The Word for World Is Forest

The Word for World Is Forest

Cover of first edition (hardcover)
Author Ursula K. Le Guin
Cover artist Richard M. Powers
Country United States
Language English
Series Hainish Cycle
Genre Science Fiction novel
Published 1976 (Putnam Publishing Group)
Media type Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages 189
ISBN 0-399-11716-4
OCLC 2133448
813/.5/4
LC Class PZ4.L518 Wo PS3562.E42
Preceded by The Dispossessed
Followed by Four Ways to Forgiveness

The Word for World Is Forest is a Hugo Award-winning science fiction novella by Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in 1972 in the anthology Again, Dangerous Visions, and published as a separate book in 1976. It is part of Le Guin's Hainish Cycle.

Background

Le Guin giving a reading in 2008

Le Guin's father Alfred Louis Kroeber was an anthropologist, and the exposure that this gave Le Guin influenced all of her works.[1] Many of the protagonists of Le Guin's novels, such as The Left Hand of Darkness and Rocannon's World are also anthropologists or social investigators of some kind.[2] Le Guin uses the term Ekumen for her fictional alliance of worlds, a term which she got from her father, who derived it from the Greek Oikoumene to refer to Eurasian cultures that shared a common origin.[3]

Le Guin's interest in Taoism influenced much of her science fiction work. Douglas Barbour stated that the fiction of the Hainish Universe contain a theme of balance between light and darkness, a central theme of Taoism.[4] She was also influenced by her early interest in mythology, and her exposure to cultural diversity as a child. Her protagonists are frequently interested in the cultures they are investigating, and are motivated to preserve them rather than conquer them.[5] Authors that influenced Le Guin include Victor Hugo, Lev Tolstoy, Virginia Woolf, Italo Calvino, and Lao Tzu.[6]

Le Guin identifies herself with feminism, and is interested in non-violence and ecological awareness. She has participated in demonstrations against the Vietnam war and nuclear weapons. These sympathies can be seen in several of her works of fiction, including the Hainish universe works.[6] The novels of the Hainish universe frequently explore the effects of differing social and political systems, although she displays a preference for a "society that governs by consensus, a communal cooperation without external government."[7] Her fiction also frequently challenges accepted depictions of race and gender.[7]

The novel was originally named "Little Green Men,"[8] in reference to the common science-fiction trope.

Setting

The Word for World is Forest is set in the fictional Hainish universe, which Le Guin introduced in her first novel Rocannon's World, published in 1966. In this alternative history, human beings did not evolve on earth, but on Hain. The people of Hain colonized many neighboring planetary systems, including Terra (Earth) and Athshe, possibly a million years before the setting of the novels.[9] The planets subsequently lost contact with each other, for reasons that Le Guin does not explain.[10] Le Guin does not narrate the entire history of the Hainish universe at once, instead letting readers piece it together from various works.[11]

The novels and other fictional works set in the Hainish universe recount the efforts to re-establish a galactic civilization. Explorers from Hain as well as other planets use interstellar ships taking years to travel between planetary systems, although the journey is shortened for the travelers due to relativistic time dilation, as well as through instantaneous interstellar communication using the ansible, introduced in The Dispossessed.[10] At least two "thought experiments" are used in each novel; the background idea of a common origin for all the humanoid species, and a second idea unique to each novel.[9] In The Word for World is Forest, the second thought experiment is the colonization of a pacifist culture on the planet Athshe by a military-controlled logging team from Earth, known in the novel as "Terra"; additionally, the inhabitants of Athshe recognize the people from Terra as human, but the Terrans do not see the Athsheans, who are small and covered in green fur, as human.[12]

Most of the surface of the planet of Athshe, known to the human colonizers as "New Tahiti," is taken up by ocean; the land surfaces are concentrated in a single half of the northern hemisphere, and prior to the arrival of terrestrial colonists, is entirely covered in forest.[13]

Athsheans are able to enter the dream state consciously, and their dreams both heal them and guide their behavior.[14]

Athshe's plants and animals are similar to those of Earth, placed there by the Hainish people in their first wave of colonisation that also settled Earth. The Cetian visitor also states categorically that the native humans "came from the same, original, Hainish stock". It is not explained why they are green-furred and only one meter tall. Other distinctive humans such as the Gethenians are said to have been produced by genetic manipulation by the ancient Hainish colonisers.

