Hugo Award for Best Novel (1975)
113-601: Dispossessed may refer to: The Dispossessed , a 1974 novel by Ursula K. Le Guin Dispossessed: The Ordeal of the Palestinians 1917–1980 , a 1980 history book by David Gilmour Dispossessed (band) , an Australian heavy metal band active in 2015–2019 See also [ edit ] Eviction Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
226-461: A Hainish spaceship. Hainish culture is described. A Hainishman named Ketho, who sympathizes with Odonian thought, wants to disembark with Shevek when they land on Anarres. Not knowing if the Anarresti will welcome him back with open arms, Shevek remains content thinking about his family as the spaceship begins to land. The ambiguity of Anarres's economic and political situation in relation to Urras
339-466: A celebration of a mother's labor, focusing on creating life rather than on building objects. The sexual freedom on Anarres also contributes to the book's feminist message. On the other hand, some critics believe that Le Guin's feminist themes are either weak or not present. Some believe that the Taoist interdependence between the genders actually weakens Le Guin's feminist message. Marcellino believes that
452-414: A clerk in the state administration and had an elementary education, he proved a capable chief minister. During his tenure, Karamchand married four times. His first two wives died young, after each had given birth to a daughter, and his third marriage was childless. In 1857, Karamchand sought his third wife's permission to remarry; that year, he married Putlibai (1844–1891), who also came from Junagadh, and
565-559: A collection of 14 texts with teachings that the tradition believes to include the essence of the Vedas , the Quran and the Bible . Gandhi was deeply influenced by his mother, an extremely pious lady who "would not think of taking her meals without her daily prayers... she would take the hardest vows and keep them without flinching. To keep two or three consecutive fasts was nothing to her." At
678-592: A field hospital since the terrain was too rough for the ambulances. Gandhi and 37 other Indians received the Queen's South Africa Medal . In 1906, the Transvaal government promulgated a new Act compelling registration of the colony's Indian and Chinese populations. At a mass protest meeting held in Johannesburg on 11 September that year, Gandhi adopted his still evolving methodology of Satyagraha (devotion to
791-741: A focus on utopia's discontents, and an interest in how utopian society interacts with its neighbors. Some critics disagree as to whether The Dispossessed should be considered a feminist utopia or a feminist science fiction novel. According to Mary Morrison of the State University of New York at Buffalo, the anarchist themes in this book help to promote feminist themes as well. Other critics, such as William Marcellino of SUNY Buffalo and Sarah LeFanu , writer of "Popular Writing and Feminist Intervention in Science Fiction," argue that there are distinct anti-feminist undertones throughout
904-402: A great impact on Gandhi in his childhood. In his autobiography, Gandhi states that they left an indelible impression on his mind. Gandhi writes: "It haunted me and I must have acted Harishchandra to myself times without number." Gandhi's early self-identification with truth and love as supreme values is traceable to these epic characters. The family's religious background was eclectic. Mohandas
1017-458: A jealous superior, Sabul, who controls the publication of Anarresti manuscripts. As his theories conflict with the prevailing political philosophy, Shevek believes that his ideas are discordant with Anarresti society. Throughout his time in Abbenay, he runs into old acquaintances from his adolescence and his mother, Rulag. One of his old female acquaintances, Takver, becomes involved with Shevek and
1130-628: A law practice in Bombay failed because Gandhi was psychologically unable to cross-examine witnesses. He returned to Rajkot to make a modest living drafting petitions for litigants, but Gandhi was forced to stop after running afoul of British officer Sam Sunny. In 1893, a Muslim merchant in Kathiawar named Dada Abdullah contacted Gandhi. Abdullah owned a large successful shipping business in South Africa. His distant cousin in Johannesburg needed
1243-519: A lawyer, and they preferred someone with Kathiawari heritage. Gandhi inquired about his pay for the work. They offered a total salary of £105 (~$ 4,143 in 2023 money) plus travel expenses. He accepted it, knowing that it would be at least a one-year commitment in the Colony of Natal , South Africa, also a part of the British Empire. In April 1893, Gandhi, aged 23, set sail for South Africa to be
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#17327762555001356-408: A letter Le Guin sent to Bookchin. Anarres citizens are dispossessed not just by political choice, but by the very lack of actual resources to possess. Here, again, Le Guin draws a contrast with the natural wealth of Urras, and the competitive behaviors this fosters. The Dispossessed is set on Anarres and Urras, the twin inhabited worlds of Tau Ceti . Urras is divided into several states, but
1469-517: A love affair but likes the planet even less, and so nobly returns to the gulag. She proceeded to rewrite the story, beginning with his name and origin—Shevek, from Utopia—which she considered reasonable based on his intelligence and disarming naivety. Knowing only bits of Thomas More ( Utopia ), William Morris ( News from Nowhere ), William Henry Hudson ( A Crystal Age ), and H. G. Wells ( A Modern Utopia ), Le Guin's reading of modern libertarian socialists rounded Shevek's prison planet into
1582-562: A means of both introspection and political protest. Bringing anti-colonial nationalism to the common Indians, Gandhi led them in challenging the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km (250 mi) Dandi Salt March in 1930 and in calling for the British to quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned many times and for many years in both South Africa and India. Gandhi's vision of an independent India based on religious pluralism
1695-636: A mob of white settlers attacked him, and Gandhi escaped only through the efforts of the wife of the police superintendent. However, Gandhi refused to press charges against any member of the mob. During the Boer War , Gandhi volunteered in 1900 to form a group of stretcher-bearers as the Natal Indian Ambulance Corps . According to Arthur Herman, Gandhi wanted to disprove the British colonial stereotype that Hindus were not fit for "manly" activities involving danger and exertion, unlike
