Two-Fifths

This evening as I was sorting ruthlessly through the accumulation of papers in my desk, I came across a drawer full of old cards people had sent me.  Steeling myself, I did away with all but the most meaningful, peeking inside each one to remember the card’s sender and occasion, and to see whether I really needed it.  Occasionally, scraps of paper – addresses or phone numbers – had worked their way inside the cards, so I carefully separated the papers I needed from the ones I didn’t.  But to my surprise:  Merry Christmas!  I had accidentally left a twenty dollar bill inside a Christmas card from 2007.

Immediately I thought, Two-fifths of a tank of gas.  Thanks, grandma.

The Dispossessed

The first time I read this book, I utterly failed to understand it.  It was six or seven years ago; I did not even know who Ursula K. Le Guin was; I cannot remember how I came by the book.  Though I didn’t comprehend it, I could easily see that the book was Important.  The Dispossessed can be a slow-moving story, ponderously full of political and philosophical theory, but it has certainly earned its place as a book one must read.

I don’t mean to imply that Le Guin has written a treatise or essay – the master has again crafted a beautiful novel.  Shevek, a brilliant physicist, lives on Anarres, the moon of the planet Urras.  Several generations ago, anarchists colonized Anarres to escape from the wanton materialism of their past, and Shevek has grown up in a society where there is no government, every person is equal, all needs are provided for, and no one owns anything.  For instance, Shevek’s daughter offers, “You can share the handkerchief that I use.”  Rather than “having” a handkerchief that is “hers,” the child innocently reflects the mores of the society: Everyone shares.

One of the novel’s storylines tells of Shevek’s childhood and development on Anarres, how he comes to publish his world-changing work Principles of Simultaneity, which lays the groundwork for his further investigation into the General Temporal Theory.  The Dispossessed is set during the invention of the ansible, an instantaneous communication device that revolutionizes science and all the worlds.  Along those lines, Shevek’s work will establish the theory necessary for transilience, or faster-than-light travel.  The second storyline tells of Shevek’s experience visiting Urras, where he meets fellow physicists but finds himself unwittingly involved in foreign politics.  As an anarchist, he is not accustomed to war, or even lies, and the wealth-based society is often shocking and confusing to him.

One can see how this situation is prime for social commentary.  Shevek, telling his Urrasti hosts about life on Anarres says:

But really, it is the question of ends and means.  After all, work is done for work’s sake.  It is the lasting pleasure of life.  The private conscience knows that.  And also the social conscience, the opinion of one’s neighbors.  There is no other reward, on Anarres, no other law.  One’s own pleasure, and the respect of one’s fellows.  That is all.

Life on the moon is not, however, as idealistic as that.  Not only does Le Guin critique materialism with socialism, she points out problems with socialism as well.  Though it is Edenic, Anarres is not Eden.  For instance, Shevek goes to Urras because his own people simply aren’t interested in physics or the General Temporal Theory.  The scientific community on his planet could not understand his discovery, so he was forced to deliver it to a different society.

Again, I feel that I am making the novel sound too distant, flat and theoretical.  If it were a physics paper, I would probably still recommend it, but Le Guin’s talent and gift for character comes through as usual.  Shevek, and the worlds he learns to live in, are unforgettable.