Ursula K. Le Guin: Science Fiction in Discussion with Fantasy
I recently came across a great article about Robert Jordan as the American Tolkien that actually provided some really good insight into two of my favourite authors. I was aware of the fact that Tolkien's books were written as a mythical version of English history, and that Jordan had made our time part of the cyclical past/future of his world, but I had never considered how the two authors were dialoguing with one another through their perceptions of time.
And then I remembered one of my recent reads: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin. It is a science fiction book in which (among other things) the main character struggles to reconcile the theories of time as an arrow and as a circle. Shevek, the scientist, believes that time can simultaneously be linear and cyclical. Now, if you don't know, Le Guin is a fantasy writer herself, known for her Earthsea series. So I wonder whether her theory about time is meant to join the dialogue that exists in the fantasy realm, particularly between Tolkien and Jordan. Perhaps Le Guin felt that the best way to try and reconcile these perceptions of time was through a book that used science, rather than magic. I wish I could remember more about her Earthsea novels, but I was only 10 or 11 when I read the book, so I have very little memory of the story. I wonder whether her fantasy books ever touch on this subject matter, or whether she prefers to handle such ideas in science fiction.
Ursula K. Le Guin does little narratively to prove her theory of time, until the invention of the ansible at the end of the book. The ansible is a communication device that uses Shevek's calculations and understanding of time in order to allow instant communication throughout the universe. Structurally, however, I think that Le Guin does a better job than either of the men at trying to make her point about the passage of time.
Obviously Tolkien can easily tell a linear narrative, since he perceives time as an arrow. Jordan, on the other hand, would do better to have the story loop back around at the end. Since he can't do that (it would take far too long) he instead uses a cyclical structure in the way that he begins and ends each book. Each novel begins and ends with a prophecy concerning the Dragon Reborn. Furthermore, each book opens with the same passage on the first page, sometimes with slight variations: “The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, and Age long past, a wind rose in the Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning, there are neither Beginnings nor endings to the turning of The Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.” Robert Jordan has a much harder time trying to reflect the cyclical nature of time in the structure of his story, since novels are inherently chronological stories.
Le Guin, however, uses a method of storytelling in which the chapters jump back and forth between the "present" and the "past". The present chapters cover a much shorter period of time, while the alternate chapters focus on select pieces of Shevek's past, ones that often bear some resemblance or connection to the events of the chapters before and/or after them. While there is still a linear progress to the book, there appear to be two simultaneous narrative timelines. So are the "past" chapters flashbacks, or are they also present events? It can be read either way, but Shevek's understanding of time makes it plausible to read as the latter.
Why Le Guin chose to tell her story in the science fiction genre rather than fantasy, I cannot say, but what I can say is that what she chose to do in this novel was to discuss the two perceptions of time in a scientific context rather than a fantastical one.
It should be noted that Le Guin published her novel about 15 years before Jordan's first installment in The Wheel of Time, thus Le Guin's may reconcile the two theories of time, but it was written before Jordan ever responded to Tolkien. What all does this mean? Honestly, I don't eactly know, but I find it all very interesting.
And then I remembered one of my recent reads: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin. It is a science fiction book in which (among other things) the main character struggles to reconcile the theories of time as an arrow and as a circle. Shevek, the scientist, believes that time can simultaneously be linear and cyclical. Now, if you don't know, Le Guin is a fantasy writer herself, known for her Earthsea series. So I wonder whether her theory about time is meant to join the dialogue that exists in the fantasy realm, particularly between Tolkien and Jordan. Perhaps Le Guin felt that the best way to try and reconcile these perceptions of time was through a book that used science, rather than magic. I wish I could remember more about her Earthsea novels, but I was only 10 or 11 when I read the book, so I have very little memory of the story. I wonder whether her fantasy books ever touch on this subject matter, or whether she prefers to handle such ideas in science fiction.
Ursula K. Le Guin does little narratively to prove her theory of time, until the invention of the ansible at the end of the book. The ansible is a communication device that uses Shevek's calculations and understanding of time in order to allow instant communication throughout the universe. Structurally, however, I think that Le Guin does a better job than either of the men at trying to make her point about the passage of time.
Obviously Tolkien can easily tell a linear narrative, since he perceives time as an arrow. Jordan, on the other hand, would do better to have the story loop back around at the end. Since he can't do that (it would take far too long) he instead uses a cyclical structure in the way that he begins and ends each book. Each novel begins and ends with a prophecy concerning the Dragon Reborn. Furthermore, each book opens with the same passage on the first page, sometimes with slight variations: “The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, and Age long past, a wind rose in the Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning, there are neither Beginnings nor endings to the turning of The Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.” Robert Jordan has a much harder time trying to reflect the cyclical nature of time in the structure of his story, since novels are inherently chronological stories.
Le Guin, however, uses a method of storytelling in which the chapters jump back and forth between the "present" and the "past". The present chapters cover a much shorter period of time, while the alternate chapters focus on select pieces of Shevek's past, ones that often bear some resemblance or connection to the events of the chapters before and/or after them. While there is still a linear progress to the book, there appear to be two simultaneous narrative timelines. So are the "past" chapters flashbacks, or are they also present events? It can be read either way, but Shevek's understanding of time makes it plausible to read as the latter.
Why Le Guin chose to tell her story in the science fiction genre rather than fantasy, I cannot say, but what I can say is that what she chose to do in this novel was to discuss the two perceptions of time in a scientific context rather than a fantastical one.
It should be noted that Le Guin published her novel about 15 years before Jordan's first installment in The Wheel of Time, thus Le Guin's may reconcile the two theories of time, but it was written before Jordan ever responded to Tolkien. What all does this mean? Honestly, I don't eactly know, but I find it all very interesting.
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