Marcel Costa ha recensito Els desposseïts di Ursula K. Le Guin
Ressenya de "Els desposseïts"
5 stelle
Gran llibre! És un clàssic que m'havien recomanat molt i que ha complert les expectatives.
Mass Market Paperback, 400 pagine
lingua English
Pubblicato il 20 Ottobre 1994 da Eos.
The story takes place on the fictional planet Urras and its moon Anarres (since Anarres is massive enough to hold an atmosphere, this is often described as a double planet system). In order to forestall an anarcho-syndical workers' rebellion, the major Urrasti states gave the revolutionaries the right to live on Anarres, along with a guarantee of non-interference, approximately two hundred years before the events of The Dispossessed.[2] Before this, Anarres had had no permanent settlements apart from some mining.
The protagonist Shevek is a physicist attempting to develop a General Temporal Theory. The physics of the book describes time as having a much deeper, more complex structure than we understand it. It incorporates not only mathematics and physics, but also philosophy and ethics. The meaning of the theories in the book weaves nicely into the plot, not only describing abstract physical concepts, but the ups and downs of the …
The story takes place on the fictional planet Urras and its moon Anarres (since Anarres is massive enough to hold an atmosphere, this is often described as a double planet system). In order to forestall an anarcho-syndical workers' rebellion, the major Urrasti states gave the revolutionaries the right to live on Anarres, along with a guarantee of non-interference, approximately two hundred years before the events of The Dispossessed.[2] Before this, Anarres had had no permanent settlements apart from some mining.
The protagonist Shevek is a physicist attempting to develop a General Temporal Theory. The physics of the book describes time as having a much deeper, more complex structure than we understand it. It incorporates not only mathematics and physics, but also philosophy and ethics. The meaning of the theories in the book weaves nicely into the plot, not only describing abstract physical concepts, but the ups and downs of the characters' lives, and the transformation of the Anarresti society. An oft-quoted saying in the book is "true journey is return." [3].
Anarres is in theory a society without government or coercive authoritarian institutions. Yet in pursuing research that deviates from his society's current consensus understanding, Shevek begins to come up against very real obstacles. Shevek gradually develops an understanding that the revolution which brought his world into being is stagnating, and power structures are beginning to exist where there were none before. He therefore embarks on the risky journey to the original planet, Urras, seeking to open dialog between the worlds and to spread his theories freely outside of Anarres. The novel details his struggles on both Urras and his homeworld of Anarres.
The book also explores the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, that language shapes thinking, and thus, culture. The language spoken on the anarchist planet Anarres, Pravic, is a constructed language that reflects many aspects of the philosophical foundations of utopian anarchism. For instance, the use of the possessive case is strongly discouraged. In one scene, Shevek's daughter, meeting him for the first time, offers him "You can share the handkerchief I use,"[4] rather than "you may borrow my handkerchief", thus conveying the idea that the handkerchief is not owned by the girl, merely carried by her.[5] Cover of first paperback edition
The Dispossessed looks into the mechanisms that may be developed by an anarchist society, but also the dangers of centralization and bureaucracy that might easily take over such society without the continuation of revolutionary ideology. Part of its power is that it gives a spectrum of fairly well-developed characters, who illustrate many types of personalities, all educated in an environment that measures a person not by what he owns, but by what he can do, and how he relates to other human beings. Possibly the best example of this is the character of Takver, the hero's partner, who exemplifies many virtues: loyalty, love of life and living things, perseverance, and desire for a true partnership with another person.
The work is sometimes said to represent one of the few modern revivals of the utopian genre, [6] and there are certainly many characteristics of a utopian novel found in this book. Most obviously, Shevek is an outsider in Urras, following the "traveler" convention common in utopian literature. All of the characters portrayed in the novel have a certain spirituality or intelligence, there are no nondescript characters. It is also true to say that there are aspects of Anarres that are utopian: it is presented as a pure society that adheres to its own theories and ideals, which are starkly juxtaposed with Urras society.
