Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places [Paperback]

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 24, 1997

“I have decided that the trouble with print is, it never changes its mind,” writes Ursula Le Guin in her introduction to Dancing at the Edge of the World. But she has, and here is the record of that change in the decade since the publication of her last nonfiction collection, The Language of the Night. And what a mind — strong, supple, disciplined, playful, ranging over the whole field of its concerns, from modern literature to menopause, from utopian thought to rodeos, with an eloquence, wit, and precision that makes for exhilarating reading.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Chronologically arranged, these 33 talks and essays and 17 reviews of books and films, dating from 1976 through 1987, record Le Guin's responses to ethical and political climates, the transforming effect of certain literary ideas and the changes of a supple, disciplined mind. Aiming "to subvert as much as possible without hurting anybody's feelings," the noted science fiction writer eloquently discusses feminism, social responsibility, literature and travel. We read her deeply considered views on abortion, menopause, motherhood, family planning; censorship, criticism, myth in contemporary life, women writers, the reciprocity of prose and poetry, the language of power; the advantages and pleasures of travel by Amtrak; heroism in Scott and Amundsen; the ideas of Doris Lessing and Italo Calvino; and how science fiction addresses the issue of nuclear war.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Le Guin is one of the most important American fiction writers working today. With this anthology, which collects her essays, addresses, and reviews from the last decade, she demonstrates that she is also one of the most significant. These pieces, which include Le Guin's reflections on her own work, writing in general, women, and the world, comprise a record of recent history as experienced by one actor/observer whose social critique does not exclude self-analysis and revision. Le Guin is an irreverent demystifier of the industry currently known as "literary criticism" and a consummate storyteller who enlightens with her perfect weave of myth and fact, fantasy and common sense. Essential reading for anyone who imagines herself literate and/or socially concerned or who wants to learn what it means to be such. Mollie Brodsky, Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press; 1st Pbk. Ed edition (September 24, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802135293
• ISBN-13: 978-0802135292
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,184 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #45 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Women's Studies > Women Writers

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great collection, useful for students of SF May 13, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

This book presents a body of one woman's opinions. This might not sound like much but, given that these are Ursula Le Guin's opinions, it is well worth reading. She writes entertainingly and even though she wants to make you think it does not hurt one bit. Given the dearth of decent criticism of Science Fiction available at student level prices this is an excellent introduction to the genre for them. It is probably the first time most of them will have discovered serious thought behind SF. She also addresses other issues, often concerning her own experiences and the problems of being a woman writer, which would make this a useful text for anyone interested in gender studies. To sum up, buy it; it is very good; you will read these essays more than once, guaranteed.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Le Guin's Non-Fiction Pieces: A Mental Biography April 16, 2002

By "botatoe"

Format:Hardcover

I had never read a word of Ursula K. Le Guin until I recently picked up "Dancing at the Edge of the World," a chronologically arranged collection of essays, talks and book reviews written by Le Guin during the period 1976 through 1988. It is a collection that is intended, in the author's words, "[to] provide a sort of mental biography, a record of responses to ethical and political climates, of the transforming effect of certain literary ideas, and of the changes of a mind."

Each of the essays listed in the table of contents is denoted with a glyph that categorizes the essay as dealing with feminism, social responsibility, literature, or travel. This categorization gives the reader a good idea of the range of the collection and of Le Guin's interests, which extend far beyond the science fiction genre for which she is most well known.

The quality of the essays is uneven. Some of the travel pieces are soporific ("Places Names," "Along the Platte" and "Over the Hills and a Great Way Off"), although they might be more interesting to readers who have been to the places Le Guin describes. Other pieces seem to suffer from the loss caused by transforming what were originally spoken presentations into writing. The feminist writings in some cases are the victim of changing times. What is useful, however, even in these weaker pieces, are Le Guin's introductions, which provide a useful contextual background that helps the reader understand the import of the essay.

