We finally finished reading the book! I must confess, even though Genly completed his mission and was able to ally the Ekuman with Gethen, I feel the end seems to be lacking. Perhaps it was because i was expecting a happy ending and i guess that didn't really happen. I really wish Genly could be happy (I remember i read this story on another blog that a person no longer could smile because the person that made them smile was no longer there and it reminded me of Genly and Estraven - since Estraven died, it seems that Genly can't find the true joy and happiness that he felt during the time he spent with Estraven.) Anyways, I'm glad Genly succeeded in his mission though.
To be honest, Genly is a lot stronger than i initially thought he was. He chooses to stay in Gethen even though he has the option of going back home. For me, i don't think i'd be able to stay in the place that reminded me of such bittersweet memories that'd bring pain to my heart. At the end of the chapter, he visits Estraven's father's house and he remarks that ...
"I had come on a fool's errand to Estre, hoping for solace. There was no solace; and why should a pilgramage to the place of my friend's childhood, fill my absence, soothe any remorse? Nothing could be changed now."
At first, i thought he was crazy - i didn't understand why he'd dig up memories of Estraven because i know it'd hurt Genly but then i realized that i do understand. In fact, i've actually done something very similar. When one of my friend and I "drifted apart", i remember i went back to all the places we use to go in order to "relive" the times we shared together. I wanted to remember and perhaps find closure but every single time i went to those places, i didn't get closure. In fact, it just reminded me of the pain of losing this friend of mine and i just kept asking myself "why". I couldn't figure out why this happened between us. Basically, what i'm trying to get at is that I understand why Genly went back - he hoped that maybe if he went back, he'd be able to move on; he was seeking closure. But unfortunately, when people do stupid things like that, it only causes more pain (in my opinion at least).
Overall though, i really enjoyed this book. It was confusing at first but it ended up being an interesting read. Good choice!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Did you pick up on who was Estraven's original kemmering, the person he swore the "true vow of faithfulness" to, which "was not spoken, nor could it be spoken, and the man I swore it to is dead and the promise broken, long ago"?
ReplyDeleteThe final clue is on the last page, where the old Lord introduces Sorve as "the sons' son of Estre", the child of both his sons, Arek who has long been dead and Therem who is now also dead. These names, Arek and Therem, also link back to the story "Estraven the Traitor" (which is also what people call our Estraven). Le Guin herself says that the book is only secondarily about sex, but primarily about faith, truth, and betrayal. Who are the real traitors, and to what?
There is a 25th Anniversary Edition of the book which contains some very interesting appendixes, although the main part of the text hasn't been changed. Unfortunately, they weren't included in later editions of the book. There are two slightly rewritten versions of the first chapter. In the first one, all the masculine pronouns and titles are changed to neutral ones: Sovereign instead of King, Peer instead of Lord, and it talks about people instead of men and so on, neutralizing the sexist assumptions. Even more interestingly, Le Guin uses the invented pronoun "e" instead of "he" or "she" (pronounce it with the "e" of "set") for Karhiders who aren't in kemmer.
ReplyDeleteSo for example, the passage that introduces Estraven runs like this in the original:
"Wiping sweat from his dark forehead, the man -- man I must say, having said he and his -- the man answers: [....] So he often speaks, frank yet cautious, ironic; as if always aware that I see and judge as an alient: a singular awareness in one of so isolate a race and so high a rank. He is one of the most powerful men in the country; I am not sure of the proper historical equivalent of his position, vizier or prime minister or councillor; the Karhidish word for it means the King's Ear. He is lord of a Domain and lord of the Kingdom, a mover of great events."
In the rewritten version, this becomes:
"Wiping sweat from es dark forehead, e answers: [....] So e often speaks, frank yet cautious, ironic; as if always aware that I see and judge as an alient: a singular awareness in one of so isolate a race and so high a rank. E is one of the most powerful people in the country; I am not sure of the proper historical equivalent of es position, vizier or prime minister or councillor; the Karhidish word for it means the Sovereign's Ear. E is the heir of a Domain and a Peer of the Realm, a mover of great events."
In the second revised version, all the pronouns and titles and other words become feminine instead of all being masculine. Here's Genly talking to Lady Tibe:
"The ceremony of the keystone is most impressive --"
"Yes indeed. That ceremony descends to us from very-long-ago. But no doubt Lady Estraven explained all that to you."
"Lady Estraven is most obliging." I was trying to speak insipidly, yet everything I said to Tibe seemed to take on a double meaning.
"Oh, very much indeed," said Tibe. "Indeed, Lady Estraven is famous for her kindness to foreigners."
[snip]
"Things aren't as they were in our grandmothers' days, are they?"
"I scarcely know, ma'am, but I've heard the same lament on other worlds."
Whoof. As Le Guin says, Lady Estraven isn't a Gethenian noble, she's someone who's going to bounce into bed with the gamekeeper. The female titles and words hit the reader much more strongly than the male ones. "The king was pregnant" is funny; "the queen was pregnant" is just normal.
(continued)
(continued)
ReplyDeleteIn the third appendix, there is a version of "Estraven the Traitor" with "e" for people in somer and "he" and "she" for people in kemmer:
"This [Stokven] was a stranger, young as enself [Estraven]. [...] Estraven saw that the fire of kemmer was in the face of the other."
"E said, 'I am Arek of Estre.' "
"She said, 'I am Therem of Stok.' "
"Then Estraven laughed, for e was still weak, and said, 'Did you wake me back to life to kill me, Stokven?' "
"She said, 'No.' "
"She put out her hand and touched Estraven's hand, as if she were making certain that the frost was driven. out. At the touch, though Estraven was a day or two from his kemmer, he felt the fire waking in himself." Here we vividly see the transition from somer to kemmer in the words of the narrative itself.
Lastly, we have a version of Genly's realization up on the Ice that uses "she" for Estraven in kemmer and "he" for Estraven in somer. As a result the form that his realization takes is subtly different. The original reads "And I saw then again, and for good, what I had always been afraid to see, and had pretended not to see in him; that he was a woman as well as a man. [...] What I was left with was, at last, acceptance of him as he was." But in the appendix it says: "And I saw then again, and for good, what I had always been afraid to see, and had pretended not to see in him; that he was a woman, entirely now, and in part always. [...] What I was left with was, at last, acceptance of Estraven as a human being."
I hope you enjoyed the book, and I hope you think of it again. I've just finished reading it again for the who-knows-how-many-th time since I first read it in my teens. I'm fifty now, and there are things in it I never saw before. I expect to see more new things when I'm sixty, and when I'm seventy.
Praise also light, and Creation unfinished.