However, the work is subtitled "An Ambiguous Utopia", and one of the major themes of the work is the ambiguity of different notions of utopia. Anarres is not presented as a perfect society, even within the constraints of what might define an anarchist utopia. Bureaucracy, stagnation, and power structures have problematized the revolution, as Shevek understands through the course of the novel. Moreover, Le Guin has painted a very stark picture of the natural and environmental constraints on society. Anarres citizens are forced to contend with a relatively sparse and unfruitful world. Hardship caused by lack of resources is a prominent theme, reflected in the title of the novel. Anarres citizens are dispossessed not just by political choice, but by the very lack of resources to possess. Here, again, Le Guin draws a contrast with the natural wealth of Urras, and the competitive behaviors this fosters. Le Guin's foreword to the novel notes that her anarchism is closely akin to that of Pyotr Kropotkin's, whose Mutual Aid closely assessed the influence of the natural world on competition and cooperation.[7] Le Guin's use of realism in this aspect of the work further problematizes — ambiguates — a simple utopian interpretation of the work. Anarres is not a perfect society, and Le Guin shows that no such thing is possible.
Gran llibre! És un clàssic que m'havien recomanat molt i que ha complert les expectatives.
Un libro bellissimo, che parla di anarchia più di quanto i testi anarchici criptici e volutamente astrusi alla comprensione abbiano mai fatto. La descrizione perfetta di una società capitalistica, patriarcale, guerrafondaia, classista in contrapposizione a chi ha effettuato la scelta di non volere più nulla di questo, di voler scientemente non possedere nulla di materiale o immateriale per poi in realtà condividere tutto. Certo nulla è perfetto e ci sarà sempre chi cercherà di esercitare il potere anche se in modo lieve, qualcosa scricchiola. Questo libro è entrato a far parte dei miei "libri fondamentali", quelli da dover leggere almeno una volta nella vita.
Bisogna leggere Ursula K. Le Guin
la fantascienza e' solo nell'ultima pagina....
Un libro di fantascienza geniale, avvincente e al tempo stesso ricco di significato. Negli ultimi anni ho tratto grande piacere dallo studio del pensiero anarchico e delle sue differenze con il comunismo autoritario (e chiaramente con il capitalismo). Penso che il pensiero anarchico sia criminalmente escluso dagli studi scolastici e che moltissime persone, per questo motivo, non sappiano realmente cosa sia. I reietti dell'altro pianeta immagina un'utopia anarchica, dandole però sostanza: è bellissimo vedere come funzionerebbe una società anarchica secondo Ursula Le Guin, anche perché ne presenta anche le possibili criticità. La critica feroce alla concezione del lavoro e dello sfruttamento nel capitalismo sono da pelle d'oca. Ho imparato più sull'anarchia leggendo lei che leggendo Kropotkin!
Avviso sul contenuto Spoliers
I love Ursula but this has been my least liked book of hers so I'm giving 4 stars instead of 5. I enjoyed the heavy intellectual ideas. I enjoyed the romance. I was utterly destroyed that she made this main character who I had thoroughly liked, out of nowhere sexually assault a woman because he experiences alcohol for the first time in his life. The way it's written is really fucking blaming the woman victim character while our main character dude just gets to brush it off and go on with his life as the hero and doesn't even think about this incident for even one goddamn second for the rest of the book. I know Ursula took some serious thoughts about feminism later in life and made some apologies and changes in her writing with the Earthsea series which I thought was wonderful. I really wish she had taken the time to go back and edit or at least write an apology about this. It fucking sucks. The rest of the story is great. This one scene should be deleted. It's fucking horrible. And no it's totally not believable that creating an anarchist communist society would suddenly erase rape and that rape is just an invention of capitalism and greed. Yea no. I can't bite down on that idea at all. The other heavy ideas make sense but only up to a point and then it's just like trying to say capitalism causes humans to rape. Like no fuck you. Rapists are psychopaths. They are the same as murderers. They are born with it in their brain. They cannot feel empathy. They are predators. Society can't make them do it or not do it. They exist in every society through all time. They can't be fixed either. And a man who is absolutely loving to his true love, his little daughters will not just suddenly sexually assault a woman because he got exposed to capitalism and alcohol and "went crazy." Fucking bullshit rape apology sexist bullshit. And then feel absolutely no remorse about it? Cmon!!
