A review by brnineworms
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

medium-paced

2.5

I’m not a fan of The Dispossessed. I didn’t find the protagonist, Shevek, compelling at all. He’s infuriatingly naive and unobservant – and I’m supposed to believe he’s a genius?

Around the 25% mark, it is revealed to the reader via narration that

Anarres is, in fact, a mining colony owned by Urras.

It’s an interesting idea, but why casually mention it so early in the novel? Surely this should have been something Shevek gradually realised as the story went on, thereby incorporating the reveal diegetically and giving the protagonist something to do besides sitting around waiting for the plot to happen to him. And it goes nowhere – it’s mentioned, and it never comes up again.

I suppose you could argue the capitalist/colonial influence of Urras explains the coercive nature of this supposedly anarchistic society, as workers are forced to maintain high levels of productivity in order to meet a quota. In essence, the Odonians never escaped their capitalist oppressors, they just moved elsewhere and conned themselves into thinking they were free. But only a class reductionist could attribute all the failings of Anarres to its economic ties with Urras.

There’s a misogyny problem. A really bad misogyny problem. I think the only female character that wasn’t immediately sexualised was Odo, and she’s a) dead, and b) characterised as rather frigid. The Anarresti love to point out Odo as their founder (Weyoun-like) and yet they always speak of “brotherhood” and refuse to treat women and men with equal respect. The objectification of women borders on incel rhetoric at times.

Here’s the thing: if this is intentional and we’re meant to see that misogyny is just as prevalent on Anarres as it is on Urras, with implications that it’s just a result of human nature, is that not outrageously anti-anarchist? Does that not suggest that anarchist organisation is impossible, that oppression is inevitable, that leftist/progressive philosophies are fundamentally incompatible with reality? And if that’s not what Le Guin is trying to say, what am I supposed to take away from this? There’s “ambiguous utopia,” and then there’s this.

There’s even a scene in which Shevek

sexually assaults a woman. Why? Is it supposed to make him seem fallible, human? Is it supposed to demonstrate the corrupting influence of Urras? In either case, these goals could be (and are!) achieved in other ways. Shevek succumbs to Urrasti fashion so he can fit in, and he eats food he doesn’t even like just because it’s there. It is a gratuitous rape scene; nothing more, nothing less. The victim, Vea, isn’t seen or even mentioned again. Shevek is embarrassed about making a fool of himself and while he does very briefly acknowledge that what he did was “abominable,” he quickly gets over it and moves on and that’s that.

I’m just... baffled, honestly. Disgusted, yes, but also baffled.

In general, The Dispossessed isn’t particularly well-written. The temporal physics/philosophy was half-baked and its links to anarchism were tenuous at best. The anarchist theory itself was pretty basic and frequently (unintentionally?) undermined. I like the idea of painting these evocative word pictures when talking about the desert landscapes of Anarres, but switching to simply listing commodities when describing the sights on Urras. That said, it makes for dull reading.

The whole thing seems rather clumsy in its execution. Maybe if you’d never heard of anarchism before this might have been a game-changer? Otherwise, I just don’t get the hype.

CONTENT WARNINGS: lots of excrement, lots of sex and general horniness, sexism and misogyny, classism, a sexual assault scene, pregnancy and birth, miscarriage, death, massacre, violence, injury, police brutality, imprisonment, forced institutionalisation, isolation, and suicidality