1808-491: A moral movement and that Allinson should therefore no longer remain a member of the LVS. Gandhi shared Hills' views on the dangers of birth control, but defended Allinson's right to differ. It would have been hard for Gandhi to challenge Hills; Hills was 12 years his senior and unlike Gandhi, highly eloquent. Hills bankrolled the LVS and was a captain of industry with his Thames Ironworks company employing more than 6,000 people in
1921-416: A negotiated tension among syndicate federalism, individual autonomy, and the danger of centralized authority." The language spoken on Anarres also reflects anarchism. Pravic is a constructed language in the tradition of Esperanto . Pravic reflects many aspects of the philosophical foundations of utopian anarchism. For instance, the use of the possessive case is strongly discouraged, a feature that also
2034-466: A place where she saw he would want to return: Marx and Engels , William Godwin , Emma Goldman , Paul Goodman and, foremost, Peter Kropotkin and Mary Shelley . Le Guin wrote The Dispossessed in 1973 for publication in May or June 1974. The novel received generally positive reviews. On the positive side, Baird Searles characterized the novel as an "extraordinary work", saying Le Guin had "created
2147-488: A prison was a place where a State put people who disobeyed its Laws." Fascinated by this "perversity", the schoolchildren construct their own prison and detain one of their own inside. They are ultimately horrified by the experience. Figurative imprisonment is an important theme in the novel too. In both the Urrasti and Anarresti parts of the novel, "time after time the question of who is being locked out or in, which side of
2260-478: A public speaking practice group and overcame his shyness sufficiently to practise law. Gandhi demonstrated a keen interest in the welfare of London's impoverished dockland communities. In 1889, a bitter trade dispute broke out in London, with dockers striking for better pay and conditions, and seamen, shipbuilders, factory girls and other joining the strike in solidarity. The strikers were successful, in part due to
2373-437: A series of six 30 minute episodes. On October 5, 2021, it was announced that 1212 Entertainment and Anonymous Content would adapt the novel into a limited series. Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ( ISO : Mōhanadāsa Karamacaṁda Gāṁdhī ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist , and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead
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#17327762555002486-416: A spaceship. Chapter One begins in the middle of the story. The protagonist Shevek is an Anarresti physicist attempting to develop a General Temporal Theory. The physics of the book, Principles of Simultaneity, describes time as having a much deeper, more complex structure than as it is understood. It incorporates not only mathematics and physics, but also philosophy and ethics. Shevek finds his work blocked by
2599-464: A state of things we should have the ability to defend ourselves, that is, the ability to bear arms and to use them... If we want to learn the use of arms with the greatest possible despatch, it is our duty to enlist ourselves in the army." However, Gandhi stipulated in a letter to the Viceroy's private secretary that he "personally will not kill or injure anybody, friend or foe." Gandhi's support for
2712-405: A vision, revealed as if seen from a distance, first as a male physicist, his thin face, clear eyes, large ears, possibly recalling a memory of Robert Oppenheimer, and a vivid personality. She attempted to capture the character in a short story in what she recalled as one of her worst in 30 years of writing, in which the physicist escapes a gulag planet for a nearby wealthy sister planet, where he has
2825-459: A visitor to utopia, as a device to teach the reader about its institutions. However The Dispossessed inverts this, by having Shevek, dissatisfied with his life in Anarres, travel to Urras. The Dispossessed also does not seek to portray Anarres as a society that is absolutely good, but only as "ambiguously good". Tom Moylan describes The Dispossessed as "the best known and the most popular of
2938-505: A volunteer mixed unit of Indian and African stretcher-bearers to treat wounded combatants during the suppression of the rebellion. The medical unit commanded by Gandhi operated for less than two months before being disbanded. After the suppression of the rebellion, the colonial establishment showed no interest in extending to the Indian community the civil rights granted to white South Africans . This led Gandhi to becoming disillusioned with
3051-492: A vow in front of his mother that he would abstain from meat, alcohol, and women. Gandhi's brother, Laxmidas, who was already a lawyer, cheered Gandhi's London studies plan and offered to support him. Putlibai gave Gandhi her permission and blessing. On 10 August 1888, Gandhi, aged 18, left Porbandar for Mumbai, then known as Bombay. A local newspaper covering the farewell function by his old high school in Rajkot noted that Gandhi
3164-636: A working society in exquisite detail" and "a fully realized hypothetical culture [as well as] living breathing characters who are inevitable products of that culture". Gerald Jonas, writing in The New York Times , said that "Le Guin's book, written in her solid, no-nonsense prose, is so persuasive that it ought to put a stop to the writing of prescriptive Utopias for at least 10 years". Theodore Sturgeon praised The Dispossessed as "a beautifully written, beautifully composed book", saying "it performs one of [science fiction's] prime functions, which
3277-471: Is a 1974 anarchist utopian science fiction novel by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin , one of her seven Hainish Cycle novels. It is one of a small number of books to win all three Hugo , Locus and Nebula Awards for Best Novel. It achieved a degree of literary recognition unusual for science fiction due to its exploration of themes such as anarchism and revolutionary societies , capitalism , utopia , individualism , and collectivism . It features
