12 Sept 2025

Episode 6.13 - Le Guin Part 5: Q&A

Listeners offer their questions from narrator trust to activism to teaching controversy. I rant–or respond–back.

Important Links Mentioned:

• Have a Question? Literary Nomads Mailbag: https://forms.gle/WKGp1YWrazNZ3TLt8 


• Literary Nomads, Journey 5, “Dorian Gray and Difficult Conversations”: https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/transcript-5-08-dorian-gray-and-difficult-conversations/

Complete Resources: https://waywordsstudio.com/project/le-guin-omelas/

CHAPTERS

00:00      Better a Q & R

02:04      Opening Theme

02:43      Getting Questions

04:03      Is the narrator in ‘Omelas’ unreliable?

10:45      Some examples of subverting fantasy tropes?

16:29      How do I keep contradictions in my head?

21:10      How am I supposed to take action in uncertainty?

27:35      How do I find the ‘main idea’ of the story?

32:08      How can we teach controversy without triggering?

41:32      How about some teaching strategies?

50:49      Literary Nomads Model

53:51      Closing Credits

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New to Literary Nomads? Check out episode 5.00 to find out what we’re all about: https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/waywords_podcast/an-introduction-and-irony/

Transcript:  https://waywordsstudio.com/general/transcript/6-13-le-guin-part-5

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Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas.

Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses.

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CREDITS:

Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)

Chapter headings by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski

USING THIS WORK:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution.

MLA CITATION:

Chisnell, Steve. “Le Guin Part 5: Q&A,” Literary Nomads. Waywords Studio, 12 Sept 2025, https://waywordsstudio.com/project/le-guin-omelas/.