The Fiction of Ideas

For today's class, I read The Left Hand of Darkness by ursula K. Le Guin. The story is packed with information that are so formative of a unique world, its hard not to get enthralled by it.
We were prompted to think of ideas as fiction while addressing the pieces this week, which rooted itself nicely in this novel. There is so much happening in this story that it begins to feel pseudo-real and mirror a lot of the ideas and fears we have today.
The book starts with Genly Ai, the protagonist, making a trip to try and convince Gethen, a kingdom in this world, to join a group of humans called the Ekumen. The ideas portrayed in this novel range anywhere from political to religious to simply the ethereal. It is in the ability to make these obscure creations connect that this idea is wholly fictionalized in a story. I think that the root of ideas as grandeur as the ones in this book need to stem from the same place, and grow in uncertain directions.
The huge ending in this book as well is something to be considered for today. We live in a world that tries to separate cultures and people, and we are headed for a dead end. Just like the ending of this book, it took catastrophe to bring people together. If anything, we can learn something from this book about working together as a human race.

Space Opera

This week I read the novel The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester and focused on what elements in the story were drawn from or influenced by other genres. The story centered around a man, Gulliver Foyle, who is hellbent on revenge in a world where jaunting (or teleporting) has triggered a good deal of tension and even wars between clans and social classes.



This story reminded me a lot of old westerns and their motifs of exploring the unknown and finding new and dangerous threats at every turn. The story of revenge reminds me a lot of The Revenant, a neowestern film from this year. The story was, in fact, based on real events of a character seeking revenge for the people responsible for his demise. Both characters experience a disfigurement as well as travel being a major role in each story.

I think that the correlations between space operas and westerns are some of the most fascinating parts of this genre. It is fun to see the old ideologies stand the test of time, and really the only thing that's changed is the environment. Characters and institutions remain unchanged through time and the hard pressed theme of adventure and exploration stands true in both genres.

Space operas are some of the most creative stories I've read, and offer a lot in terms of world building and ingenuity. Not only do they speak to the heart of entertainment, but they warn us about the dangers of advancing technology taken the wrong way.