3390-402: Is ambiguous. The people of Anarres consider themselves as being free and independent, having broken off from the political and social influence of the old world. However, the powers of Urras consider Anarres as being essentially their mining colony, as the annual consignment of Anarres's precious metals and their distribution to major powers on Urras is a major economic event of the old world. In
3503-550: Is among admirers of Gandhi's efforts to fight against racism in Africa. The general image of Gandhi, state Desai and Vahed, has been reinvented since his assassination as though Gandhi was always a saint, when in reality, his life was more complex, contained inconvenient truths, and was one that changed over time. Scholars have also pointed the evidence to a rich history of co-operation and efforts by Gandhi and Indian people with nonwhite South Africans against persecution of Africans and
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3616-573: Is anarchism," mentioning parallels with Emma Goldman , Taoism and Percy Bysshe Shelley . For Le Guin, anarchism's "principal target is the authoritarian State (capitalist or socialist); its principal moral-practical theme is cooperation (solidarity, mutual aid )." Both on Anarres and Urras, many conflicts occur between these anarchist principles and the constraints imposed by authority and society. On Anarres, there are no written laws. However, in practice, there are strong conventions about how most things should be done, which frustrate Shevek throughout
3729-626: Is closely linked to the rival society of Thu. When a revolution is sparked in Benbili, the third major, yet undeveloped, area of Urras, A-Io invades the Thu-supported revolutionary area, generating a proxy war . The moon, Anarres, represents a more idealist ideological structure: anarcho-syndicalism . The Anarresti, who call themselves Odonians after the founder of their political philosophy, arrived on Anarres from Urras around 200 years ago. In order to forestall an anarcho-syndicalist rebellion,
3842-485: Is dominated by two rival superpowers, A-Io and Thu. While on Urras, the main character spends most of his time in A-Io, a state with a capitalist economy and a patriarchal system . The state of Thu is never actually visited, but is said to have an authoritarian system that claims to rule in the name of the proletariat . A-Io has dissent in its borders, including a few different oppositional left-wing parties, one of which
3955-411: Is reflected by the novel's title. Children are trained to speak only about matters that interest others; anything else is "egoizing" (pp. 28–31). There is no property ownership of any kind. Shevek's daughter, upon meeting him for the first time, tells him, "You can share the handkerchief I use" rather than "You may borrow my handkerchief", thus conveying the idea that the handkerchief is not owned by
4068-400: Is symbolically manifested in the low wall surrounding Anarres's single spaceport. This wall is the only place on the anarchist planet where "No Trespassing!" signs may be seen, and it is where the book begins and ends. The people of Anarres believe that the wall divides a free world from the corrupting influence of an oppressor's ships. On the other hand, the wall could be a prison wall keeping
4181-471: Is taken from the description of Earth in that book (§11) as having passed through an ecological and social collapse with a population peak of 9 billion to a low-population but highly centralized recovery economy." In the same article, Watson assigns a date of AD 4870 to The Left Hand of Darkness ; both dates are problematic — as Watson says himself, they are contradicted by "Genly Ai's statement that Terrans 'were ignorant until about three thousand years ago of
4294-463: Is to create another kind of social system to see how it would work. Or if it would work." Lester del Rey , however, gave the novel a mixed review, citing the quality of Le Guin's writing but claiming that the ending "slips badly", a deus ex machina that "destroy[s] much of the strength of the novel". In 1987, the CBC Radio anthology program Vanishing Point adapted The Dispossessed into
4407-634: The Apartheid . In 1903, Gandhi started the Indian Opinion , a journal that carried news of Indians in South Africa, Indians in India with articles on all subjects -social, moral and intellectual. Each issue was multi-lingual and carried material in English, Gujarati, Hindi and Tamil. It carried ads, depended heavily on Gandhi's contributions (often printed without a byline) and was an 'advocate' for
4520-469: The East End of London . Hills was also a highly accomplished sportsman who later founded the football club West Ham United . In his 1927 An Autobiography, Vol. I , Gandhi wrote: The question deeply interested me...I had a high regard for Mr. Hills and his generosity. But I thought it was quite improper to exclude a man from a vegetarian society simply because he refused to regard puritan morals as one of
4633-535: The Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability , and, above all, achieving swaraj or self-rule. Gandhi adopted the short dhoti woven with hand-spun yarn as a mark of identification with India's rural poor. He began to live in a self-sufficient residential community , to eat simple food, and undertake long fasts as
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4746-681: The Library of America reprint in 2017, Le Guin reflected on her past 40 years by writing: The Dispossessed started as a very bad short story , which I didn't try to finish but couldn't quite let go. There was a book in it, and I knew it, but the book had to wait for me to learn what I was writing about and how to write about it. I needed to understand my own passionate opposition to the war that we were, endlessly it seemed, waging in Vietnam, and endlessly protesting at home . If I had known then that my country would continue making aggressive wars for
4859-550: The London Vegetarian Society (LVS) and was elected to its executive committee under the aegis of its president and benefactor Arnold Hills . An achievement while on the committee was the establishment of a Bayswater chapter. Some of the vegetarians Gandhi met were members of the Theosophical Society , which had been founded in 1875 to further universal brotherhood, and which was devoted to
