Ursula K. Le Guin: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Ursula K. Le Guin built her worlds from Taoist philosophy, the anthropology she grew up inside, and the utopian/anarchist traditions she read deeply. This mix traces those roots through her Berkeley and Portland lives, her peers in the New Wave of science fiction, and the writers who now work in her shadow.

The Kynda mix for Ursula K. Le Guin

• Key Influence · Tao Te Ching by Laozi (c. 4th century BCE). Le Guin's father kept Paul Carus's edition in the house and she read it as a child; decades later she published her own rendition (1997), working from a lifetime of study with help from scholar J.P. Seaton. Taoist ideas of wu wei, balance and the uselessness of forcing shape everything from Ged's restraint in Earthsea to the yin-yang structure of Gethenian gender in The Left Hand of Darkness.
• Influencia Obscura · Islandia by Austin Tappan Wright (1942). A vast posthumously published imaginary-country novel, written privately by a law professor and edited into print by his family. Le Guin knew it and it belongs to the lineage of invented-society fiction she practised: no magic, no rockets, just an exhaustively realised culture with its own land tenure, language and sexual ethics. The Hainish books share its patient ethnographic method more than they share pulp SF.
• Local Roots · One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey (1962). Le Guin moved to Portland in 1959 and spent the rest of her life there, becoming the anchor of an Oregon literary scene Kesey also defined from Eugene and Pleasant Hill. Both wrote against institutional authority from the Pacific Northwest rather than New York, and Le Guin's later Oregon-set fiction, including the Portland-grounded The Lathe of Heaven, belongs to the same regional literature.
• Beyond the Medium · Ishi in Two Worlds by Theodora Kroeber (1961). Le Guin's mother wrote this biography of Ishi, the last Yahi man, who lived under the care of her father, anthropologist Alfred Kroeber. Growing up among ethnographers, field recordings and Native California informants gave Le Guin the habit of treating a culture as a total system: kinship, ritual, economy, story. Her invented Gethenians, Anarresti and Kesh are constructed the way ethnographies are written.
• Peer · The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (1962). Dick and Le Guin were both members of the Berkeley High School class of 1947, though they did not know each other then; they later corresponded, and she wrote publicly about his work, calling attention to him as a major American novelist while the literary establishment ignored him. The Man in the High Castle's I Ching-driven composition parallels her own reliance on Chinese thought.
• From the Canon · The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (1969). Her Hugo and Nebula-winning novel of Gethen, a world whose people are ambisexual except during kemmer, told through the reports of Ekumen envoy Genly Ai and the exiled politician Estraven. Built as a fake ethnographic dossier of field notes, myths and hearth-tales, it reframed what science fiction could investigate and remains the founding text of feminist speculative thought experiment.
• Key Collaborator · Kalpa Imperial by Angélica Gorodischer (1983). Le Guin translated the Argentine writer's cycle of imperial chronicles into English in 2003, her most sustained act of literary advocacy for a fellow fabulist. The two corresponded over the work, and Le Guin's English prose gives Gorodischer's storyteller-narrators the same measured oral cadence she used in Earthsea. It is the clearest place to hear Le Guin's voice serving another writer's world.
• Legacy · The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin (2015). Jemisin has spoken often of Le Guin's importance to her, and the Broken Earth trilogy carries the inheritance visibly: geology as magic system, oppression built into the structure of a world, and a fantasy that treats race and power as its subject rather than its backdrop. Jemisin's three consecutive Hugos extended the line Le Guin opened when Earthsea's hero was deliberately not white.