In the internal chronology of the Hainish universe, the events of the The Word for World is Forest occur after The Dispossessed, in which both the ansible and the League of Worlds are unrealised dreams. However, the novel is located prior to Rocannon's World, in which Terran mindspeech is seen as a distinct possibility. A date in the 24th century has been suggested by reviewers, although Le Guin provides no direct statement of the date.[15]

Plot summary

The Word for World is Forest begins from the point of view of Captain Davidson, who is the commander of a logging camp named Smith camp. Many native Athsheans are used as slave labor at the camp, and also as personal servants. The novel begins with Davidson travelling to "Centralville," the headquarters of the colony, hoping to have a sexual encounter with one of a number of women who have just arrived on the predominantly male colony. When Davidson returns to Smith Camp, he finds the entire camp burned to the ground, and all of the humans dead. He lands to investigate,and while on the ground is overpowered by four Athsheans. He recognizes one of them as Selver, an Athshean who was a personal servant at the headquarters of the colony, and later an assistant to Raj Lyubov, the colony anthropologist.[16] A few months prior to the attack, Davidson had raped Selver's wife Thele, who died in the process, prompting an enraged Selver to attack Davidson. Davidson nearly kills him, before he is rescued by Lyubov; however, he is left with prominent facial scars, which render him easily recognizable.[16] The Athsheans allow Davidson to leave and carry a message about the destruction of the camp back to the colony headquarters.[16]

After the attack, Selver roams through the forest for five days before coming upon an Athshean settlement.[17] After recovering from the effects of many days of travel, Selver describes to the people of the town the destruction of his town, known as Eshreth, by the Terrans, who then built their headquarters at the site. He also tells them about the enslavement of hundreds of Athsheans at the various camps.[18] He says that the Terrans are crazy because they do not respect the sanctity of life in the same way that the Athsheans do, which was why he led the attack against camp Smith.[18] After some discussion, the people of the town send messengers to other towns sharing Selver's story, while Selver himself travels back towards the Terran headquarters.

An inquiry into the destruction of camp Smith is held at Centralville. In addition to the personnel of the colony, two emissaries from the planets of Hain and Tau Ceti also participate. Raj Lyubov, the colony anthropologist, states that the the colony's mistreatment and enslavement of the Athsheans led to the attack.[19] Colonel Dongh, the commander of the colony, blames Lyubov's assessment of the Athsheans as non-aggressive.[20] The emissaries state that the rules of Terra's colonial administration have changed since the colony last heard from it; they present the colony with an ansible, which can communicate instantly with Terra and the colonial administration (communication which would otherwise take 27 years in one direction).[21] They also state that Terra is now a member of the "League of Worlds," of which they are emissaries.[21] The colony is forced to release all its Athshean slaves, and minimize contact with them. Davidson is transferred to a different camp under a higher-ranking commander, as punishment for a retaliatory raid that he carried out.[22] However, Davidson violates his orders and leads further attacks against Athshean towns, without the knowledge of his superiors.[23]

Following the inquiry, Lyubov visits the Athshean town he had been studying. He meets Selver, hoping to rebuild their friendship, but Selver rebuffs him, telling him to stay away from the town center.[24]

Reception

The work was nominated for the Nebula and Locus Awards for Best Novella[25] and won the 1973 Hugo Award for Best Novella.[26] The Word for World Is Forest was initially published with no introduction, but Le Guin wrote an introduction for Gollancz's 1977 single-volume reprint.

Primary characters

Don Davidson

Captain Don Davidson begins the novel as the commander of Smith Camp. He is described as being of "euraf" descent.[27] Shortly before the events of the novel, Davidson rapes Thele, Selver's wife, who dies in the process.[28] After Smith is destroyed by Selver and his compatriots, Davidson is relocated to a camp called New Java, where he leads reprisals against the Athsheans against orders. He is eventually captured and abandoned on an isolated island by the Athsheans. He is portrayed as a relentless and uncompromising figure, always planning how to overcome an unfriendly natural environment, and conquer the natives that he sees as inferior.[29] The language used in Davidson's internal monologues to reveal his hatred and contempt for people different from himself.[30] Initially, this hatred is directed at the Athsheans, whom he sees as non-human and refers to as "creechies" (a derivative of "creatures"). However, his contempt extends to the women in the colony, and eventually to other members of the military, who follow the Colonel's orders not to fight the Athsheans.[29] He has racist feelings towards the Indian anthropologist Raj Lyubov, stating that "Some men, especially, the asiatiforms and the hindi types, are actually born traitors."[29] In contrast to Lyubov and Selver, he is depicted as a person who is not self-aware, whose self-hatred and rigid mental attitude are his undoing. He rejects out of hand anything that does not conform to his beliefs, dismissing anyone who disagrees with him as "going spla" (insane).[29]