4972-576: The Punjab and Bengal . Abstaining from the official celebration of independence , Gandhi visited the affected areas, attempting to alleviate distress. In the months following, he undertook several hunger strikes to stop the religious violence. The last of these was begun in Delhi on 12 January 1948, when Gandhi was 78. The belief that Gandhi had been too resolute in his defence of both Pakistan and Indian Muslims spread among some Hindus in India. Among these
5085-437: The 13-year-old Gandhi was married to 14-year-old Kasturbai Gokuldas Kapadia (her first name was usually shortened to "Kasturba", and affectionately to "Ba") in an arranged marriage , according to the custom of the region at that time. In the process, he lost a year at school but was later allowed to make up by accelerating his studies. Gandhi's wedding was a joint event, where his brother and cousin were also married. Recalling
5198-405: The Anarresti and the wider society, Shevek embarks to Urras. Shevek's journey to the only spaceport in Anarres is eventful. Having been deemed a traitor by some groups on the planet, Shevek is nearly killed as an angry mob tries to stop him getting on the spaceship to A-Io. Arriving in A-Io, Urras, Shevek is feted. He soon finds himself disgusted with the social, sexual, and political conventions of
5311-527: The Anarresti society. An oft-quoted saying in the book is "true journey is return." The meaning of Shevek's theories—which deal with the nature of time and simultaneity—have been subject to interpretation. For example, there have been interpretations that the non-linear nature of the novel is a reproduction of Shevek's theory. In her foreword to the collected Hainish novels, Le Guin notes her "great, immediate affinity" with anarchist thinkers Peter Kropotkin and Paul Goodman . Elsewhere, she writes that "Odonism
5424-637: The British Colonial Secretary, to reconsider his position on this bill. Though unable to halt the bill's passage, Gandhi's campaign was successful in drawing attention to the grievances of Indians in South Africa. He helped found the Natal Indian Congress in 1894, and through this organisation, Gandhi moulded the Indian community of South Africa into a unified political force. In January 1897, when Gandhi landed in Durban,
5537-470: The British responded by imprisoning him and tens of thousands of Congress leaders. Meanwhile, the Muslim League did co-operate with Britain and moved, against Gandhi's strong opposition, to demands for a totally separate Muslim state of Pakistan. In August 1947, the British partitioned the land with India and Pakistan each achieving independence on terms that Gandhi disapproved. In April 1918, during
5650-575: The Empire and aroused a spiritual awakening within him; historian Arthur L. Herman wrote that Gandhi's African experience was a part of his great disillusionment with the West, transforming Gandhi into an "uncompromising non-cooperator". By 1910, Gandhi's newspaper, Indian Opinion , was covering reports on discrimination against Africans by the colonial regime. Gandhi remarked that the Africans "alone are
5763-722: The Indian National Congress declared the independence of India. The British did not recognise the declaration, but negotiations ensued, with the Congress taking a role in provincial government in the late 1930s. Gandhi and the Congress withdrew their support of the Raj when the Viceroy declared war on Germany in September 1939 without consultation. Tensions escalated until Gandhi demanded immediate independence in 1942, and
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#17327762555005876-618: The Indian cause. In 1906, when the Bambatha Rebellion broke out in the colony of Natal , the then 36-year-old Gandhi, despite sympathising with the Zulu rebels, encouraged Indian South Africans to form a volunteer stretcher-bearer unit. Writing in the Indian Opinion , Gandhi argued that military service would be beneficial to the Indian community and claimed it would give them "health and happiness." Gandhi eventually led
5989-473: The Indian community organised a farewell party for Gandhi as he prepared to return to India. The farewell party was turned into a working committee to plan the resistance to a new Natal government discriminatory proposal. This led to Gandhi extending his original period of stay in South Africa. Gandhi planned to assist Indians in opposing a bill to deny them the right to vote , a right then proposed to be an exclusive European right. He asked Joseph Chamberlain ,
6102-469: The Indian people primarily by Gokhale. Gokhale was a key leader of the Congress Party best known for his restraint and moderation, and his insistence on working inside the system. Gandhi took Gokhale's liberal approach based on British Whiggish traditions and transformed it to make it look Indian. Gandhi took leadership of the Congress in 1920 and began escalating demands until on 26 January 1930
6215-559: The Muslim " martial races ." Gandhi raised 1,100 Indian volunteers to support British combat troops against the Boers. They were trained and medically certified to serve on the front lines. They were auxiliaries at the Battle of Colenso to a White volunteer ambulance corps. At the Battle of Spion Kop , Gandhi and his bearers moved to the front line and had to carry wounded soldiers for miles to
6328-653: The Natal Indian Congress. According to Ashwin Desai and Goolam Vahed, Gandhi's views on racism are contentious in some cases. He suffered persecution from the beginning in South Africa. Like with other coloured people, white officials denied Gandhi his rights, and the press and those in the streets bullied and called Gandhi a "parasite", "semi-barbarous", "canker", "squalid coolie", "yellow man", and other epithets. People would even spit on him as an expression of racial hate. While in South Africa, Gandhi focused on
6441-495: The Nation in post-colonial India. During India's nationalist movement and in several decades immediately after, he was also commonly called Bapu , an endearment roughly meaning "father". Gandhi's father, Karamchand Uttamchand Gandhi (1822–1885), served as the dewan (chief minister) of Porbandar state. His family originated from the then village of Kutiana in what was then Junagadh State . Although Karamchand only had been
