Wednesday Wordage--Ursula K. LeGuin

So, Ursula K. LeGuin died yesterday.  I've read a handful of her books, and definitely need to read more; the ones that I've read were uniformly excellent and expanding--both literary and imaginative, and challenging.

I am a fan of the notion of "canon."  I like the idea that there can be a body of work that is held in common, that everybody can refer to, and that any idea can be deepened by reference to a line or a character from canon.  I can, for instance, complain that my brother is dumping a lot of responsibility on me with regard to my parents' estate--or I can do the same, and say "am I my brother's keeper" and tie in to the whole business with Cain and Abel and guilt and primogeniture and responsibility and sin.

The idea of canon has become a little bit frayed of late, and with some reason.  Until just a few decades ago, canon was very white and very male and very straight and highly Christian.  And, also, very dead.  Whole new genres are out there--TV, movies, Pop music, propaganda posters--and some things really should be part of everybody's reference.  They're not taught in a culture class in school, though they are getting to the point where maybe they ought to be.  I've been a complete outsider in some conversations because of unfamiliarity with "Star Wars" or the works of Bob Dylan.

Science Fiction is another one of these new genres, and while there is no official canon, you can ask a  hundred fans and there are some books that will be almost universally referenced.  A lot of folks will talk about "golden age" sci-fi; Asimov, Doc Smith, Burroughs, and so on.  Well, since I wasn't taught a canon, I approached science fiction all out of order.  I read a bunch of Ursula K. LeGuin's stuff many years ago, along with some other more modern authors.  That was what I accepted as sci-fi.  Then, just a couple of years ago, I realized that people were getting worked up about "golden age" sci fi, so I decided that if I wanted to have a more complete view of the field, I ought to read it.  So, with the help of the local library and Project Gutenberg, I read a bunch of The Classics.

I have to say that it was kind of a letdown.  I remember thinking, all of the time, "where the women at?"  Yes, there were some adventurous adventures and action-packed action, but if you have the impression that sci-fi has the intellectual and social daring of LeGuin and Lem and Ellison, then most of the Golden Age stuff is just pulpy fluff, and not necessarily all that well written.

So here's a fond ave atque vale to Ursula K. LeGuin, and sincerest thanks for making me believe that genre literature is actually literature, and making me disappointed when it fails to be such.

What should I read next?