Introduction

Ursula K. Le Guin anticipated many of the problems we are now facing and imagined new ways of thinking about them. This collection of studies explores the literary and imaginative, speculative and provisional modes in which she has engaged with ethical questions related to utopia, the power of social change, non-coercive intercultural exchange, and the interconnectedness between readers and writers. By tracing the literary, ecological, philosophical, sexual, postcolonial, and anthropological ramifications of her work, Legacies also takes new approaches to making sense of the “science” of science fiction. In addition to presenting the main themes of the collection, this introductory chapter provides a brief overview of Le Guin’s family background, her cultural and intellectual influences, and the diversity of her oeuvre.