THE LATHE OF HEAVEN - URSULA K. LEGUIN

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It’s all slappers from Yay-Area Legend Ursula LeGuin. I’ve now read 3 of her novels, which, admittedly, are probably the 3 most famous, and they all go super maney. I would say this is the least of the 3 (THE DISPOSSESSED and THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS) but, taken together, this is as strong a series of novels as exists in 20th century sci-fi. The plot concerns a man whose dreams become reality, but only he notices. Every time he wakes up, it is in a new reality, only he remember the previous worlds. Eventually a psychiatrist figures out what is going on and tries to use a machine he’s created, along with hypnotism, to manipulate the dreams to both build utopia and, of course, for personal aggrandizement. It really reminds me of STALKER, the greatest Russian Movie, in that it constantly interrogates the nature of desires and what it would really mean to get what you want. This book would also make a wonderful movie (addendum: I just looked it up and there was, apparently, a movie made 1980 as well as another version in 2002). It is perhaps the most film-able of the LeGuin (though I personally prefer to see a TLHOD). The book takes place in Portland (which becomes the Earth Capital in several of the timelines) and features a lot of Mt. Hood (the volcano erupts in several timelines). Always good to see the PNW getting some fictional shine. LeGuin is also frequently background environmental issues, which feels really ahead of its time. She also chooses to at least address issues of race and prominently feature non-YT characters. Basically none of the other YT sci-fi people do this, no one is more woke (a joke, what I actually mean is no one is more engaged in the real world that most people actually live in). There are aliens in this book towards the end that speak gnomically and seem to be sort of space-hippies. They really reminded me of the aliens in FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS. Like most LeGuin, there’s lots of Daoism. Lots of characters learning that they must not fight against a natural flow. Lots of talk about balance and the eternity of nature. Lots of Lao Tzu and Zhuang Zhou (the king) quotes. i’m pretty partial to “Heaven and Earth are not Humane.”. Excellent. Do I need to read WIZARD OF EARTHSEA next? 1 Lathe