6554-611: The age of 24, prepared a legal brief for the Natal Assembly in 1895, seeking voting rights for Indians. Gandhi cited race history and European Orientalists' opinions that "Anglo-Saxons and Indians are sprung from the same Aryan stock or rather the Indo-European peoples" and argued that Indians should not be grouped with the Africans. Years later, Gandhi and his colleagues served and helped Africans as nurses and by opposing racism. The Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela
6667-602: The age of nine, Gandhi entered the local school in Rajkot , near his home. There, he studied the rudiments of arithmetic, history, the Gujarati language and geography. At the age of 11, Gandhi joined the High School in Rajkot, Alfred High School . He was an average student, won some prizes, but was a shy and tongue-tied student, with no interest in games; Gandhi's only companions were books and school lessons. In May 1883,
6780-474: The anarchist themes in the novel take precedence and dwarf any feminist themes. Lefanu adds that there is a difference between the feminist messages that the book explicitly presents and the anti-feminist undertones. For example, the book says that women created the society on Anarres. However, female characters seem secondary to the male protagonist, who seems to be a traditional male hero; Lefanu asserts that this subversion weakens any feminist message that Le Guin
6893-522: The benefit of society. Shevek escapes the university, contacts an underground revolutionary group from the note he found, joining in a labor protest in Nio Esseia that is violently suppressed. He flees to the Terran embassy, where he asks them to transmit his theory to all worlds. The Terrans provide him safe passage back to Anarres. For interplanetary travel to his world, Anarres, Shevek is shown around
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#17327762555007006-562: The cheapest college he could afford in Bombay. Mavji Dave Joshiji, a Brahmin priest and family friend, advised Gandhi and his family that he should consider law studies in London. In July 1888, Gandhi's wife Kasturba gave birth to their first surviving child, Harilal. Gandhi's mother was not comfortable about Gandhi leaving his wife and family and going so far from home. Gandhi's uncle Tulsidas also tried to dissuade his nephew, but Gandhi wanted to go. To persuade his wife and mother, Gandhi made
7119-492: The committee agreed with Gandhi, the vote was lost and Allinson was excluded. There were no hard feelings, with Hills proposing the toast at the LVS farewell dinner in honour of Gandhi's return to India. Gandhi, at age 22, was called to the bar in June 1891 and then left London for India, where he learned that his mother had died while he was in London and that his family had kept the news from Gandhi. His attempts at establishing
7232-420: The critical utopias published in the 1970s." 'Critical' utopian fiction continues to embrace utopian ideals, but it is cautious of being too prescriptive, and tends to focus on "the continuing presence of difference and imperfection within utopian society itself." The Dispossessed shares with many later critical utopias, including Iain M. Banks 's Culture series and Samuel R. Delany 's Trouble on Triton ,
7345-448: The day of their marriage, Gandhi once said, "As we didn't know much about marriage, for us it meant only wearing new clothes, eating sweets and playing with relatives." As was the prevailing tradition, the adolescent bride was to spend much time at her parents' house, and away from her husband. Writing many years later, Gandhi described with regret the lustful feelings he felt for his young bride: "Even at school I used to think of her, and
7458-474: The development of the mathematical theory underlying a fictional ansible , a device capable of faster-than-light communication (it can send messages without delay, even between star systems) that plays a critical role in the Hainish Cycle. The invention of the ansible places the novel first in the internal chronology of the Hainish Cycle , although it was the fifth published. In her introduction to
7571-443: The drought, he arranges to go to Urras, having won a prestigious award for his work there, to finish and publish his theory with the help of the syndicate he set up to distribute his works. His contact with scholars on Urras and his decision to travel results in political turmoil on Anarres. Shevek is accused of being a traitor by Sabul and threatening the political separation between the two worlds. Believing that his theory will benefit
7684-503: The effect on those outside the walls. Steve Grossi says, "by building a physical wall to keep the bad in, we construct a mental wall keeping ourselves, our thoughts, and our empathy out, to the collective detriment of all." Shevek himself later says, "those who build walls are their own prisoners." In Le Guin's book-writing process, the story always came to her through a character rather than an event, idea, plot, or society. The story behind The Dispossessed first occurred to Le Guin through
7797-434: The girl, but is merely used by her. The work is sometimes said to represent a modern revival of the utopian genre . When first published, the book included the tagline: "The magnificent epic of an ambiguous utopia!" which was shortened by fans to "An ambiguous utopia" and adopted as a subtitle in certain editions. Le Guin brings her own innovations to the literary tradition of utopia. Many earlier utopian novels featured
7910-613: The hierarchical capitalist society of Urras. His grievances are further explored with the outbreak of war in neighbouring Benbili, of which A-Io is involved with rivalling Thu. At Ieu Eun University, Shevek struggles with teaching the Urrasti students and is manipulated by the physicists there, who hope that his breakthrough on the General Temporal Theory will allow them to build a faster-than-light ship. A mysterious note asking him to join his 'brothers' spooks Shevek, knowing that fellow like-minded anarchists are on Urras - in
8023-549: The last chapter of The Dispossessed , we learn that the Hainish people arrived at Tau Ceti 60 years previously, which is more than 100 years after the secession of the Odonians from Urras and their exodus to Anarres. Terrans are also there, and the novel occurs some time in the future, according to an elaborate chronology worked out by science fiction author Ian Watson in 1975: "the baseline date of AD 2300 for The Dispossessed
