Dystopian vs Utopian: Ursula which one have you given me? Honestly, I’m still not sure. The best summary of the Odonian (read successful moon communism) society is from the main character Shevek saying, “I’m trying to say what I think brotherhood really is. It begins- it begins in shared pain.”
The Odonian people of the moon, Anarres, have created their attempt at an Anarchist Utopian society in a world of scarcity. It orbits it’s antithesis, Urras, a capitalist and misogynist world of plenty. Only the tenuous space port relating the two worlds and even that is surrounded by a wall.
Walls are a common theme in Ursula’s work here. The destruction of these walls are what drives our brilliant Physicist Shevek. Whether it’s the physical barriers between worlds, the mental barrier of his coveted unified theory of Simultaneity vs Sequentiality, or the socially constructed walls threatening his Anarres: Shevek seeks to disrupt and in disruption find the freedom his world preaches about.
I think there are three things I truly appreciate about this book.
(1) Ursula’s unified simultaneity and sequentially writing style. Where she jumps between past and present in the story until finally connecting the two parallels timelines much like Shevek connects his theories. It’s artfully done from a writing perspective.
(2) Shevek’s attempt to break that last wall is what has connected me most to this book. For me there is a personal connection I see in today’s world. Shevek has, what his university would call, fringe physics ideas and is constantly required to mold the truth of his work to be published. For me I connect here as an Author that feels pressure to confirm towards popular trends in literature in order to be successful. It’s a wall I can relate to and one that I fear I’ll break against. I’m curious if this is intentional and if Ursula was making a commentary on her own efforts at getting published (warning: me randomly speculating)
(3) The idea that happiness/brotherhood/utopia stems from a shared pain. The question of where it may stop? And the realization that, if we want a utopia, that sharing never stops.
Overall, for a book written in 1974, I’ve become intrigued by Ursula’s parallels timelines, as well as the parallel truths about our world she forces me to confront. In short, give it a read and judge for yourself.