While some of the essays are unremarkable, there also are several exceptional writings that are worth the price of admission.... I refer, in particular, to the 1988 essay, "The Fisherman's Daughter," which provides a provocative and interesting discussion of women and writing, a text that follows in the line from Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own" through Tillie Olsen's "Silences," drawing heavily on both authors for another view of this much discussed literary/feminist theme. I also refer to the essays from 1986, a very good year for Le Guin insofar as the six essays included here from that year all provide interesting and worthwhile glimpses at why her writing is so well regarded. In particular, I enjoyed "Bryn Mawr Commencement Address" and "Text, Silence, Performance," two essays that illuminate the ways in which spoken and written language, and the privileging of certain communicative forms over others, affects the world.

Despite the shortcomings of some of its essays, "Dancing at the Edge of the World" provides a fascinating picture of Le Guin's worldview, successfully painting the "mental biography" of one of America's more interesting and accomplished writers during one decade of her life. Read more ›

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Container as the First Human Invention May 17, 2011

By Vesna from how-to-cook-with-vesna .com

Format:Paperback

Around pp. 165-167, in the essay "The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction," LeGuin discusses the possibility that the first human invention was not the weapon, but the container -- the sling, the sack, the bag, the carrier. (I remembered it as "the vessel," but that term doesn't appear in the book.) What good is generating a lot of stuff to eat if you don't have any way to get it back to camp? She argues the point persuasively and passionately.

I read this book in 1991 or 1992, nearly 20 years ago. I've not seen the idea anywhere else (although she cites an anthropologist writing in 1975) but it has shaped my perception since. Not to diminish the rest of the book, but this single idea in this one essay is, I believe, worth getting the whole book for.

6 of 12 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Le Guin's Non-Fiction Pieces: A Mental Biography January 4, 2002

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I had never read a word of Ursula K. Le Guin until I recently picked up "Dancing at the Edge of the World," a chronologically arranged collection of essays, talks and book reviews written by Le Guin during the period 1976 through 1988. It is a collection that is intended, in the author's words, "[to] provide a sort of mental biography, a record of responses to ethical and political climates, of the transforming effect of certain literary ideas, and of the changes of a mind."

Each of the essays listed in the table of contents is denoted with a glyph that categorizes the essay as dealing with feminism, social responsibility, literature, or travel. This categorization gives the reader a good idea of the range of the collection and of Le Guin's interests, which extend far beyond the science fiction genre for which she is most well known.

The quality of the essays is uneven. Some of the travel pieces are soporific ("Places Names," "Along the Platte" and "Over the Hills and a Great Way Off"), although they might be more interesting to readers who have been to the places Le Guin describes. Other pieces seem to suffer from the loss caused by transforming what were originally spoken presentations into writing. The feminist writings in some cases are the victim of changing times. What is useful, however, even in these weaker pieces, are Le Guin's introductions, which provide a useful contextual background that helps the reader understand the import of the essay.

While some of the essays are unremarkable, there also are several exceptional writings that are worth the price of admission.... I refer, in particular, to the 1988 essay, "The Fisherman's Daughter," which provides a provocative and interesting discussion of women and writing, a text that follows in the line from Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own" through Tillie Olsen's "Silences," drawing heavily on both authors for another view of this much discussed literary/feminist theme. I also refer to the essays from 1986, a very good year for Le Guin insofar as the six essays included here from that year all provide interesting and worthwhile glimpses at why her writing is so well regarded. In particular, I enjoyed "Bryn Mawr Commencement Address" and "Text, Silence, Performance," two essays that illuminate the ways in which spoken and written language, and the privileging of certain communicative forms over others, affects the world.

Despite the shortcomings of some of its essays, "Dancing at the Edge of the World" provides a fascinating picture of Le Guin's worldview, successfully painting the "mental biography" of one of America's more interesting and accomplished writers during one decade of her life. Read more ›