8136-531: The latter part of World War I , the Viceroy invited Gandhi to a War Conference in Delhi. Gandhi agreed to support the war effort. In contrast to the Zulu War of 1906 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914, when he recruited volunteers for the Ambulance Corps, this time Gandhi attempted to recruit combatants. In a June 1918 leaflet entitled "Appeal for Enlistment", Gandhi wrote: "To bring about such
8249-434: The lawyer for Abdullah's cousin. Gandhi spent 21 years in South Africa where he developed his political views, ethics, and politics. During this time Gandhi briefly returned to India in 1902 to mobilise support for the welfare of Indians in South Africa. Immediately upon arriving in South Africa, Gandhi faced discrimination due to his skin colour and heritage. Gandhi was not allowed to sit with European passengers in
8362-511: The major Urrasti states gave the revolutionaries the right to live on Anarres, along with a guarantee of non-interference. Before this, Anarres had had no permanent settlements, apart from some mining facilities. Anarres is settled after a revolution on Urras by the followers of Odo, the central character of Le Guin's 1974 short story The Day Before the Revolution . The economic and political situation of Anarres and its relation to Urras
8475-498: The mediation of Cardinal Manning , leading Gandhi and an Indian friend to make a point of visiting the cardinal and thanking him for his work. His vow to his mother influenced Gandhi's time in London. Gandhi tried to adopt "English" customs, including taking dancing lessons. However, he didn't appreciate the bland vegetarian food offered by his landlady and was frequently hungry until he found one of London's few vegetarian restaurants. Influenced by Henry Salt's writing, Gandhi joined
8588-460: The novel. Morrison argues that Le Guin's portrayed ideals of Taoism , the celebration of labor and the body, and desire for sexual freedom in an anarchist society contribute greatly to the book's feminist message. Taoism, which rejects dualisms and divisions in favor of a Yin and Yang balance, brings attention to the balance between not only the two planets, but between the male and female inhabitants. The celebration of labor on Anarres stems from
8701-489: The novel. Money is also not used, and instead the Anarresti rely on the DivLab database to match volunteer labor with work assignments. Via these conventions and institutions, The Dispossessed depicts an anarchist-syndicalist "alternative to capitalism. Le Guin's computational economy combines a central economic plan for society with democratic decision-making on a syndicalist model, bureaucratic and computational efficiency, and
8814-470: The objects of the society A motion to remove Allinson was raised, and was debated and voted on by the committee. Gandhi's shyness was an obstacle to his defence of Allinson at the committee meeting. Gandhi wrote his views down on paper, but shyness prevented Gandhi from reading out his arguments, so Hills, the President, asked another committee member to read them out for him. Although some other members of
8927-400: The original inhabitants of the land. … The whites, on the other hand, have occupied the land forcibly and appropriated it for themselves." In 1910, Gandhi established, with the help of his friend Hermann Kallenbach , an idealistic community they named Tolstoy Farm near Johannesburg. There, Gandhi nurtured his policy of peaceful resistance. In the years after black South Africans gained
9040-400: The people on Urras are not truly free, precisely because they have so many walls built between people and are so possessive. He says, "You are all in jail. Each alone, solitary, with a heap of what he owns. You live in prison, die in prison. It is all I can see in your eyes – the wall, the wall!" ' It is not just the state of mind of those inside the prisons that concerns Shevek, he also notes
9153-491: The prejudice against Gandhi and his fellow Indians from British people that Gandhi experienced and observed deeply bothered him. Gandhi found it humiliating, struggling to understand how some people can feel honour or superiority or pleasure in such inhumane practices. Gandhi began to question his people's standing in the British Empire . The Abdullah case that had brought him to South Africa concluded in May 1894, and
9266-568: The racial persecution of Indians before he started to focus on racism against Africans. In some cases, state Desai and Vahed, Gandhi's behaviour was one of being a willing part of racial stereotyping and African exploitation. During a speech in September 1896, Gandhi complained that the whites in the British colony of South Africa were "degrading the Indian to the level of a raw Kaffir ." Scholars cite it as an example of evidence that Gandhi at that time thought of Indians and black South Africans differently. As another example given by Herman, Gandhi, at
9379-441: The rest of my life, I might have had less energy for protesting that one. But, knowing only that I didn't want to study war no more, I studied peace. I started by reading a whole mess of utopias and learning something about pacifism and Gandhi and nonviolent resistance . This led me to the nonviolent anarchist writers such as Peter Kropotkin and Paul Goodman . With them I felt a great, immediate affinity. They made sense to me in
9492-400: The rest of the planet imprisoned and cut off. Shevek's life attempts to answer this question. In addition to Shevek's journey to answer questions about his society's true level of freedom, the meaning of his theories themselves weave their way into the plot; they not only describe abstract physical concepts, but they also reflect ups and downs of the characters' lives, and the transformation of
9605-426: The right to vote in South Africa (1994), Gandhi was proclaimed a national hero with numerous monuments. At the request of Gopal Krishna Gokhale , conveyed to Gandhi by C. F. Andrews , Gandhi returned to India in 1915. He brought an international reputation as a leading Indian nationalist, theorist and community organiser. Gandhi joined the Indian National Congress and was introduced to Indian issues, politics and
9718-399: The shadows. Eventually, at a dinner party, a drunken Shevek publicly denounces his peers on A-Io, scolding them for their materialistic lives and taking their splendor for granted, before leading to a disastrous sexual encounter that further alienates Shevek from his peers. He has a sobering realisation that the theory he proposes will be capitalised by the Urrasti for potential warfare, not for