What influenced Ursula K. Le Guin

• Philip K. Dick. The article names Le Guin among the writers Dick influenced. (also via The Left Hand of Darkness, The Man in the High Castle) “Dick has influenced many writers, including Jonathan Lethem [ 128 ] and Ursula K. Le Guin .” (Wikipedia)
• Neil Gaiman. States Le Guin influenced Gaiman. “I learn more from her books at every stage of life than from any other writer.” (Wikipedia)
• Peter Kropotkin. Le Guin says the novel drew from anarchists including Kropotkin. (via The Dispossessed, Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution) “The Dispossessed is an anarchist utopian novel, which according to Le Guin drew from pacifist anarchists, including Peter Kropotkin” (Wikipedia)
• Laozi (-604). Le Guin and Clark are noted as anarchist writers who highlight Laozi's teachings. (also via Tao Te Ching) “anarchists such as John P. Clark and Ursula K. Le Guin have written about the conjunction between anarchism and Taoism in various ways, highlighting the teachings of Laozi in particular.” (Wikipedia)
• J. R. R. Tolkien. Tolkien named a stylistic influence. (also via The Lord of the Rings) “She also considered J. R. R. Tolkien and Leo Tolstoy to be stylistic influences” (Wikipedia)
• Cordwainer Smith. Le Guin names Cordwainer Smith as key influence. “It wasn't until I came back to science fiction and discovered Sturgeon – but particularly Cordwainer Smith.” (Wikipedia)
• Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy named a stylistic influence. “She also considered J. R. R. Tolkien and Leo Tolstoy to be stylistic influences” (Wikipedia)
• Robert Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer was the model for a character in The Dispossessed. “Le Guin would later use Oppenheimer as the model for Shevek, the physicist protagonist of The Dispossessed” (Wikipedia)
• Salman Rushdie (1947). States Le Guin influenced Rushdie. “Le Guin influenced many other authors, including the Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie” (Wikipedia)
• Theodore Sturgeon. Sturgeon cited as pivotal influence on her turn to SF. “She later said that science fiction did not have much impact on her until she read the works of Theodore Sturgeon and Cordwainer Smith” (Wikipedia)
• Columbia University. Le Guin studied at Columbia University. “Le Guin undertook graduate studies at Columbia University, and earned a Master of Arts degree in French in 1952.” (Wikipedia)
• Lord Dunsany. Le Guin names Dunsany as opening up fantasy for her. “And then when I got older I found Lord Dunsany. He opened up a whole new world – the world of pure fantasy.” (Wikipedia)
• Jorge Luis Borges (1899). Le Guin preferred reading Borges over mainstream SF authors. “preferred reading Virginia Woolf and Jorge Luis Borges to well-known science-fiction authors such as Robert Heinlein” (Wikipedia)
• Charles Dickens. Le Guin names Dickens as an influence. “Authors Le Guin describes as influential include Victor Hugo, William Wordsworth, Charles Dickens, Boris Pasternak, and Philip K. Dick.” (Wikipedia)
• Boris Pasternak. Le Guin names Pasternak as an influence. “Authors Le Guin describes as influential include Victor Hugo, William Wordsworth, Charles Dickens, Boris Pasternak, and Philip K. Dick.” (Wikipedia)
• Carl Jung. Scholars identify Jungian influence on Le Guin's writing. “Several scholars have commented that Le Guin's writing was influenced by Carl Jung, and specifically by the idea of Jungian archetypes.” (Wikipedia)
• Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution by Peter Kropotkin (1902). Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (Peter Kropotkin) — ghost for Ursula K. Le Guin “The Dispossessed is an anarchist utopian novel, which according to Le Guin drew from pacifist anarchists, including Peter Kropotkin, as well as from the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• William Wordsworth. Le Guin names Wordsworth as an influence. “Authors Le Guin describes as influential include Victor Hugo, William Wordsworth, Charles Dickens, Boris Pasternak, and Philip K. Dick.” (Wikipedia)
• Radcliffe College. Le Guin studied at Radcliffe College. “From 1947 to 1951 she took a Bachelor of Arts degree in Renaissance French and Italian literature from Radcliffe College of Harvard University, graduating as a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.” (Wikipedia)
• Virginia Woolf (1882). Le Guin preferred reading Woolf over mainstream SF authors. “preferred reading Virginia Woolf and Jorge Luis Borges to well-known science-fiction authors such as Robert Heinlein” (Wikipedia)
• Victor Hugo. Le Guin names Victor Hugo as an influence. “Authors Le Guin describes as influential include Victor Hugo, William Wordsworth, Charles Dickens, Boris Pasternak, and Philip K. Dick.” (Wikipedia)
• Ishi. Ishi's story influenced several of Le Guin's novels. “The experiences of Ishi, in particular, were influential on Le Guin, and elements of his story have been identified in works such as Planet of Exile, City of Illusions, and The Word for World Is Forest and The Dispossessed.” (Wikipedia)
• David Mitchell. States Le Guin influenced Mitchell. “Le Guin influenced many other authors, including the Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie, David Mitchell, Neil Gaiman, and Iain Banks.” (Wikipedia)
• Iain Banks. States Le Guin influenced Banks. “Le Guin influenced many other authors, including the Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie, David Mitchell, Neil Gaiman, and Iain Banks.” (Wikipedia)
• Tao Te Ching by Laozi. Tao Te Ching (Laozi) — titan for Ursula K. Le Guin (wikidata.org)
• Islandia by Austin Tappan Wright (1942). Islandia (Austin Tappan Wright) — ghost for Ursula K. Le Guin (openlibrary.org)
• Ishi in Two Worlds by Theodora Kroeber (1961). Ishi in Two Worlds (Theodora Kroeber) — culture for Ursula K. Le Guin “Le Guin was born in Berkeley, California, to author and anthropologist Theodora Kroeber and anthropologist Alfred Louis Kroeber.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (1954). The Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien) — titan for Ursula K. Le Guin (wikidata.org)
• The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse (1943). The Dispossessed (Ursula K. Le Guin) — legacy for The Glass Bead Game (via The Dispossessed) (openlibrary.org)
• Taoism. Taoism identified as major influence on her worldview and work.
• We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (1924). We (Yevgeny Zamyatin) — ghost for Ursula K. Le Guin
• Handbook of the Indians of California by Alfred L. Kroeber (1925). Handbook of the Indians of California (Alfred L. Kroeber) — culture for Ursula K. Le Guin

