The Language of the Night by Ursula K. Le Guin

Pre-order as gift Add to Wish List

Almost ready!

In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.

The Language of the Night

Essays on Writing, Science Fiction, and Fantasy

by Ursula K. Le Guin

Length TBA

Language English

Narrators Alyssa Bresnahan & Michael Crouch

This audiobook uses AI narration.

We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.

Learn more

Pre-order as gift Add to Wish List

Almost ready!

In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.

Bookseller recommendation

“Delightful, refreshing, composed of words most warm and ever-welcoming. As a lover of all things Le Guin, even I expected this collection to be a rather dense, academic read (she is, after all, a brilliant mind, and essays on writing by such an author...I was excited for the challenge). I feel very humbled, by her humility. My surprise feels a bit like this: I've arrived at a professor's house for dinner in formal dress, ready for a three course catered meal, only to be embraced, invited in, sat down to homecooked fare and lively, laughing conversation for hours on end. ”
— Ellie • Page 1 Books

Summary

Featuring a new introduction by Ken Liu, this revised edition of Ursula K. Le Guin’s first full-length collection of essays covers her background as a writer and educator, her thoughts on writing, and her commentary on literary science fiction and fantasy and their future.

“We like to think we live in daylight, but half the world is always dark; and fantasy, like poetry, speaks the language of the night.”—URSULA K. Le GUIN

Le Guin’s sharp and witty voice is on full display in this collection of twenty-four essays, revised by the author a decade after its initial publication in 1979. The collection covers a wide range of topics and Le Guin’s origins as a writer, her advocacy for science fiction and fantasy as mediums for true literary exploration, the writing of her own major works such as A Wizard of Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness, and her role as a public intellectual and educator. The book and each thematic section are brilliantly introduced and contextualized by Susan Wood, a professor at the University of British Columbia and a literary editor and feminist activist during the 1960s and ’70s.

A fascinating, intimate look into the exceptional mind of Le Guin, whose insights remain as relevant and resonant today as when they were first published.

Literary Criticism