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Fb2 Word for World Forest ePub

by Ursula K Leguin

Ursula K Leguin Science Nature and How It Works English

Category:	Science Nature and How It Works
Subcategory:	Children
Author:	Ursula K Leguin
ISBN:	0399117164
ISBN13:	978-0399117169
Language:	English
Publisher:	Penguin Adult HC/TR (1972)
Pages:	189
Fb2 eBook:	1814 kb
ePub eBook:	1448 kb
Digital formats:	txt lit mobi rtf

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Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) was the author of more than three dozen books for children and adults, including her . Le Guin (1929-2018) was the author of more than three dozen books for children and adults, including her groundbreaking novels The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed, both honored with Nebula and Hugo awards for best novel. She was also awarded a Newbury Honor for the second volume of the Earthsea Cycle, The Tombs of Atuan, and among her many other distinctions are the Margaret A. Edwards Award, a National Book Award, and additional Nebula and Hugo awards. I left The Word for the World is Forest thinking that another hundred pages and some additional polishing would have mitigated its flaws, turning a strong novel into a great one.

Long before Avatar, Ursula K. Le Guin was writing science fiction with a strong ecological edge, the benchmark of. . Le Guin was writing science fiction with a strong ecological edge, the benchmark of which was the 1973 novella, "The Word for World is Forest. Now, with the continuing trend toward human rights and green issues, the time is right for new fans to be moved by this Hugo-winning classic.

So muses author Ursula K. LeGuin in her 1972 novel The Word for World is Forest. This book clocks in at 189 pages but Le Guin made every word count. Like most of Ms. Le Guin's works this is a thought provoking story

So muses author Ursula K. Le Guin's works this is a thought provoking story. What happen when we introduce evil into a hitherto innocent and passive culture? The Athsheans are very vivid creations, the story of their enslavement and Good short books are profitable reads, therefore great ones are greatly profitable. Le Guin is one of the finest writers of our time. Her books have attracted millions of devoted readers and won many awards, including the National Book Award, the Hugo and Nebula Awards and a Newbery Honor

Ursula K. Her books have attracted millions of devoted readers and won many awards, including the National Book Award, the Hugo and Nebula Awards and a Newbery Honor. Among her novels, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed and the six books of Earthsea have attained undisputed classic status; and her recent series, the Annals of the Western Shore, has won her the PEN Center USA Children's literature award and the Nebula Award for best novel.

The Word for World Is Forest is a science fiction novella by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in the United States in 1972 as a part of the anthology Again, Dangerous Visions. Le Guin, first published in the United States in 1972 as a part of the anthology Again, Dangerous Visions, and published as a separate book in 1976 by Berkley Books. It is part of Le Guin's Hainish Cycle. The story focuses on a military logging colony set up on the fictional planet of Athshe by people from Earth (referred to as "Terra")

For information address: The Berkley Publishing Group, 200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016.

For information address: The Berkley Publishing Group, 200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016. ISBN: 0-425-07484-6 A BERKLEY BOOK ┬л TM 757,375 The name "BERKLEY" and the stylized "B" with design are trademarks belonging to Berkley Publishing Corporation

Ursula Le Guin may be the SF writer most respected by the literary mainstream, the most studied academically, her work . A few years ago, a few years after the first publication in America of The Word for World Is Forest

Ursula Le Guin may be the SF writer most respected by the literary mainstream, the most studied academically, her work set texts in countless courses. She remains subversive, and her work dangerous reading, because it changes the reader and makes them look at the real world in a different light. This novel’s continuing relevance is a rebuke to our complacency’. A few years ago, a few years after the first publication in America of The Word for World Is Forest. Her other books include The Eye of the Heron, The Word for World is Forest, and the Hainish series.

When the inhabitants of a peaceful world are conquered by the bloodthirsty yumens, their existence is irrevocably altered. Forced into servitude, the Athsheans find themselves at the mercy of their brutal masters. Desperation causes the Athsheans, led by Selver, to retaliate against their captors, abandoning their strictures against violence. But in defending their lives, they have endangered the very foundations of their society. For every blow against the invaders is a blow to the humanity of the Athsheans. And once the killing starts, there is no turning back.

The colonizing earthmen's persistent exploitation and abuse of the Athsheans' delicately balanced culture and ecology forebode extraterrestrial genocide or vengeful rebellion

Comments to eBook Word for World Forest

Washington

I probably wouldn't have read this book if I hadn't been so impressed by Le Guin's best reviewed SF novels, and I would suggest that other readers follow the same path - if you don't like _The Dispossessed_, you'll probably like this less. _The Word..._ is less complex and more of a good guy/bad guy book, but the superior writing and skeleton for what could have been a better book make it worthwhile if you find Le Guin generally impressive. The saddest thing about the book is that I found the basic themes to be completely topical, even though it was clearly written as a reaction to the war in Viet Nam. I'm not yet ready to give up on the concept of progress, but if it exists it is exceedingly slow.