9831-647: The small princely state of Porbandar in the Kathiawar Agency of the British Raj . In 1874, Gandhi's father, Karamchand, left Porbandar for the smaller state of Rajkot , where he became a counsellor to its ruler, the Thakur Sahib; though Rajkot was a less prestigious state than Porbandar, the British regional political agency was located there, which gave the state's diwan a measure of security. In 1876, Karamchand became diwan of Rajkot and
9944-542: The sole degree-granting institution of higher education in the region. However, Gandhi dropped out and returned to his family in Porbandar. Outside school, Gandhi's education was enriched by exposure to Gujarati literature, especially reformers like Narmad and Govardhanram Tripathi , whose works alerted the Gujaratis to their own faults and weaknesses such as belief in religious dogmatism. Gandhi had dropped out of
10057-425: The stagecoach and was told to sit on the floor near the driver, then beaten when he refused; elsewhere, Gandhi was kicked into a gutter for daring to walk near a house, in another instance thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg after refusing to leave the first-class. Gandhi sat in the train station, shivering all night and pondering if he should return to India or protest for his rights. Gandhi chose to protest and
10170-740: The study of Buddhist and Hindu literature. They encouraged Gandhi to join them in reading the Bhagavad Gita both in translation as well as in the original. Gandhi had a friendly and productive relationship with Hills, but the two men took a different view on the continued LVS membership of fellow committee member Thomas Allinson . Their disagreement is the first known example of Gandhi challenging authority, despite his shyness and temperamental disinclination towards confrontation. Allinson had been promoting newly available birth control methods , but Hills disapproved of these, believing they undermined public morality. He believed vegetarianism to be
10283-547: The successful campaign for India's independence from British rule . He inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā (from Sanskrit , meaning great-souled or venerable), first applied to him in South Africa in 1914, is now used throughout the world. Born and raised in a Hindu family in coastal Gujarat , Gandhi trained in the law at the Inner Temple in London and
10396-493: The thought of nightfall and our subsequent meeting was ever haunting me." Gandhi later recalled feeling jealous and possessive of her, such as when Kasturba would visit a temple with her girlfriends, and being sexually lustful in his feelings for her. In late 1885, Gandhi's father, Karamchand, died. Gandhi had left his father's bedside to be with his wife mere minutes before his passing. Many decades later, Gandhi wrote "if animal passion had not blinded me, I should have been spared
10509-516: The title Dispossessed . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dispossessed&oldid=1247958374 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages The Dispossessed The Dispossessed (subtitled An Ambiguous Utopia )
10622-644: The torture of separation from my father during his last moments." Later, Gandhi, then 16 years old, and his wife, age 17, had their first child, who survived only a few days. The two deaths anguished Gandhi. The Gandhis had four more children, all sons: Harilal , born in 1888; Manilal , born in 1892; Ramdas , born in 1897; and Devdas , born in 1900. In November 1887, the 18-year-old Gandhi graduated from high school in Ahmedabad . In January 1888, he enrolled at Samaldas College in Bhavnagar State , then
10735-570: The truth), or nonviolent protest, for the first time. According to Anthony Parel, Gandhi was also influenced by the Tamil moral text Tirukkuṛaḷ after Leo Tolstoy mentioned it in their correspondence that began with " A Letter to a Hindu ". Gandhi urged Indians to defy the new law and to suffer the punishments for doing so. His ideas of protests, persuasion skills, and public relations had emerged. Gandhi took these back to India in 1915. Gandhi focused his attention on Indians and Africans while he
10848-450: The two start a relationship and have their first child together. Shevek's work is further disrupted by his social obligation to perform manual labor during a drought in Anarres's anarchist society. To ensure survival in a harsh environment, the people of Anarres must put the needs of society ahead of their own personal desires, so Shevek performs hard agricultural labor in a dusty desert for four years instead of working on his research. After
10961-404: The uses of zero'". The chapters alternate between the two planets and between the present and the past. The even-numbered chapters, which are set on Anarres, chronologically take place first and are followed by the odd-numbered chapters, which take place on Urras. The only exceptions occur in the first and last chapters: the first takes place on both the moon and the planet; the last takes place in
11074-543: The wall one is on, is the focus of the narrative." Mark Tunik emphasises that the wall is the dominant metaphor for social constraints in The Dispossessed . While on Urras, Shevek hits "the wall of charm, courtesy, indifference." He later notes that he let a "wall be built around him" that kept him from seeing the poor people on Urras. He had been co-opted, with walls of smiles of the rich, and he didn't know how to break them down. Shevek at one point speculates that
11187-681: The war campaign brought into question his consistency on nonviolence. Gandhi's private secretary noted that "The question of the consistency between his creed of ' Ahimsa ' (nonviolence) and his recruiting campaign was raised not only then but has been discussed ever since." According to political and educational scientist Christian Bartolf, Gandhi's support for the war stemmed from his belief that true ahimsa could not exist simultaneously with cowardice. Therefore, Gandhi felt that Indians needed to be willing and capable of using arms before they voluntarily chose non-violence. In July 1918, Gandhi said that he could not persuade even one individual to enlist for
