# RIP Ursula K. Le Guin **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death, books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [January 23, 2018, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330 "2018-01-23T22:37:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330/1 "2018-01-23T22:37:42Z")
[One of the greats has passed.](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/obituaries/ursula-k-le-guin-acclaimed-for-her-fantasy-fiction-is-dead-at-88.html) She lived life as well as can be lived, but I am still more choked up at her death than I expected. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330/2 "2018-01-23T22:44:49Z")
Like your user name. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330/3 "2018-01-23T22:53:06Z")
Yikes!! I didn’t realize she was 88. Well, she lived a full life, but sad to see her go. I very much enjoyed her books, but especially the not-so-famous one _Always Coming Home._ ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330/4 "2018-01-23T23:09:57Z")
I read the Earthsea trilogy several times. (and the next two once, though I kinda liked The Other Wind) RIP another Grand Master Brian ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330/5 "2018-01-23T23:12:03Z")
She was talented. I truly loved “The Dispossessed”. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330/6 "2018-01-23T23:30:57Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > Like your user name. Yup. She influenced me more than any other fiction author. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > Yikes!! I didn’t realize she was 88. Well, she lived a full life, but sad to see her go. I very much enjoyed her books, but especially the not-so-famous one _Always Coming Home._ > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > She was talented. I truly loved “The Dispossessed”. These are my two favorite works by her. “The Dispossessed” is in my opinion the most perfect utopian novel–excuse me, “ambiguous utopia”–ever written. (When I was in college, I had a paperback copy whose back cover blurb hilariously misunderstood the utopian planet to be the technological planet). It certainly shaped my political views in its generally-favorable-but-not-entirely-favorable view of a socialist anarchist society. And “Always Coming Home” is a tour de force, albeit a pretty inaccessible one. For those who don’t know, Le Guin was the daughter of two prominent anthropologists, and she wrote Always Coming Home as a series of anthropological records of a hunter-gatherer civilization that lived in California 200,000 years in the future. I tried reading it a few times before it caught me, but when it did, good lord, it was brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330/7 "2018-01-23T23:36:13Z")
Well, crap. That’s a loss. She was still pretty engaged, interesting and had all her marbles about her right up to the end too. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330/8 "2018-01-23T23:40:05Z")
A superb writer. A while ago I started reading _A Wizard of Earthsea_ aloud to my daughter. Although we had to stop, (it got way too scary for a four year old), it gave me a new appreciation of just how amazing her writing was. I’m sad to see she’s gone. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330/9 "2018-01-23T23:54:47Z")
One of the greats, indeed. > **[Ursula K Le Guin, sci-fi and fantasy author, dies aged 88](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/23/ursula-k-le-guin-sci-fi-fantasy-author-dies-at-88)** > > The multi award-winning writer of The Left Hand of Darkness and A Wizard of Earthsea has died at her home in Portland, Oregon ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330/10 "2018-01-23T23:58:47Z")
She taught for a week at the Clarion workshop I attended. We all adored her. She was just a wonderful person in addition to being a brilliant writer. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330/11 "2018-01-24T00:01:39Z")
I served her tea and freshly baked cookies at a writer’s convention back in 2005, then we had a lovely chat about the weather, the goodness that fans can accomplish and various other trifles. When she got up to attend a panel she was a part of, she gave me a signed copy of _The Compass Rose_ as a gift and said she hoped we could talk again. We did, at various conventions and meet-ups over the years. I always wanted to see her one more time…but sometimes “one more time” is one time more than we are allotted in this life. Goodbye, Ursula K. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330/12 "2018-01-24T00:57:53Z")
Nam hietha arw Ged arkvaissa! (If you seek Ged, He is here) ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330/13 "2018-01-24T01:31:53Z")
[Her last interview](https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/writing-nameless-things-an-interview-with-ursula-k-le-guin/#!)is worth a read. I never realised she had three young children when she was writing her most well known works: > [@](#): > > When did you write? > > After the kids were put to bed, or left in their bed with a book. My kids went to bed much earlier than most kids do now. I was appalled to learn my grandchildren were staying up to 11:00. That would have driven me up the wall. We kept old-fashioned hours — 8:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m. I would go up to the attic, and work 9:00 to midnight. If I was tired, it was a little tough. But I was kind of gung-ho to do it. I like to write. It’s exciting, something I’m really happy doing. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330/14 "2018-01-24T01:34:38Z")
I actually gasped out loud when I saw this pop up on the AP news feed just now. An unbelievably gifted writer, she remains a major influence. RIP Mrs. LeGuin; you done fucking awesome. ---
**Author:** ![HookerChemical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@HookerChemical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HookerChemical)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330/15 "2018-01-24T01:36:38Z")
I recently picked up a pair of anthologies of her short fiction. _The Ones who Walk Away from Omelas_ and some of her other shorts should not be overlooked either. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330/16 "2018-01-24T01:40:50Z")
Of all the writers of science fiction and fantasy I read as a young person, she was the one who made me think the hardest while reading her works. To this day, I consider “The Dispossessed” one of the best novels I’ve ever read. I recall at the time being very upset at the ambiguity of it all; it took me a while to realize that I was being challenged to actually use my grey matter by this. And, of course, Earthsea was my fantasy second home, after Middle-Earth. Sad day. ---
**Author:** ![plankter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ba0ec/32.png) [@plankter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plankter)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330/17 "2018-01-24T01:48:02Z")
Le Guin was a national treasure. I can’t summon the right words. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330/18 "2018-01-24T04:00:55Z")
[Scalzi’s tribute](http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-leguin-scalzi-20180123-story.html): > [@John Scalzi](#): > > My own science fiction overtly owes more to writers like Heinlein than Le Guin, but you can find her in my work’s DNA if you look, in who I write about and the concerns I play out in my stories. I wouldn’t be who I am or where I am without Ursula K. Le Guin. Not too many years ago, I was given the opportunity to write an introduction to a new edition of “Always Coming Home,” in which I got to tell Le Guin just how important her book had been to me. I was glad to be able to tell her. > > Look at the top tier of writers in science fiction and fantasy today — names like Jemisin and Gaiman and Jeff VanderMeer and Catherynne Valente, as well as rising stars like Bo Bolander and Amal El-Mohtar and Monica Byrne — and you see the unmistakable traces of Le Guin in their work. Multiple generations of her spiritual children, making the genre more humane and expansive, and better than it would have been without her. And all with stories of her. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330/19 "2018-01-24T04:34:42Z")
I was terribly sad to hear this. She was always delightful when we chatted at readings. I had just sent her a postcard from Antarctica last month, about Genly Ai and Estraven on the ice. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330/20 "2018-01-24T05:13:55Z")
She was a wonderful writer, and a fascinating and wonderful person. She’ll be sorely missed. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-ursula-k-le-guin/807330.md?page=2)