The Dispossessed [Paperback]

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 387 pages
• Publisher: HarperPrism (1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061001376
• ISBN-13: 978-0061001376
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (119 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #982,793 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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138 of 142 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Politics and corruption on two contrasting worlds, May 30, 2003

By 

D. Cloyce Smith (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Dispossessed (Mass Market Paperback)

"The Dispossessed" is a utopian/dystopian novel along the lines of "Brave New World" or "The Handmaid's Tale." Although Le Guin creates an atmosphere of tension, there's not a lot of action (at least for the first three quarters of the book)--so readers expecting more "traditional" science fiction or surprising plot twists will certainly be dissatisfied. This unashamedly political novel portrays one character torn between two worlds with disparate political and economic systems, and it focuses on the highlights and the inadequacies of both those worlds.

Shevek, an unappreciated scientist from Anarres, travels to Urras, whose inhabitants seem to value better his discoveries in physics. Annares, the home of the "Dispossessed," is a 175-year-old rebel outpost of anarchists who have established "an experiment in nonauthoritarian communism" that emphasizes community and cooperation and who must make the most of the limited resources on their desert planet to avert the constant threat of starvation. Anarres's mother planet, Urras, boasts a triumvirate of strong and repressive governments, the most important of which is the capitalist government of A-Io with its impressive wealth, cultural accomplishments, and scientific achievements.

But all is not what it seems on either world. Le Guin alternates chapters detailing Shevek's early years of disenchantment on his lawless but peaceful native planet with chapters describing his growing realization that Urras has a significant "dispossessed" population as well. The novel is, of course, deeply informed by the Cold War--it was published in 1974--and each world features its own "ambiguous utopia" (the book's subtitle). The anarchists of Anarres have diluted their revolutionary vision with mindless and dogmatic conformism, discouragement of artistic pursuits and dissenting ideas, and an entrenched and uncaring bureaucracy that acts like a government in all but name. The capitalists of Urras, meanwhile, have traded libertarianism and meritocracy for a repressive oligarchy and the armed reinforcement of widespread economic disparities. As the novel progresses, Shevek appreciates that there is much to be learned from both (or rather, all) worlds.

Some readers and critics have suggested that Le Guin is "promoting" anarchism/communism; this is too simplistic, since the book is far too subtle and tentative to work as propaganda. Instead, she posits an attractive and idealistic society, contrasts it with a world with an appealing facade and an unattractive underclass, and shows how human nature tends to corrupt even the most well-meaning of civilizations. A book of ideas rather than of advocacy, "The Dispossessed" challenges readers to envision humankind's limitless possibilities.

69 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful and compelling, September 16, 2003

By 

John S. Ryan "Scott Ryan" (Cuyahoga Falls, OH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Dispossessed (Mass Market Paperback)

Quick -- name three SF literary portraits of functional societies founded on principles of anarchism.

I come up with Eric Frank Russell's Gands in _The Great Explosion_ (" . . . And Then There Were None"), Robert A. Heinlein's Loonies in _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_, and Ursula K. Le Guin's Anarresti in _The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia_.

Oh, there are a handful of others, notably James Hogan's _Voyage from Yesteryear_ (which was itself strongly influenced by Russell). But most of the rest are thinly disguised libertarian propaganda without a great deal of literary merit (though your mileage may vary).

Of these three, Le Guin's is in some ways the most compelling. In part that's because she's just such a fine writer. But it's also because she's probably the _least_ "ideological" of all the SF writers who have ever tackled this subject.

On Le Guin's somewhat Taoistic approach, each of the contrasting societies contains the seeds of the other, and she lets the reader see both their "good" and "bad" points. She clearly likes the Anarresti society (and on the whole it comes off rather better than its Urrasti foil). But she doesn't hesitate to show the reader some of its critically important drawbacks. Its childrearing practices, for example, recall Ira Levin's _This Perfect Day_, and its treatment of original thinkers (and their "egoizing") even recalls Ayn Rand's tub-thumpingly propagandistic _Anthem_.

In general, then, Le Guin is pretty well immune to the usual salvation-by-ideology claptrap. And as her subtitle suggests, her utopia really _is_ ambiguous. For her, people aren't "saved" by adopting the correct philosophical position or social principles.

