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Dreams Must Explain Themselves

The Selected Non-Fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin
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( 316 ratings, 45 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Dreams Must Explain Themselves is a compelling collection of Ursula K. Le Guin's finest non-fiction essays, where she explores themes such as anthropology, environmentalism, feminism, social justice, and literary criticism. The volume includes her reflections on her own work and her responses to criticism, showcasing her agile mind and passionate advocacy against injustice. It also features her acclaimed 2014 National Book Foundation acceptance speech, highlighting her status as one of modern literature's most original voices and purest consciences.
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Ideal for readers interested in Arts & Culture, literary criticism, social justice, and environmental and feminist issues, as well as fans of Ursula K. Le Guin's fiction seeking deeper insight into her ideas.

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An essential collection of the astute and powerful non-fiction writing of the great Ursula K. Le Guin.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Ursula K. Le Guin has won or been nominated for over 200 awards for her fiction, including the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and SFWA Grand Master Awards. She is the acclaimed author of the Earthsea sequence and The Left Hand of Darkness—which alone would qualify her for literary immortality—as well as a remarkable body of short fiction, including the powerful, Hugo-winning 'The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas' and the masterpiece of anthropological and environmental SF 'The Word for World is Forest', winner of the Hugo Award for best novella.

But Ursula Le Guin's talents do not stop at fiction. Over the course of her extraordinary career, she has penned numerous essays around themes important to her: anthropology, environmentalism, feminism, social justice, and literary criticism, to name a few. She has responded in detail to criticism of her own work and even reassessed that work in the context of such critiques. This selection of the best of Le Guin's non-fiction shows an agile mind, an unparalleled imagination, and a ferocious passion to argue against injustice.

In 2014, Ursula Le Guin was awarded the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and her widely praised acceptance speech is one of the highlights of this volume, which shows that one of modern literature's most original voices is also one of its purest consciences.

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"What a pleasure it is to roam around in her spacious, playful mind. And what a joy to read her taut, elegant prose." – Library Journal

This book is considered essential reading for anyone who imagines themselves literate and/or socially concerned, or who wishes to learn what that truly means.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781473205949

Publisher: Orion Publishing Co

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 01 February 2018

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Gollancz

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 34.0mm

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 234.0mm

Weight: 480g

Pages: 400

About the Author

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) was a celebrated author whose body of work includes 23 novels, 12 volumes of short stories, 11 volumes of poetry, 13 children's books, five essay collections, and four works of translation. The breadth and imagination of her work earned her six Nebula Awards, seven Hugo Awards, and SFWA's Grand Master, along with the PEN/Malamud and many other awards. In 2014 she was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and in 2016 joined the short list of authors to be published in their lifetimes by the Library of America.

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