Ursula K. Le Guin: "That's like calling 'Utopia' a utopia!"

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	Ursula K. Le Guin: "That's like calling 'Utopia' a utopia!"

Lexica

5-11-2009 3:14 PM

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tags:

writers, writing, science-fiction, ursula-k-leguin

Lexica says:

*sigh* 2009 and we're still fighting the idea that "good writing" and "science fiction" are incompatible.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/190a87b8-1080-4482-b0df-313ca062c051/2907F4DB-B7AF-43EB-9C32-FE401292BEF8/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Note-Calling-Utopia-a-utopia.html" href="http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Note-Calling-Utopia-a-utopia.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.ursulakleguin.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Note-Calling-Utopia-a-utopia.html">Writing about the death of J.G. Ballard</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Note-Calling-Utopia-a-utopia.html">Ballard’s American editor</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Note-Calling-Utopia-a-utopia.html">said of Ballard: “His fabulistic style led people
to review his work as science fiction. But that’s like calling <I>Brave New
World</I> science fiction, or <I>1984</I>.”</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Note-Calling-Utopia-a-utopia.html"><P>Every time I read this sentence it suggests more parallels:</p> <BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>“But that’s like calling <I>Don Quixote</I> a novel.”</p> <P>“But that’s like calling <I>The Lord of the Rings</I> a
fantasy.”</p> <P>“But that’s like calling <I>Utopia</I> a utopia... “</P></BLOCKQUOTE></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Note-Calling-Utopia-a-utopia.html"><P>It is shocking to find that an editor at the publishing
house that had the wits to publish J.G. Ballard (as well as the <I>Norton Book
of Science Fiction</I>) can be so ignorant of what Ballard wrote, or so uninformed
about the nature and history of the science-fiction genre, or so unaware of the
nature of literature since the 1980’s, that he believes — now, in 2009! — that
to say a writer wrote science fiction is to malign or degrade his work.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Note-Calling-Utopia-a-utopia.html">Editors, critics, and others who use it not as a description
but as a negative judgment are wrong to do so. And they do wrong.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/2907F4DB-B7AF-43EB-9C32-FE401292BEF8/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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