Iniziato entro un gruppo di lettura, lasciato a metà per sospensione del gruppo, ripreso in mano e terminato di volata durante l'estate (con una pausa in corrispondenza del mare), ne è valsa la pena fino all'ultima virgola – perché The Dispossessed potrebbe essere uno dei miei romanzi preferiti di sempre, a prescindere da epoca lingua e genere.
Già sapevo dal ciclo di Terramare che zia Ursula è una maestra a rendere affascinanti e tangibili le vite quotidiane di società immaginarie ma plausibili, e a farci empatizzare con le piccole grandi storie di personaggi eminentemente umani per quanto ben lontani dal nostro vissuto (il che è la forma più bella di escapismo: quella che poi ci riporta a casa), ma a questo giro la nostra ha toccato due corde che per me valgono tanto: non solo The Dispossessed è uno racconto antropologico che contrappone una società liberal-capitalista post-scarsità (e in tralice …
Iniziato entro un gruppo di lettura, lasciato a metà per sospensione del gruppo, ripreso in mano e terminato di volata durante l'estate (con una pausa in corrispondenza del mare), ne è valsa la pena fino all'ultima virgola – perché The Dispossessed potrebbe essere uno dei miei romanzi preferiti di sempre, a prescindere da epoca lingua e genere.
Già sapevo dal ciclo di Terramare che zia Ursula è una maestra a rendere affascinanti e tangibili le vite quotidiane di società immaginarie ma plausibili, e a farci empatizzare con le piccole grandi storie di personaggi eminentemente umani per quanto ben lontani dal nostro vissuto (il che è la forma più bella di escapismo: quella che poi ci riporta a casa), ma a questo giro la nostra ha toccato due corde che per me valgono tanto: non solo The Dispossessed è uno racconto antropologico che contrappone una società liberal-capitalista post-scarsità (e in tralice la speculare società comunista) a una comunità anarchica libertaria che sopravvive caparbia nella ristrettezza, non solo tanta parte del conflitto verte su come una società orizzontale e federativa può comunque ricadere nella gerarchia o comunque nella stagnazione, non solo ci sono scene straordinarie e terribili di vita agraria e di movida accademica – ma in più tutto questo lo esperiamo attraverso la storia di formazione del nostro buon Shevek, che a mio parere di uomo autistico è palesemente un individuo neurodivergente con la classica combinazione di interessi assorbenti + rispetto ingenuo per le regole + penetrante senso critico, e buona parte del suo viaggio personale consiste nel costruirsi una propria comunità stretta come punto di partenza per cambiare in meglio il suo mondo (e poi il suo sistema solare) un passo per volta. È stato straordinario sentirmi così rappresentato in Shevek e Takver che diventano il cuore aggregante della loro famiglia elettiva ad Abbenay, e commuovermi fino alle lacrime per le orazioni di Shevek sul senso della lotta odoniana e la volontà costantemente rinnovata di creare un mondo nuovo e migliore – un elogio dell'anarchia positiva più potente, poetico e toccante di mille manifesti.
Certo, ci sono alcune piccole sbavature d'intreccio (o grandi, nel caso di una certa scena violenta nel capitolo otto), ma se ho apprezzato di gusto un grande romanzo antitetico alla mia sensibilità quale [b:Starship Troopers|54770174|Starship Troopers|Robert A. Heinlein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1596230035l/54770174.SY75.jpg|2534973] a maggior ragione sarò clemente con un testo così tanto nelle mie corde e mi "limiterò" a problematizzarlo senza fustigarlo – e a recuperare opere che siano in continuità con questo filone.
Grazie di questo capolavoro, zia Ursula; i compagni e le compagne se ne vanno ma restano nei nostri cuori, e le nostre idee continuano a indirizzarci.
This book blew. My. Mind. I'm serious, for this alone Ursula K Le Guin became my fav sci-fi author, leaps and bounds above anybody else. She showed me what you can do with science fiction, how you can break the limits of the imagination. It is the first time I actually managed to picture a non-hierarchical society and it is so real, so visceral, that things clicked and I realized that "wait, this is possible!?" And she does that with a completely made up story set in two completely made up societies, both fleshed out with their greatness and infamy, their ideologies and contradictions.
It is NOT an easy read: Le Guin happily forces your brain to do some mental gymnastic, where things don't make any sense until a few pages later when they suddenly, perfectly do, things click in place and your mind is blown.