Kakashkaliandiia

The Terran colony of New Tahiti was sent out with the mission to harvest lumber for a deforested earth; due to that time dilation, communication between the colony and Earth takes some 27 years, though it has continued its duty over the years. In an effort to bolster the colony’s productivity, the Terrans have conscripted laborers from the native Athsheans—a half-sized, green-furred human sub-species that exists at a primitive hunter-gatherer level, whose notable feature is its practice of lucid dreaming. The Terrans aren’t too sure what to think about these passive and pacifistic forest-dwellers, believing them to be an animal alien species and calling them “creechies.” The arrival of 212 Terran women from 27 light-years away brings some promise to the colony, hoping to establish roots and continue its development, but before the starship can deposit its cargo and cast off, shocking news rocks the colony—the destruction of a logging camp, and deaths of its 200 inhabitants, at the hands of the Athsheans.

The story rotates between several point-of-view characters, all of them well-drawn with distinct voices, though not all of them have depth; between them you see the storm developing that will shatter New Tahiti and change the Athsheans forever. Captain Davidson is a dominant soldier, more than ready to push the Athsheans back by force in retaliation for their attack; disagreeing with the colony’s leaders, he forms his own guerrilla force to enact vengeance. Lyubov is with the colony’s science staff, one of the few people who has some comprehension of the Athshean culture and society. Selver is one of the Athsheans; when his wife dies after Davidson rapes her, Selver does what the Terrans considered unthinkable and fights. He continues that fight against the destructive Terrans, who continue to plunder the forests—and as the title points out, the Athshean word for “world” and “forest” is the same.

Compared to Le Guin's best, this one is something of a lesser read---the tone is very didactic, Davidson is a bit too cartoonish in his villainy, and there's a number of obvious cliches at play here. It's very much a work from the early '70s, reflecting the anger and frustration of Vietnam, Woman's Lib, and the growing environmentalist movement, all of which are major themes in the novel. I left The Word for the World is Forest thinking that another hundred pages and some additional polishing would have mitigated its flaws, turning a strong novel into a great one. But aside from the brevity and clichés, Le Guin's prose still shines, and the execution is quite good... the rotating-PoV in particular is well done, allowing the reader to learn quite a bit of information, and see both sides of the story, in a natural way that precludes exposition. Her parable hits you with all the subtlety of a Mack truck---it's not the nuanced, layered novel that Left Hand of Darkness or The Disposessed are---but it's a surprisingly entertaining novel, and well worth the few hours it'll take to read through its 190 pages.

Umsida

'The Word for World is Forest' is a mixed read. By that I mean that there were many strong aspects of this book and many weak aspects.

Pros:
As usual, Le Guin does an excellent job of imagining, and describing, the near infinite diversity of human life. 'The Word for World is Forest' is a fun, quick read, filled with decent dialogue and lots of action. The character development is woven in nicely to the narrative and the plot, and the plot has a good pace. In fact, the pacing is the book's strongest technical aspect. Le Guin does an excellent job of changing perspective as well as establishing character motivation. This book is also a fun look into the development of her multi-planetary society from the perspective of a peripheral planet.

The hero, Selver Thele, the native society and the anthropologist become quite complex throughout the story's development. Le Guin does, as per usual, an excellent job of building a coherent, nuanced society, established through it's historical and environmental context and by the interactions of its members.

Cons:
The villain, Captain Davidson, is perhaps the largest detriment to the book's overall quality. He is entirely unlikable, is racist, misogynist, violent, jingoistic and has no regard for nature. He is an ugly caricature of a 'man's man' and has no complexity beyond that. He is placed in direct contrast to the heroes, the Athsheans who are a race of peace-loving, nature-oriented natives with low technology and dreaming mystics. The anthropologist who is charged with studying this sub-species of humanity seeks to ensure their protection through academic and political endeavours. The Athsheans are enslaved for labor and sex by the Terran military. These Terrans are charged with logging the planet to aid Earth's waning resources. The Athsheans rise up and begin guerilla warfare against the Terran military. The central hero, Selver Thele, an Athshean brutalized by Captain David, leads the assaults. The anthropologist realizes that that the Terran military in general and Captain David specifically have taught Selver, and by extension all Athsheans, hate, violence and death. Fortunately there is a semi-happy ending with the defeat of the local Terrans and the legitimization of their peace-agreement by the new Terran government.

Le Guin's blatant ideological preaching can be a little distracting at times.

Overall, this is a good book. Even though the ideological themes and the handling of the villain were clumsy, and the heroes got favored development, the pacing and world-building were quite enjoyable. For those who read Le Guin's work in published order, this book is also an interesting look at Le Guin's growth as a writer.

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