The Dispossessed is one of the great science fiction novels from one of the great science fiction writers. Le Guin’s Hainish Cycle stands as a universe of critique. In The Left Hand of Darkness, a critique of gender, while in The Dispossessed, a strand of gender-centric critique still runs through, but as a consequence of the foregrounded critique of power and authority. In Dispossessed, Le Guin seems to imply that eternal revolution—and consequently, eternal renewal—is necessary for our lives to remain truly free. Without the presence of permanent revolution, Le Guin argues, society becomes stale, oppressive, and lifeless. Even without the literal presence of a boot on one’s neck, there is a cultural distaste for those that are heterodox.
I can’t help but wonder of Le Guin was at some level influenced by The Rebel by Albert Camus. As one of his lesser-read books, it gets less attention than such classics as The Myth of Sisyphus or The Stranger, or more recently, The Plague. Only real Camus-heads read The Rebel. In The Dispossessed, as in The Rebel, the story has a clear disdain for the entrenchment of ideology and power by either left or right. Shevek hates that he cannot advance his work on the home planet of Annares because of ideology and committee, only to discover that the advancement offered to him on the capitalist planet of Urras is provided only by the hidden domination of the proletariat.
The genius of the novel is the telling of the story in media res, that is, the book begins in the middle of the plot. Telling the story in this manner allows the reader to experience the unfolding of dissatisfaction in both societies. By the end of the book, we see that Shevek is unsatisfied and alienated, yet maintains that only by engaging with one another may we continue to have freedom.
One last thing. I wanted to read what other people thought of this text, and did what any other good student would do. Go to Wikipedia, go to criticism, and start reading. I was surprised to see that some writers thought it was distinctly anti-feminist. Which seems laughable in the face of Le Guin’s work. One writer, mentions that “the male protagonist … negates much of the feminist message.” Which I find rather ridiculous. Shall we say The Left Hand of Darkness’s critique of gender fades simply because Genly Ai is a man? Shall we negate the feminist legacy that this has? Have we failed so much to see the forest through the trees on this matter? Perhaps this review is simply a product of its birth in uncritical pop second-wave feminism. Upon any kind of deep analysis, if The Dispossessed were indeed gender-swapped and told from the perspective of a woman, it would utterly fail as a feminist novel. There would still be domination, destruction, capitalist excess. But it would read much differently if it were women dominating the lower classes, and waging war, and sending their children to die in distant lands to protect land and wealth they shall never see. We see many times throughout the novel that Shevek is utterly confused by the domination of women. If indeed we are to advance the liberation of all people, it should be the case that all people are disgusted with domination.
I have had this thought for a long time now. Toying around with why a person would think that having the POV character be a man would negate the feminist message. Perhaps it is an uncritical affection for the image of woman. Indeed, some feminist writers seem to participate in what seems to me to be a kind of “vibes feminism.” Wherein feminist praxis is defined by the presence of woman qua woman. The presence of women in a boardroom. In media. In stories. Et Cetera. This, I believe, is the most fundamentally anti-feminist thing one can be. It is assimilation of the female form to remain palatable for a male audience rather than overthrowing that which is bounding us. Perhaps then, we should pay attention to those like Ursula K. Le Guin, who offer not a book from the perspective of a woman doing man things, but rather a book that tells the story of a man who discovers that the necessary precondition to absolute freedom for women is the annihilation of class difference. One would be wise to listen to Le Guin.