Literary Crushes
Day 9. I’ll be posting one a day for the next ten days–a list of my top ten completely platonic and not in any way obsessive literary crushes. Here follow my all-time favorite cerebral, brooding, and sometimes tragic heroes in my very favorite books about them.
Therem Harth rem ir Estraven. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. As a counterpoint character, Estraven remains an enigma throughout most of this book; the protagonist is the human Genly Ai, an alien to the planet Winter, or Gethen. Genly’s job is to persuade the countries of Gethen to join the Ekumen, a peaceful cooperative of hundreds of planets, but the politics and social values of the countries Karhide and Orgoreyn are complex far beyond his ken. Estraven, a Karhidish politician, risks his career, dignity, happiness, and life to help Genly reach a goal that is larger than any one country, or person.
Key points: politics, winter, self-sacrifice, espionage, pride, arctic travel
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