Shevek, a brilliant physicist, decides to take action. he will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the walls of hatred that have isolated his planet of anarchists from the rest of the civilized universe. To do this dangerous task will mean giving up his family and possibly his life. Shevek must make the unprecedented journey to the utopian mother planet, Anarres, to challenge the complex structures of life and living, and ignite the fires of change.
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Ursula K. LeGuin's The Dispossessed is a slow read. The plot is far from action-packed, the text occasionally borders on didactic & the conclusion, true to the pace of the story, is not the blowout of typical scifi novel.
But it's not a typical scifi novel. It's more like a philosophical treatise on the nature of society.
Shevek is a brilliant temporal physicist, born & raised in the anarchist society of the moon Anarres, who returns to the mother planet of Urras in an attempt to break down the walls of hate that have built up between the two worlds.
That's pretty much the book in one sentence. The first chapter details Shevek's departure from Anarres & journey to Urras. After that, the novel tells two stories in parallel, alternating by chapter.
One story starts from where the first chapter ends & follows Shevek during his time on Urras, where he must deal for the first time with a society which values property. There he's free to do the work that he was blocked from doing on Anarres--completing the theories of simultaneity that will revolutionize how people talk & travel between worlds. He wants to use his theories to unite people, but the longer he stays on Urras, the more he becomes convinced that the corruption he was always told existed there is true--corruption that will make him a pawn in Urrasti politics with drastic consequences for other worlds.
The second story ends at the first chapter, telling about Shevek's life on Anarres & how he went from being a proponent of Anarresti society to one of its most hated citizens. He experiences both the highs & lows of what anarchist society has to offer--Le Guin is not afraid to expose the flaws in the world she has created, & Shevek finds first himself & later his family in danger as he struggles with the moral & political mores of a lawless society.
As The Dispossessed unfolds, LeGuin reveals two complex societies that are not what they initially appear, & her willingness both to praise & criticize them is what makes this novel work. She presents in Anarres a revolutionary society where people labor together willingly because anything less means death on the bleak moon. Then, just as she's convinced the reader that Anarres is the place to be, she turns the tables.
Often in science fiction or fantasy the author will develop a society that operates outside the norm, then write revolutionist characters that don't seem much affected by that society. Shevek, on the other hand, embraces all aspects of his society, & in doing so LeGuin creates something personal & relevant in a world not so unlike ours.
There are little touches all over that show just how much the characters are a part of their society: no one on Anarres uses possessive language except in reprimand because no one really owns anything. Shevek gets antsy on Urras because its classism provides people to do all the things he used to do for himself on Anarres; he lets people do their jobs, but always with the feeling that something's not right.
What got to me the most was a certain scene in which Shevek
knowingly performs an inconsequential act that's contrary to his beliefs because he knows it will bring someone close to him joy sometime in the future. This scene both fascinated & touched me. It stayed in the back of my mind as I read the novel & left me wondering if she was going to mention what had happened in those few lines again. Imagine my surprise when I got to the last page of the book and there it was--the inconsequential scene that had affected me so much rendered consequential within the last lines of the book. I think that's what made this novel for me--LeGuin, in the midst of an already wonderful story about the complexities of society & human nature, put in one last personal touch, & it was the very touch I'd been waiting for.
If you're looking for something fast-paced with spaceships & ray guns & interstellar war, The Dispossessed is not it. But if you are looking for a novel that digs a little deeper than most science fiction, or if you just want to try something different, The Dispossessed might be right up your alley.--Ashley Jackson (abr.)