Least of all is her protagonist Shevek "saved" by such means. Shevek is a physicist from Anarres (the moon of the planet Urras) and has grown up in its anarchist society. But it doesn't really have a place for him. Neither, more obviously, does Urras, the "propertarian" counterpart to Annares's communitarian society, with which Annares has had no contact for about a century and a half. So with respect to the two polar-opposite patterns of social organization, Shevek is doubly dispossessed.

What's the book actually _about_? Well, Shevek cooks up a plan to get the two societies on speaking terms again and, in order to pursue it, decides to leave Anarres for Urras; so off he goes, as a passenger in a ship called the _Mindful_. (And yes, do be careful not to trip over the symbolism.) That's all I'm going to tell you about the plot. But the essential theme of the novel is, I suppose, barriers and their overcoming. (The very first sentence goes like this: "There was a wall." Yep.)

It's a very thoughtful novel. The narrative hops around in time a lot and the plot isn't exactly marked by nonstop action, so it's probably not for space opera fans. But readers of a more philosophical bent will enjoy it immensely.

And if you're at all interested in literary portraits of anarchist societies, make sure you read this one. If you share Le Guin's Taostic/anarchistic leanings (as I do), you'll like the Anarresti _and_ appreciate Le Guin's refreshingly anti-ideologue-ish honesty in her portrait of it.

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Le Guin's best and a must-read sci-fi classic, February 22, 2001

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Dispossessed (Mass Market Paperback)

A group of revolutionaries settles the dry desert moon of a rich, Earthlike planet. Their founding philosophy is based on the writings of Odo, a woman who never sees the moon colony created on her ideas, which are based loosely on pure Communism. Odonianism tries to change human nature, by inculcating the principle of sharing and non-possesiveness, with the interesting twist of removing the possessive word "mine, ours" from language and substituting "the one I use." The Odonians create a somewhat impoverished but vigorous society on the moon Anarres and for two centuries have been isolated from their Urras roots except for trade contact at the spaceport. In fact, Anarres is a mining colony for Urras and is left alone as long as valuable minerals are shipped back to the mother planet.

The Anarresti use a language created by a computer and using their philosophical beliefs. People when born are given a two syllable name from the computer. The society is free, all sexual activity is allowed as long as the partners agree. Marriage is not uncommon, but not the norm either. Children are raised communally, a bit like the first kibbutzim in Israel. Work is assigned from a labor pool with a computerized system of allocating assignments wherever they are needed. But anyone can choose any occupation that suits them, and is free to refuse a posting, or even work at all. Once in every ten days, an Anarresti participates in volunteer labor that's needed by the community. Only a sense of responsibility, taught from birth, a conscience, keeps everyone working for everyone else and free from "propertarianism" or the desire to accumulate possessions and wealth. People are free to move around, choose their work, choose partners and do what they want as long as it doesn't hurt others.

This Utopia has seeds of destruction, however. Individuals are quashed by "syndicates" or groups controlling various occupations. New ideas are "egoistic" and suppressed. The main character in The Dispossessed, a brilliant physicist named Shevek, has suffered this isolation and discouragement from childhood on. His brilliance is fostered however, by two special teachers, one of whom is another such isolated and unappreciated brilliant mind. When he goes to Abbenay, the capital, to work at the central institute, he becomes aware of the jealousy, conservatism and backbiting that are undermining their utopia. He also embarks on a major discovery in physics, that is rejected by the institute, but greatly coveted by the physicists and industrialists on Urras. He's invited to finish his work on Urras and to accept a prize equivalent to a Nobel. No one from Anarres has gone to Urras in two centuries and a conflict of huge proportions erupts, against the backdrop of a heartbreaking drought and famine on Anarres.

How the conflict is ultimately solved, and how the Utopia is forever changed makes for some exciting reading. The book is a good examination of the question whether it is possible to set up a completely unselfish society and what the eventual outcome might be based on human nature. This is one of Le Guin's best books, and written in spare, beautiful language that describes the people, the landscape and the drama in a most memorable way.