, two exiled groups--the farmers of Shantih and the City dwellers--live in apparent harmony. All is not as it seems, however. While the peace-loving farmers labor endlessly to provide food for the City, the City Bosses rule the Shantih with an iron fist. When a group of farmers decide to from a new settlement further away, the Bosses retaliate by threatening to crush the "rebellion." Luz understands what it means to have no choices. Her father is a Boss and he has ruled over her life with the same iron fist. Luz wonders what it might be like to make her own choices. To be free to choose her own destiny. When the crisis over the new settlement reaches a flash point, Luz will have her chance.

The Cambridge Companion to Feminist Literary Theory

The Cambridge Companion to Feminist Literary Theory PDF Author: Ellen Rooney
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139826638
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
Feminism has dramatically influenced the way literary texts are read, taught and evaluated. Feminist literary theory has deliberately transgressed traditional boundaries between literature, philosophy and the social sciences in order to understand how gender has been constructed and represented through language. This lively and thought-provoking Companion presents a range of approaches to the field. Some of the essays demonstrate feminist critical principles at work in analysing texts, while others take a step back to trace the development of a particular feminist literary method. The essays draw on a range of primary material from the medieval period to postmodernism and from several countries, disciplines and genres. Each essay suggests further reading to explore this field further. This is the most accessible guide available both for students of literature new to this developing field, and for students of gender studies and readers interested in the interactions of feminism, literary criticism and literature.

The Female Man

The Female Man PDF Author: Joanna Russ
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504050932
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
Four alternate selves from radically different realities come together in this “dazzling” and “trailblazing work” (The Washington Post). Widely acknowledged as Joanna Russ’s masterpiece, The Female Man is the suspenseful, surprising, darkly witty, and boldly subversive chronicle of what happens when Jeannine, Janet, Joanna, and Jael—all living in parallel worlds—meet. Librarian Jeannine is waiting for marriage in a past where the Depression never ended, Janet lives on a utopian Earth with an all-female population, Joanna is a feminist in the 1970s, and Jael is a warrior with claws and teeth on an Earth where male and female societies are at war with each other. When the four women begin traveling to one another’s worlds, their preconceptions on gender and identity are forever challenged. With “palpable anger . . . leavened by wit and humor” (The New York Times), Russ both employs and upends genre conventions to deliver a wickedly satiric and exhilarating version of when worlds collide and women get woke. This ebook includes the Nebula Award–winning bonus short story “When It Changed,” set in the world of The Female Man.

Woman on the Edge of Time

Woman on the Edge of Time PDF Author: Marge Piercy
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 044900094X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
Hailed as a classic of speculative fiction, Marge Piercy’s landmark novel is a transformative vision of two futures—and what it takes to will one or the other into reality. Harrowing and prescient, Woman on the Edge of Time speaks to a new generation on whom these choices weigh more heavily than ever before. Connie Ramos is a Mexican American woman living on the streets of New York. Once ambitious and proud, she has lost her child, her husband, her dignity—and now they want to take her sanity. After being unjustly committed to a mental institution, Connie is contacted by an envoy from the year 2137, who shows her a time of sexual and racial equality, environmental purity, and unprecedented self-actualization. But Connie also bears witness to another potential outcome: a society of grotesque exploitation in which the barrier between person and commodity has finally been eroded. One will become our world. And Connie herself may strike the decisive blow. Praise for Woman on the Edge of Time “This is one of those rare novels that leave us different people at the end than we were at the beginning. Whether you are reading Marge Piercy’s great work again or for the first time, it will remind you that we are creating the future with every choice we make.”—Gloria Steinem “An ambitious, unusual novel about the possibilities for moral courage in contemporary society.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer “A stunning, even astonishing novel . . . marvelous and compelling.”—Publishers Weekly “Connie Ramos’s world is cuttingly real.”—Newsweek “Absorbing and exciting.”—The New York Times Book Review

Cyberpunk Women, Feminism and Science Fiction

Cyberpunk Women, Feminism and Science Fiction PDF Author: Carlen Lavigne
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 147660178X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
This analysis of cyberpunk science fiction written between 1981 and 2003 positions women's cyberpunk in the larger cultural discussion of feminist issues. It traces the origins of the genre, reviews the critical reactions and outlines the ways in which women's cyberpunk advances points of view that are specifically feminist. Novels are examined within their cultural contexts; their content is compared to broader controversies within contemporary feminism, and their themes are revealed as reflections of feminist discourse around the turn of the 21st century. Chapters cover topics such as globalization, virtual reality, cyborg culture, environmentalism, religion, motherhood and queer rights. Interviews with feminist cyberpunk authors are provided, revealing both their motivations for writing and their experiences with fans. The study treats feminist cyberpunk as a unique vehicle for examining contemporary women's issues and analyzes feminist science fiction as a complex source of political ideas.

No Time to Spare

No Time to Spare PDF Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 1328661598
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
From acclaimed author Ursula K. Le Guin, a collection of thoughts--always adroit, often acerbic--on aging, belief, the state of literature, and the state of the nation