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A review by magicraft
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin
4.0
This story is another solid example of Ursula K. Le Guin’s astute observation of our world in a dystopian future (even putting the SciFi element aside). Written in 1971 the story is about George Orr, the protagonist whose dreams become reality, though he is the only one aware of the history he has changed until he meets Dr. Haber who is assigned to help George overcome his abuse of the drugs he takes to keep himself awake. This is a great example of what can happen when believing in the greater good morphs into something else.
I’m beginning to wonder though, if dystopian fiction has become less of a cautionary tale and more like a roadmap for those looking to control us, whether for personal greed or lust for power.
It’s unnerving to find myself identifying with a story where reality is distorted and known points of reference in history are rewritten with new disasters, making the actual past more like a dream (or nightmare).
As Le Guin writes,“There is a bird in a poem by T.S. Eliot who says that mankind cannot bear very much reality; but the bird is mistaken. A man can endure the entire weight of the universe for eighty years. It is unreality that he cannot bear.”
In our current world reality is questioned through repetitive rhetoric designed to contradict fact. Fiction (and for me science fiction, especially) imagines what our life would look like if or when humanity abandons reason and the truths of our world which have held for generations, to go along with some new reality. In these types of stories things get really bad before they change for the better and sometimes changing for the better doesn’t happen at all.
Le Guin gives us her take on privacy, race, climate change, government control, ethics and overpopulation with her uncanny observations and unique ability make social commentary without being heavy handed.
The concrete aspects of this story are acutely relevant today and I’m sure will be relevant well into the future. This is a quick and straightforward read with great (if scary) brain food.
I’m beginning to wonder though, if dystopian fiction has become less of a cautionary tale and more like a roadmap for those looking to control us, whether for personal greed or lust for power.
It’s unnerving to find myself identifying with a story where reality is distorted and known points of reference in history are rewritten with new disasters, making the actual past more like a dream (or nightmare).
As Le Guin writes,“There is a bird in a poem by T.S. Eliot who says that mankind cannot bear very much reality; but the bird is mistaken. A man can endure the entire weight of the universe for eighty years. It is unreality that he cannot bear.”
In our current world reality is questioned through repetitive rhetoric designed to contradict fact. Fiction (and for me science fiction, especially) imagines what our life would look like if or when humanity abandons reason and the truths of our world which have held for generations, to go along with some new reality. In these types of stories things get really bad before they change for the better and sometimes changing for the better doesn’t happen at all.
Le Guin gives us her take on privacy, race, climate change, government control, ethics and overpopulation with her uncanny observations and unique ability make social commentary without being heavy handed.
The concrete aspects of this story are acutely relevant today and I’m sure will be relevant well into the future. This is a quick and straightforward read with great (if scary) brain food.