First published 1992
This collection presents Le Guin's experimental approach to language itself as subject matter. The stories examine how meaning shifts across linguistic boundaries and cultural contexts. Characters grapple with the impossibility of perfect translation while discovering what gets lost and found when ideas move between languages. Le Guin constructs scenarios where communication breaks down and rebuilds in unexpected ways. The pieces investigate whether true understanding can exist across different ways of seeing the world. At its heart, this work questions what happens to human connection when words fail us.
Genres: fiction, short-stories, literary-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century, academic
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: breakdown-of-communication, grappling-with-language
Period: 20th-Century, 21st-Century
187 pages · Paperback · Reclam, Ditzingen