Sunday, July 31, 2011

LHoD notes

As you may have guessed from my previous two posts, I'm sort of looking through old English notes just for the heck of it.

In my Science Fiction class we studied The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. le Guin, and since I'm currently examining that book I figured I may as well collect my notes on that book from that class in one place, and that may as well be here, on my book blog!

Aaaand, it turns out that I didn't actually take very many notes on this book in class. Either we didn't talk about it very much or I spent more energy in discussion than on note taking. Probably the latter.

[FYI, in copying out my notes I found myself making editorial comments here and there.]

SPOILERS

What does it mean to be human?

No war because...
**Gender?
**Envirnoment?

Weather necessitates closeness

Not really patriotism
Can you have war without patriotism?

[Final page of notes is all about hero's journey as discussed by Joseph Campbell, but I won't write all that out here. Only...]
**Keystone (289)
**pg 245-6

Major themes

Gender
Religion/spirituality
Monarchy/beurocacy
Technological ignorance
Cultural relativism
Environment -- harsh, cold, shapes culture and people
Homosexuality/ambisexuality
**Hermaphradism
Coexisting, coexistent dichotomies
**Gender
**Government system
**Self/other
**Alien/native
**Past/present
**King/servant

Shifgrethor

Prestige, honor, samura

How it's different from other books

Non-linear storyline
Multiple narrators
More modern (gender roles) [I'm looking at this now and trying to figure out how this is more modern...??]
New word: kemmering

What does it mean to be gay? [Now I'm wondering what this has to do with anything...but it's in my notes, so here it is!]
**attracted to people, not gender
**people not defined by gender
[Now I just have to point out, even though it isn't in my notes, that homosexuals are attracted to one gender -- their own! We ought to have been discussing bisexuals in class, not gays.]

Kemmer
**Physical (in kemmer)
**In heat
**Vow kemmering -- marriage, only once, no state/religion bound

Mind speech

Shifgrethor

Passive on surface
**(small violence)
**Gender + environment

Environment

Freewriting

Well, there are there "perverts," who may be their version of homosexuals. They are looked down on. Perhaps it's a comment that the unusual is viewed as strange and undesirable?

Perhaps that we shouldn't fall in love based on gender -- everyone be bi-sexual --> person first, gender second.
**Then what about the perverts?

pg 213 about friendship

pg 247

Novel is about everything
focused on gender

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