Ursula LeGuin is a science fiction and fantasy author known for creating alternatives futures. Many of her ideas challenged core concepts of what it means to be human. While not traditionally dystopian, her exploration politics and society through the lens of gender, race and sexuality allowed us to reflect at the dystopian elements in our own world. For example, Earthsea had dark-skinned protagonists, criticizing a general assumption that science and fiction and fantasy protagonists were usually white. In the world of the Hainish Universe, The Left Hand of Darkness explored gender where humans are ambisexual which means they had no fixed gender.
Dystopias push us to explore and challenge the assumptions that drive our world, so that we don’t drive ourselves toward a true dystopian future. In that, LegGuin was a master.
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I have only read one of Ursula LeGuin’s books and it was some years ago. I think it is time that I re-visit her writing so thank you for sharing. I have been trying to think of what to read next so this has been helpful.
Stopping in from A to Z: https://writingiscommunication.wordpress.com/2021/04/24/u-utterance/
Glad to be of help. Thanks for dropping by.