Raj Lyubov

Raj Lyubov is the anthropologist in the colony, a scholar who holds the honorary rank of "captain."[31] Selver is initially a servant in the central camp; Lyubov enlists him as an assistant, and builds a relationship of trust with him. The two of them compile a directory between the Athshean and Terran languages. When Selver's wife Thele is raped and killed by Davidson, Selver attacks Davidson, who nearly kills him; Lyubov rescues Selver, and nurses him back to health. During the attack on the colony's headquarters, Selver tells the Athsheans to leave Lyubov's house alone, but Lyubov leaves his house and is killed by a collapsing building. As he dies, Lyubov warns Selver about the impact of the killings on the Athshean society.[32] In comparison to Davidson, Lyubov reflects a lot upon his actions, and tries to analyze them in a detached manner. His contradictory position of being a colonial officer despite recognizing the damage that the colony is doing to the Athsheans gives him migraines.[33] He feels a strong sense of guilt at the impacts of the colony, and is willing to destroy his own reputation in order to protect the Athshean people.[34] He is one of the only Terrans to treat the Athsheans as human beings, and but this loses him the respect of his fellow Terrans.[33]

Themes

Hainish universe themes

Similar to future history works by other authors such as Isaac Asimov, Le Guin's fictional works set in the Hainish universe explore the idea of human society expanding across the galaxy.[10] Books like The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness, and The Word for World is Forest also explore the effects of various social and political systems.[7] Le Guin's later Hainish novels also challenge contemporary ideas about gender, ethnic differences, the value of ownership, and human beings' relationship to the natural world.[35]

Language and communication

Language and linguistic barriers are a major theme in The Word for World Is Forest, something exemplified by the title. In contrast to other Hainish universe novels such as The Left Hand of Darkness, The Word for World Is Forest portrays a communication gap that the protagonists are never able to bridge.[12] Both the native Athsheans and the loggers have languages that reflect their perceptions of reality, but they are unable to find a common language. In the native Athshean language, the word "Athshe" means both "forest" and "world," demonstrating the close link that the Athsheans have to the forest and their planet.[12] It is noted by Lyubov that the Athsheans believe “the substance of their world was not earth, but forest.”[36]

Similarly, the Athshean word for "dream" is the same as the word for "root." Athsheans have learned to exert some conscious control over their dreams, and their actions are dictated by both their dream experiences and their conscious non-dreaming thoughts. They see "dream-time" and "world-time" as equivalent.[37]

The third homophone is that of the word “god,” sha'ab, which also means “translator.” Raj Lyubov, the human with the most contact with the Athshean people, does not know what this particular homophone means for much of the novel. Eventually, it is revealed that the Athsheans revere as a god those who “translate,” or introduce, a new word into their cultural lexicon. Selver has, by killing another sentient species, introduced the concept of war. The Athshean hold the creation of new language concepts in the same position of pride as humans hold gods, who create reality, believing that these things carry similar weights. This is proven correct, as the introduction of violence and killing into Athshean society irreversibly alters it forever.

Inverted gender roles

In this novel, humanity has rigid gender roles. The men explore space, and the women are sent after colonies have been established to breed a new generation. Though Davidson is likely not the most unbiased example of how women are regarded, his reference to them as “babies [who] were real good greedy girls”[38] indicate that they are not given much respect. This is counter to Athshean society, which has similarly strict gender roles, but in a less derogatory manner. In Athshean society, man are the “dreamers,” or sages, while women are realists who dictate the political action that Athshean people take. This leads to many observations by the Athsheans that the root of the humans’ “insanity” is that they do not consult their women before taking action.

Colonialism and anti-war themes

Le Guin was strongly opposed to and troubled by the Vietnam War, a reaction which played a large part in the tone of the novel.[12]

Though Le Guin does not personally call herself an anarchist, she is involved with anarchist movements, as well as anti-war and anti-corporation movements. She self-identifies as a Taoist, and stated once that “Taoism and Anarchism fit together in some very interesting ways and I've been a Taoist ever since I learned what it was.” Le Guin’s anti-corporation and colonialist values have a clear presence in this novel, as humanity’s colonization is the primary cause for the destruction of Athshean values of non-violence. Her anti-colonial message, and specifically how an indigenous people are affected by the forceful introduction of human values, are also in line with past statements that she wants to “de-center” from a westernized, Eurocentric viewpoint of the world, and focus more on indigenous peoples.

Le Guin has stated in this introduction that the Vietnam War was a major influence on this work. Her original title was The Little Green Men, but Harlan Ellison, editor of Again, Dangerous Visions, changed it with Le Guin's reluctant consent.