Peers and kindred spirits

• Bennington College. Le Guin taught at Bennington College. “She taught courses at Tulane University, Bennington College, and Stanford University, among other institutions.” (Wikipedia)
• Stanford University. Le Guin taught at Stanford University. “She taught courses at Tulane University, Bennington College, and Stanford University, among other institutions.” (Wikipedia)
• University of Idaho. Le Guin taught at University of Idaho. “Le Guin taught French: first at Mercer University, then at the University of Idaho after their move.” (Wikipedia)
• Mercer University. Le Guin taught at Mercer University. “Le Guin taught French: first at Mercer University, then at the University of Idaho after their move.” (Wikipedia)
• Tulane University. Le Guin taught at Tulane University. “She taught courses at Tulane University, Bennington College, and Stanford University, among other institutions.” (Wikipedia)
• Kalpa Imperial by Angélica Gorodischer (1983). Kalpa Imperial (Angélica Gorodischer) — collaborator for Ursula K. Le Guin (wikidata.org)
• The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (1962). The Man in the High Castle (Philip K. Dick) — peer for Ursula K. Le Guin (openlibrary.org)
• Stardust by Charles Vess (1997). Stardust (Charles Vess) — collaborator for Ursula K. Le Guin “She won her final Hugo award a year after her death, for a complete edition of Earthsea, illustrated by Charles Vess; the same volume also won a Locus award.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey (1962). One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Ken Kesey) — geography for Ursula K. Le Guin (openlibrary.org)
• Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre (1978). Dreamsnake (Vonda N. McIntyre) — geography for Ursula K. Le Guin (openlibrary.org)
• The Female Man by Joanna Russ (1975). The Female Man (Joanna Russ) — peer for Ursula K. Le Guin (openlibrary.org)

Who Ursula K. Le Guin influenced

• The City & the City by China Miéville (2009). The City & the City (China Miéville) — legacy for Ursula K. Le Guin “China Miéville described Le Guin as a "literary colossus", and wrote that she was a "writer of intense ethical seriousness and intelligence, of wit and fury, of radical politics, of subtlety, of freedom and yearning".” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Vonda McIntyre. Le Guin credited with inspiring McIntyre. “Le Guin is also credited with inspiring several female science fiction authors in the 1970s, including Vonda McIntyre.” (Wikipedia)
• Tales from Earthsea. Studio Ghibli adaptation of Le Guin's Earthsea novels. (via Earthsea) “Studio Ghibli obtained the rights to produce an adaptation of Ursula K. Le Guin 's Earthsea novels in 2003” (Wikipedia)
• Octavia E. Butler. The Left Hand of Darkness (Ursula K. Le Guin) — titan for Octavia E. Butler (via The Left Hand of Darkness, Always Coming Home) (openlibrary.org)
• The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin (2015). The Fifth Season (N. K. Jemisin) — legacy for Ursula K. Le Guin (openlibrary.org)
• Kenneth Morris. Le Guin's essay revived interest in Kenneth Morris's work.
• Orson Scott Card. Orson Scott Card adopted Le Guin's ansible concept.
• Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki (2001). Earthsea's theme of names having power suggested to have inspired Spirited Away. (via Earthsea)