Reading Order
The Dispossessed Reading Order
Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed (1974) is the most philosophically serious novel in the science fiction canon — Shevek, a physicist on the anarchist moon of Anarres, traveling to the capitalist twin planet of Urras to share his theory of time with the interstellar civilization, and finding that neither world is what he hoped. Le Guin subtitled it 'an ambiguous utopia' — it is neither a straightforward utopian nor a dystopian novel, but an examination of what an anarchist society would actually look like, with all its compromises and failures. It won the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards in 1975 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest science fiction novels ever written.
Where to start
The Dispossessed
Complete The Dispossessed Book List
- 1Buy
The Dispossessed
Ursula K. Le Guin·1974·The complete standalone novel — approximately 340 pages, alternating chapters between Shevek's life on Anarres (chronological) and his embassy to Urras (present). Requires some patience with Le Guin's tendency toward political philosophy. - 2Buy
The Left Hand of Darkness
Ursula K. Le Guin·1969·The companion Hainish Cycle novel — Genly Ai on the genderless planet Gethen, the Hugo and Nebula winner that preceded The Dispossessed in the same universe. - 3Buy
A Wizard of Earthsea
Ursula K. Le Guin·1968·The other Le Guin — the Earthsea fantasy cycle, philosophical and Taoist, showing the other side of Le Guin's imagination from the rigorous political SF of The Dispossessed. - 4Buy
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley·1932·The utopia/dystopia companion — the World State as a different answer to the same question Le Guin is asking, the pleasantly controlled society vs. the austere anarchist moon of Anarres.
The Dispossessed — Frequently Asked Questions
What is anarchism as Le Guin portrays it in The Dispossessed?
Le Guin draws on the anarchist tradition of Peter Kropotkin, Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin's Mutual Aid (1902) in particular, to construct Anarres — a society with no government, no property, no formal authority, in which social pressure and the community are the only mechanisms of order. In her portrayal, anarchism is not a paradise: Anarres has bureaucratic inertia, social conformity enforced through peer pressure, and a tendency to punish those who are different. The novel is 'ambiguous' precisely because Le Guin takes both the potential of anarchism and its failures seriously.
Is The Dispossessed the same as Ursula Le Guin's Hainish Cycle?
The Dispossessed is set in the Hainish Cycle — Le Guin's future history of interstellar humanity — but it is entirely self-contained. The Ekumen (the interstellar federation) plays a background role, and Shevek's theory of simultaneity (ansible technology) is the invention that the Ekumen uses for instantaneous communication in other Hainish Cycle novels. The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) and The Word for World is Forest (1972) are set in the same universe. All are standalone novels.
Monthly Newsletter
Never miss a big release
Get the most anticipated upcoming books delivered to your inbox once a month — no spam, no filler.
Monthly only. Unsubscribe anytime.
Book links are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, BookReleaseRadar earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.