“FRIDAY RE-VERSO”
“We are equal, finally, equal, alien, alone.”
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin—a woman who, to quote Whitman, contains multitudes. Not only because of her immense literary output, but also because of her exuberant, exuberant wealth of thought, capable of developing as many insights in a single book as an entire library. Each word is the seed of a concept that will be free to germinate in the soil of our minds: the imagery Le Guin shares with us in the same gesture frees us from the constraints of everyday life and provides us with the key to more informed perspectives.
Finally freed from the genre label (science fiction), this superb author today comes to us among the ranks of great universal literature, the kind that continues to be alive and vibrant, never ages, and never ceases to provoke us. “The novelist says in words what cannot be said in words,” he invents lies to reveal the truth, he seems to predict as he describes: it is the play of contradictions that overturns points of view and allows us unexpected perspectives, new positions, clues to unexpected directions.
All right, let’s try to explore this incredible book, or, better yet, let’s try to provide a small map of all the stars Le Guin manages to point to in her firmament. We are on the planet Winter; Genly Ai, special envoy of the Ecumene (interstellar organization), seeks—as per his mission—to convince the various rulers and factions of the validity of their intentions, illustrating the mutual benefits of a possible cosmic collaboration. On the planet, in addition to being very cold, the inhabitants—an anomaly in the human universe—are androgynous, specifying their sexuality only during the kemmer phase, during which they unite and, at times, pledge fidelity to one another.
The first consequence of this condition is that there are no overt wars; The second is that we relate to one another as equals; if there are differences in power, they express themselves in ways that speak more to class struggle than to gender claims. And in this invented universe, through pages reminiscent of early adolescent fantasy, in a caravan on the ice, the encounter with the Other takes shape; above all, the senselessness of hatred for those on the other side of a completely conventional border, the love of freedom and knowledge, the harmony of opposites, the incessant journey within oneself and the clash with one’s own fears; the critique of colonialism, racism, misogyny, the abuse of power, all so clear and made simple by the evidence of a well-told story. The poignant ending reminded us of those two kids lost in the snow, another special friendship, that of Benioff’s “City of Thieves.”
Le Guin writes as if there were no limits to our ability to imagine a better life, as if utopia were within reach, achievable, provided we understand our short-circuits. In such difficult times, when everything is falling apart and we struggle to see ourselves as a collective, these simple words are moving: “Considering the distances from which we have gathered, to share this tent for a little while, we behave fairly well.”
Written by Delis
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Ursula K. Le Guin, La mano sinistra del buio, Mondadori, Milano, 1971
Original edition: The Left Hand of Darkness, Ace Books, New York, 1969