It is the book …
This book blew. My. Mind. I'm serious, for this alone Ursula K Le Guin became my fav sci-fi author, leaps and bounds above anybody else. She showed me what you can do with science fiction, how you can break the limits of the imagination. It is the first time I actually managed to picture a non-hierarchical society and it is so real, so visceral, that things clicked and I realized that "wait, this is possible!?" And she does that with a completely made up story set in two completely made up societies, both fleshed out with their greatness and infamy, their ideologies and contradictions.
It is NOT an easy read: Le Guin happily forces your brain to do some mental gymnastic, where things don't make any sense until a few pages later when they suddenly, perfectly do, things click in place and your mind is blown.
It is the book that made me understand how the limits of our current society are, first and foremost, limits of our imagination, and I don't say this lightly. This book blows our minds, because we have been robbed of the ability to imagine a better, if imperfect, world.
Brilliant, complex and fearless imagination of an anarchist society. Probably one of the best books I've ever read.
Le Guin was put the light on the despicable society whom is ours by describing through the eyes of an anarchist.
L'autrice met la lumière sur la méprisable société qui est la notre en décrivant à travers les yeux d'un anarchiste.
Walls beyond walls.
Re-read 2020: Upped to 5 stars. Still a bit of a slow start and interspersed philosophical explainers, but I appreciate the complexities of this "evolving utopia" more than before, the human and social and intergenerational tensions she walks through in making the case complicated.
Good:
Speculative fiction at its finest.
Great society & world building, shown through a lens of a single life.
Two timelines nicely intertwine & support each other.
The scenes of hardship & revolution resonate deeply.
* Evokes the feeling of classic Sci-Fi without any problematic elements often associated with it.
Bad: ∅
For a depiction of a similar theme check out John Kessel's [b:The Moon and the Other|30753686|The Moon and the Other|John Kessel|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1491126501l/30753686.SY75.jpg|51302140].
Una obra que vuelve a usar la ciencia ficción como entrada pero que es un análisis y una reflexión sobre la sociedad, desde la luna Anarres, donde la sociedad se organiza en un modo anarquista/socialissta al planeta Urras, donde tras un conflicto estos últimos fueron expulsados y donde el planeta se organiza en base a oligopolios y un capitalismo salvaje. Como nexo entre ambos mundos el protagonista intenta establecer un diálogo, intentando propiciar el desarrollo de ambas sociedades con la colaboración científica. Un libro que no deja de ser una reflexión y un golpe sobre la mesa sobre la política, la sociedad y el papel de la ciencia y los científicos.
very deep personal relationship with this book
La Le Guin qui tenta qualcosa di molto simile a quanto aveva tentato in "La mano sinistra delle tenebre": prendere la nostra società, eliminare completamente uno dei suoi elementi costitutivi e cercare di immaginare cosa potrebbe risultarne. In "La mano sinistra delle tenebre" l'elemento era la distinzione tra i sessi; qui si tratta dei concetto di proprietà e di governo. Ancora una volta il risultato è eccellente; sebbene la struttura sociale di Anarres (priva di governo e di leggi) risulti un pochino nebulosa e nel complesso del tutto utopica ed irrealizzabile (e lo dico con grande amarezza...), le riflessioni che vengono proposte attraverso...
Continua qui:
http://figura4.com/review/show/18-i-reietti-dell-altro-pianeta
La Le Guin qui tenta qualcosa di molto simile a quanto aveva tentato in "La mano sinistra delle tenebre": prendere la nostra società, eliminare completamente uno dei suoi elementi costitutivi e cercare di immaginare cosa potrebbe risultarne. In "La mano sinistra delle tenebre" l'elemento era la distinzione tra i sessi; qui si tratta dei concetto di proprietà e di governo. Ancora una volta il risultato è eccellente; sebbene la struttura sociale di Anarres (priva di governo e di leggi) risulti un pochino nebulosa e nel complesso del tutto utopica ed irrealizzabile (e lo dico con grande amarezza...), le riflessioni che vengono proposte attraverso...
Continua qui:
http://figura4.com/review/show/18-i-reietti-dell-altro-pianeta