Ecological sensitivity

Throughout the novel Le Guin draws a contrast between the Athshean way of integrating with the ecology of the planet, and the human tendency to destroy it. The Athsheans are portrayed as having a decentralized society, which has not damaged the ecosystem to further its own economy.[12] In comparison, the humans are shown as having nearly destroyed their planet by exhausting its natural resources, and coming to Athshe to plunder its resources.[12]

Style and structure

The novel has eight chapters, narrated by each of the three main characters in turn. Captain Davidson narrates chapters 1, 4, and 7; Selver narrates chapters 2, 6, and 8; and the anthropologist Raj Lyubov narrates chapters 3 and 5.[30] This alternation emphasizes both the differences between the characters and their isolation within their societies. Lyubov and Davidson's chapters are narrated from a limited omniscient point of view, making their chapters seem like internal monologues.[30] Davidson's belief in the inferiority of the Athsheans and his adversarial attitude towards the planet are directly presented to the reader, along with Lyubov's struggle to do his job dispassionately while following his personal morality.[30] In contrast, Selver's chapters are written from a truly omniscient point of view, allowing Le Guin to give the reader information about the planet and its people. Selver has no extensive monologues; instead, several other Athsheans also feature prominently in his chapters.[30]

Although the novel is an anti-war novel portraying a military conflict, it is unusual for directly describing most of the action, planning, and strategy. Instead, most of the action happens off the page, and the novel focuses on the decisions being made about the conflict in the minds of the principal characters.[30] The language used within each chapter shifts with the protagonist, revealing the way they think about the events of the book. Davidson's monologues are filled with the derogatory language he uses; the Athsheans are referred to by the slang term "creechie," the women in the colony are "prime human stock," and so forth.[30]

Le Guin herself later said she was unhappy with the "strident" tone of the novel. She had been troubled by the Vietnam War, but was living in London when she wrote the novel, cut off from the anti-war movement she had been a part of in Oregon. Written in these circumstances, The Word for World is Forest became what Le Guin called a "preachment."[30]

Resemblance to Avatar

Several reviewers have noted that Avatar shares key narrative features with "The Word for World is Forest."[39][40] Specific thematic points of resemblance include a depleted earth, exploitive resource extraction on another planet, natives of that planet living in harmony with a sacred natural world, and a successful revolt by those natives against the exploiting humans.[39] A key difference lies in the roles of the "benevolent" humans in both works: Raj Lyubov in "The Word for World is Forest," Jake Sully and the human scientists in Avatar. While Lyubov made an impression as a "sensible" human and did help mediate peace between the Athshean people and humanity, he is not the savior of their race, and he does not survive to claim any "prize" from it. It is also notable that, contrasting Avatar, in "The Word for World is Forest" militarism is regarded by the Athsheans - especially Selver - as an unfortunate but necessary addition to Athshean culture, and one that may destroy their way of life.

References

  1. ↑ White 1999, pp. 60–65.
  2. ↑ White 1999, pp. 55–60.
  3. ↑ White 1999, pp. 70–77.
  4. ↑ White 1999, pp. 51–55.
  5. ↑ Reid 1997, pp. 3–8.
  6. 1 2 Reid 1997, pp. 10–17.
  7. 1 2 3 Reid 1997, pp. 49–55.
  8. ↑ Cummins 1990, p. 89.
  9. 1 2 Cummins 1990, pp. 66–67.
  10. 1 2 3 Cummins 1990, pp. 68–70.
  11. ↑ Reid 1997, pp. 19–21.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cummins 1990, pp. 87-90.
  13. ↑ Le Guin 1976, pp. 7-8.
  14. ↑ Le Guin 1976, pp. 42-49.
  15. ↑ Watson 1975a.
  16. 1 2 3 Le Guin 1976, pp. 18-22.
  17. ↑ Le Guin 1976, p. 26.
  18. 1 2 Le Guin 1976, pp. 29-32.
  19. ↑ Le Guin 1976, pp. 56-59.
  20. ↑ Le Guin 1976, pp. 70-73.
  21. 1 2 Le Guin 1976, pp. 66-69.
  22. ↑ Le Guin 1976, pp. 76-79.
  23. ↑ Le Guin 1976, pp. 84-86.
  24. ↑ Le Guin 1976, pp. 94-97.
  25. ↑ "Ursula K. Le Guin Awards List". Retrieved 2015-10-31.
  26. ↑ "1973 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards. Retrieved 2011-05-12.
  27. ↑ Cummins 1990, p. 93.
  28. ↑ Le Guin 1976, p. 57-58.
  29. 1 2 3 4 Cummins 1990, pp. 91-93.
  30. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cummins 1990, pp. 89-93.
  31. ↑ Le Guin 1976, pp. 53-54.
  32. ↑ Le Guin 1990, pp. 116-118.
  33. 1 2 Cummins 1990, pp. 94-96.
  34. ↑ Le Guin 1976, pp. 72-74.
  35. ↑ Reid 1997, pp. 51–56.
  36. ↑ Le Guin 1976, p. 89.
  37. ↑ Cummins 1990, p. 90.
  38. ↑ Le Guin 1976, p. 3.
  39. 1 2 Barnhill 2010.
  40. ↑ Westfahl 2009.

Sources

Further reading

External links

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