11300-579: The way Lao Tzu did. They enabled me to think about war, peace, politics, how we govern one another and ourselves, the value of failure, and the strength of what is weak. So, when I realized that nobody had yet written an anarchist utopia, I finally began to see what my book might be. And I found that its principal character, whom I'd first glimpsed in the original misbegotten story, was alive and well—my guide to Anarres. Le Guin's parents, anthropologist Alfred and writer Theodora Kroeber , were friends with J. Robert Oppenheimer ; Le Guin stated that Oppenheimer
11413-539: The world war. "So far I have not a single recruit to my credit apart," Gandhi wrote. He added: "They object because they fear to die." Gandhi's first major achievement came in 1917 with the Champaran agitation in Bihar . The Champaran agitation pitted the local peasantry against largely Anglo-Indian plantation owners who were backed by the local administration. The peasants were forced to grow indigo ( Indigofera sp.),
11526-525: Was Nathuram Godse , a militant Hindu nationalist from Pune , western India, who assassinated Gandhi by firing three bullets into his chest at an interfaith prayer meeting in Delhi on 30 January 1948. Gandhi's birthday, 2 October, is commemorated in India as Gandhi Jayanti , a national holiday , and worldwide as the International Day of Nonviolence . Gandhi is considered to be the Father of
11639-559: Was called to the bar at the age of 22. After two uncertain years in India, where he was unable to start a successful law practice, Gandhi moved to South Africa in 1893 to represent an Indian merchant in a lawsuit. He went on to live in South Africa for 21 years. There, Gandhi raised a family and first employed nonviolent resistance in a campaign for civil rights. In 1915, aged 45, he returned to India and soon set about organising peasants, farmers, and urban labourers to protest against discrimination and excessive land-tax. Assuming leadership of
11752-467: Was allowed to board the train the next day. In another incident, the magistrate of a Durban court ordered Gandhi to remove his turban, which he refused to do. Indians were not allowed to walk on public footpaths in South Africa. Gandhi was kicked by a police officer out of the footpath onto the street without warning. When Gandhi arrived in South Africa, according to Arthur Herman, he thought of himself as "a Briton first, and an Indian second." However,
11865-464: Was born into a Gujarati Hindu Modh Bania family. Gandhi's father, Karamchand, was Hindu and his mother Putlibai was from a Pranami Vaishnava Hindu family. Gandhi's father was of Modh Baniya caste in the varna of Vaishya . His mother came from the medieval Krishna bhakti-based Pranami tradition, whose religious texts include the Bhagavad Gita , the Bhagavata Purana , and
11978-566: Was challenged in the early 1940s by a Muslim nationalism which demanded a separate homeland for Muslims within British India . In August 1947, Britain granted independence, but the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two dominions , a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan . As many displaced Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs made their way to their new lands, religious violence broke out, especially in
12091-585: Was excommunicated from his caste. Gandhi ignored this, and on 4 September, he sailed from Bombay to London, with his brother seeing him off. Gandhi attended University College, London , where he took classes in English literature with Henry Morley in 1888–1889. Gandhi also enrolled at the Inns of Court School of Law in Inner Temple with the intention of becoming a barrister . His childhood shyness and self-withdrawal had continued through his teens. Gandhi retained these traits when he arrived in London, but joined
12204-528: Was from a Pranami Vaishnava family. Karamchand and Putlibai had four children: a son, Laxmidas ( c. 1860 –1914); a daughter, Raliatbehn (1862–1960); a second son, Karsandas ( c. 1866 –1913). and a third son, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi who was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar (also known as Sudamapuri ), a coastal town on the Kathiawar Peninsula and then part of
12317-416: Was in South Africa. Initially, Gandhi was not interested in politics, but this changed after he was discriminated against and bullied, such as by being thrown out of a train coach due to his skin colour by a white train official. After several such incidents with Whites in South Africa , Gandhi's thinking and focus changed, and he felt he must resist this and fight for rights. Gandhi entered politics by forming
12430-435: Was succeeded as diwan of Porbandar by his brother Tulsidas. Karamchand's family then rejoined him in Rajkot. They moved to their family home Kaba Gandhi No Delo in 1881. As a child, Gandhi was described by his sister Raliat as "restless as mercury, either playing or roaming about. One of his favourite pastimes was twisting dogs' ears." The Indian classics, especially the stories of Shravana and king Harishchandra , had
12543-605: Was the first Bania from Kathiawar to proceed to England for his Barrister Examination. As Mohandas Gandhi waited for a berth on a ship to London he found that he had attracted the ire of the Modh Banias of Bombay. Upon arrival in Bombay, he stayed with the local Modh Bania community whose elders warned Gandhi that England would tempt him to compromise his religion, and eat and drink in Western ways. Despite Gandhi informing them of his promise to his mother and her blessings, Gandhi
12656-415: Was the model for Shevek, the book's protagonist. It has been suggested that Le Guin's title is a reference to Dostoyevsky's novel about anarchists, Demons ( Russian : Бесы , Bésy ), one popular English-language translation of which is titled The Possessed . Many of the philosophical underpinnings and ecological concepts came from Murray Bookchin 's Post-Scarcity Anarchism (1971), according to
12769-433: Was trying to convey. Odo, the founder of Anarresti society, wrote her most influential works during a nine-year imprisonment. Anarres itself has no prisons. Its post-carceral nature becomes apparent in chapter two, when a group of Annaresti schoolchildren learn about prisons in their history lesson. The teacher describes prisons "with the reluctance of a decent adult forced to explain an obscenity to children. Yes, he said,
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