The Dispossessed
On sale
3rd October 2019
Price: £10.99
One of the very best must-read novels of all time – with a new introduction by Roddy Doyle
‘A well told tale signifying a good deal; one to be read again and again’ THE TIMES
‘The book I wish I had written … It’s so far away from my own imagination, I’d love to sit at my desk one day and discover that I could think and write like Ursula Le Guin’ Roddy Doyle
‘Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power’ OBSERVER
‘There was a wall. It did not look important – even a child could climb it. But the idea was real. Like all walls it was ambiguous, two-faced. What was inside it and what was outside it depended upon which side of it you were on…’
Shevek is brilliant scientist who is attempting to find a new theory of time – but there are those who are jealous of his work, and will do anything to block him. So he leaves his homeland, hoping to find a place of more liberty and tolerance. Initially feted, Shevek soon finds himself being used as a pawn in a deadly political game.
With powerful themes of freedom, society and the natural world’s influence on competition and co-operation, THE DISPOSSESSED is a true classic of the 20th century.
‘A well told tale signifying a good deal; one to be read again and again’ THE TIMES
‘The book I wish I had written … It’s so far away from my own imagination, I’d love to sit at my desk one day and discover that I could think and write like Ursula Le Guin’ Roddy Doyle
‘Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power’ OBSERVER
‘There was a wall. It did not look important – even a child could climb it. But the idea was real. Like all walls it was ambiguous, two-faced. What was inside it and what was outside it depended upon which side of it you were on…’
Shevek is brilliant scientist who is attempting to find a new theory of time – but there are those who are jealous of his work, and will do anything to block him. So he leaves his homeland, hoping to find a place of more liberty and tolerance. Initially feted, Shevek soon finds himself being used as a pawn in a deadly political game.
With powerful themes of freedom, society and the natural world’s influence on competition and co-operation, THE DISPOSSESSED is a true classic of the 20th century.
Reviews
A seamless creation: everything is made up, nothing seems arbitrary
The book I wish I had written ... It's so far away from my own imagination, I'd love to sit at my desk one day and discover that I could think and write like Ursula Le Guin
Dystopia and utopia are entwined in Le Guin's story of hierarchy-bound Urras and its anarchist neighbour planet Anarres. With stylish prose and intellectual rigour, Le Guin charts the journey of young physicist Shevek, whose theories cause upheaval on both planets, as he struggles to survive, falls in love and contemplates human society
This remains a challenging and urgent book
Written with thought, care - even love
A deeply imagined work of art
An extraordinary work ... [Le Guin] created a working society in exquisite detail ... a fully realised hypothetical culture [as well as] living breathing characters who are inevitable products of that culture
Le Guin's book ... is so persuasive that it ought to put a stop to the writing of prescriptive Utopias for at least 10 years
A well told tale signifying a good deal; one to be read again and again
One of the great American political novels . . . Full of intrigue and drama
Le Guin's storytelling is sharp, magisterial, funny, thought-provoking and exciting, exhibiting all that science fiction can be
The Dispossessed paints a hopeful; and complex portrait of a society rooted in collectivism
One of our finest projectionists of brave old and other worlds
The Dispossessed is still one of Sci-Fi's' smartest books . . . Remains a thoughtful exploration of politics and economics nearly 50 years later
Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power
[Le Guin had] the heart of a poet who knew all too well the difference between miracle and eureka, revelation and revolution
