Introduction
There was no introduction to the original 1969 version of the book, but Ursula Le Guin wrote one which was copyrighted in 1976 after she had had a chance to reflect on her own work. In her introduction, she defines the nature and purpose of science-fiction writing, and also describes her intent in writing the novel. She insists that science-fiction writing is not "extrapolative," but rather, it is describing an overarching truth that the author reveals in an often complex and ambiguous way. In addition, she generalizes the purpose of novels by saying that good novels are meant to change the reader in an indescribable way after they have completed reading the book. She then progresses to broadly state that the entire fictional genre is a metaphor, but narrows her emphasis by stating that the future especially (in fictional writing) cannot be described in any other way than metaphorical terms.
Read more about this topic: The Left Hand Of Darkness
Famous quotes containing the word introduction:
“The role of the stepmother is the most difficult of all, because you cant ever just be. Youre constantly being testedby the children, the neighbors, your husband, the relatives, old friends who knew the childrens parents in their first marriage, and by yourself.”
—Anonymous Stepparent. Making It as a Stepparent, by Claire Berman, introduction (1980, repr. 1986)
“We used chamber-pots a good deal.... My mother ... loved to repeat: When did the queen reign over China? This whimsical and harmless scatological pun was my first introduction to the wonderful world of verbal transformations, and also a first perception that a joke need not be funny to give pleasure.”
—Angela Carter (19401992)
“Such is oftenest the young mans introduction to the forest, and the most original part of himself. He goes thither at first as a hunter and fisher, until at last, if he has the seeds of a better life in him, he distinguishes his proper objects, as a poet or naturalist it may be, and leaves the gun and fish-pole behind. The mass of men are still and always young in this respect.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)