I though I would start a topic that might become a kind of haven for us to talk about stories/poems etc that we find interesting. I know its primary a religious forum, but perhaps this might be a haven from the heavy discussion we have? Would the Moderator agree?
Here I start:
SPOILERS
The EarthSea stories by Ursula Le Guin
I discovered this series of wodnerful short stories a few months ago and have devoured all four (with one more about to be published). Written in the 60's/70's, these were around the same time as the popularity of Tolkien was growing. They are similar yet different; and to my mind, the Eartsea stories are the more mature.
Le Guin created Earthsea -- a world of islands, inhabited by people and by dragons; a world where magic inheres in the nature of hings, in the power of true names that are part of the being of every creature in the world --the trilogy: A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, and The Farthest Shore. These books, drawing ostensibly on the epic The Deed of Ged relate the deeds of one of Earthsea's greatest mages from his early
childhood to his tenure as Archmage of the school of Wizardry on Roke Island as if looking back on a rather distant historical past. They render his story in a high style that clarifies and elevates, letting the details of daily life fall away from the essential story which emerges, shining, admirable, and memorable. It made me think...
In 1990 Le Guin published Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea. She rejecting the elevated style of heroic legend of the previous stories and it was written in a realistic style suited to the historical present. The novel resumes the story of Tenar, adolescent heroine of The Tombs of Atuan, some years after the great events of that story. She is now a mother and a widow. To all outward appearances she isan ordinary woman of middle age, leading an ordinary life, except that she has a remarkable past and
has now adopted a young girl who has been horribly burned and abused.
Tehanu focuses very deliberately on the details of daily life that had been absent from the earlier narrative. In doing so, it changed Earthsea by showing it to be a world not purelmythic. It caused the world to grow up, to discover real sexuality, hard physical labor, banal greed, virulent misogyny, and horrible, empty cruelty -- cruelty without the dignity or the mystery of the Old Powers that Ged had struggled against in the
original trilogy. In that sense, it is a book about adolescence: it enacts the confrontation of childhood truths and idealistic hopes with the harder complexities of adult life in the world. Adolescence is seldom easy (I know!), and Tehanu apparently received a mixed reception from readers who had grown up loving the original Earthsea books. Some readers viewed it as a politically correct betrayal of the original books, an attack on the very principle of escape that fantasy is supposed to provide.
For me, this along with the 2nd one was my favourite. Fantasy worlds are not trite happy go lucky lands;I see the value of a maturing fantasy that holds steadfastly to an idealvision but that doesn't reach that vision through childish means. Le Guin explicitly stated that Tehanu would be the last book of Earthsea (well she was mistaken. Will these stories be like Tehanu? Will they be like the original trilogy? Tehanu forced my imagination through the uneasy growth processes of adolescence,Tales from Earthsea rewards readers with the rich fruits of full imaginative maturity.
Oh it seems I was waxing lyrical...I do recommend that you hunt these books down. They are a gem (I think) to treasure.
Or make your own reviews of what you like?
Anton
