The Left Hand of Le Guin Podcast

A discussion of 'The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction' with David Naimon and Susan DeFreitas

A discussion with Evan Dahm about three classic Le Guin stories: "Semley's Necklace," "The Word of Unbinding," and "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow."

Discussion with June Martin about Le Guin's last novel Lavinia

Discussion of The Eye of the Heron with Mattie Lewis.

A discussion with Prof. Tim Miller of Florida Atlantic University about THE BEGINNING PLACE.

We read two essays "American SF and the Other" and "Science Fiction and Mrs. Brown" from her 1975 essay collection THE LANGUAGE OF THE NIGHT

Discussion of The Left Hand of Darkness with Kate Sheckler of Marianopolis College in Quebec, Canada

Discussion with writer Paul Jessup about The Tombs of Atuan Intro 0:00 Paul’s 1st encounter with Le Guin and 1st read of THE TOMBS OF ATUAN 3:35 The place of ATUAN in the greater collection/its difference from the cycle 5:42 Anthropological influences/Ishi of Two Worlds (Yana group) 8:10 ATUAN’s compression/density/atmosphere/structure (Paul mistakes the opening scene for the one in THE FARTHEST SHORE. Oops!) 11:15 Belated, brief summary of book (spoilers!) 15:25 Bildungsromans/the book’s rituals/religious mythos 18:00 Claims of “austerity” in Le Guin’s prose/Kyle’s shock/the poetry and mis-expectation of overwriting in fantasy 28:30 Tolkien’s influence, positive and negative, on writers of Le Guin’s generation 38:05 ATUAN and folk horror (THE WICKER MAN was released 5 yrs after ATUAN in 1975!) 41:40 Relationship btw character prior to Ged’s appearing halfway thru 43:10 Reversal of agency/power in ATUAN/Le Guin’s narrative subversion 48:50 Jungian psychology in ATUAN 51:48 The leaving behind of childhood 55:35 Ring of Erreth-Akbe as MacGuffin 57:12 Maps, map confusion, and psychogeography of book 1:01:00

Discussion of the language of Earthsea with Kyle Winkler and guests James Gifford and Simon McNeil. Next episode, we move onto the Tombs of Atuan, with author Paul Jessup.

Discussion of A Wizard of Earthsea with Kyle Winkler and guests James Gifford and Simon McNeil