lundi, septembre 26, 2005 Book Review: Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea  I was slightly disappointed - serves me right for waiting eight years, giving it a buildup that not many books can live up to. I had the impression that it was going to be a LotR or Prydain or Susan Cooper type of fantasy novel, the type that follows the protagonist(s) closely through their adventures, but unfortunately Le Guin gives each book a different protagonist, and although we the main protagonist Ged, or Sparrowhawk, the Archmage of Earthsea appears in ALL the books, I never got close enough to him to feel his pain when his major crisis occurred. I attribute this to Le Guin's writing style - very high, lofty language is used, creating an air of detachment and history. "Of these some say the greatest, and surey the greatest voyager, was the man called Sparrowhawk, who in his day became both dragonlord and Archmage. His life is told of in the Deed of Ged and in many songs, but this is a tale of the time before his fame, before the songs were made."The first book, A Wizard of Earthsea, is Ged's tale. Chronicling how he grows into his craft, and the mistakes he made, the first book introduces us perfunctorily into the world of Earthsea, a land bereft of technology but full of magic and sorcery, and dragons. Primarily a bildungsroman, after reading it I was interested in reading how Ged develops further in his craft, as I felt it had been glossed over too easily in the first book. Unfortunately, Le Guin moves away from Ged to concentrate on Tenar in the next. Tenar is a priestess of the Unnamed Ones in The Tombs of Atuan, brainwashed and mentally enslaved by this cloister of nuns (or nun-like organisation). She meets Ged, who has come to find another half of an amulet (which will bring peace to Earthsea), and he rescues her from the slavery of her mind (and therefore her person) from the Labyrinth (of which she is guardian over).  The final book in the original trilogy, The Farthest Shore, and by far the best book within the series in my opinion, turns its attention away from Tenar and returns to Ged, but as seen through the eyes of Arren, the future king over all of Earthsea, who appears in this book as a boy. They both set out to cure a mysterious malady afflicting the land of Earthsea, leeching the magic and life out of it (shades of Pullman's "anti-matter" flashed through my mind when I read this). They have their adventures, terrible things happen to Ged, and he winds up just disappearing on the horizon flying on a dragon's back. Due to the high, romantic style in which Le Guin wrote these novels, it is hard to emphatise or identify with Ged. He is not a likeable character, not because he does not have characteristics that are hard to like, but because we never really get to know him. When he experiences angst or anguish, the reader feels distanced from it due to the writing style of the book. The immediacy of his crisis is isolated in the realm of "this is a tale of the time before his fame, before the songs were made." There is no sense of solidarity with the protagonist, which we felt when we went with Frodo on his long, ardous trek to Mordor, nor is there the sense of travelling with the protagonist through his bildung as he moves and grows thoughout the series. [The first two books were made into a movie, starring Shawn Ashmore (of X-Men fame) and Kristin Kruek (from Smallville, like any of you guys aren't sick of her lousy acting). I watched the movie; it was a tv movie, two parter, which was rather disappointing as it was not very faithful to any one plot.] The fourth book was published almost 17 years (1990) after The Farthest Shore was published (1973). As I read all four books in a go, I was rather shocked when I read Tehanu, mainly because its writing style and concerns were so jarring from the rest. In the 17 years that had gone by, Le Guin had made the decision to write more intimately for the characters. We rejoin Tenar, now a widow with two kids, and her adopted child. Ged appears, and they get together in the oddest of fashions - "I have been patient with you for twenty-five years," she says to him - showing once again that men are blur throughout the ages and throughout dimensions and realms. They talk a lot about philosophy and about free will, and Tenar brings up the question of why aren't there any female Archmages, only female parlour-witches who will never amount to anything much, and cannot go to the magic school (think Hogwarts) on Roke Island. They also talk a lot about the essence of the person, whether or not a person's "potentiality" affects his propensity for big thing to happen to him (think of air rushing in to replace a vacuum; the larger the vacuum, the stronger the pull/sucking in of air.) The questions raised are all worthy questions; however, they are incongruous in a realm which has not seen or breathed the notion of feminism, and I think the regular platonic philosophies do not really apply in a land which has living, breathing, talking dragons flying about on a regular basis. I read somewhere that Le Guin's ideological outlook had changed somewhat during the intervening years between book 3 and 4, and this shows up in stark relief when one compares the topics of character discussion during the first three books and the last. I wish I had enjoyed the first reading more, but I am optimistic that this will be one of those books which grow on me and will be recommended highly to everyone in my social circle. [Book Review: Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea] |
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