I am one very happy LeGuin nerd

[areyououtthere]

Somebody has written Left Hand of Darkness fanfic that actually reads like LeGuin.

You have no idea how surprising this is. I've done thorough google-scouring before just to prove to myself that Left Hand fic doesn't exist...because I was convinced that somebody out there would totally ruin the spirit of the story by writing Genly/Estraven porn.

Comments

[crystalpyramid]

You're right that that's not a very good line. On the other hand, in the circumstances, I'm pretty sure I'd look too, for most of the same reasons. It's the Orpheus-and-Euridice thing, the pillar-of-salt thing, something we're told is stereotypically feminine, this failure to trust males enough when it really matters and there's no other information. Isn't that a human trait, not a female one? I always hated those myths because I knew I'd be the one to look, simply out of curiosity.

And yes, I agree that it's a calculated risk, like Vegas is, and it's not like Isaac doesn't do something just as silly for his part of the book.

I think what her disablement at the end does is simply make obvious and unavoidable what her being merely traumatized might make the reader able to gloss over. In both cases, nothing will ever be the same again; in the case that actually occurs in the book, Isaac's illusions that maybe they will be are shattered at the last minute. As opposed to him having to gradually and painfully realize that over an additional 50 pages of book. It's a narrative shortcut, I guess.

And it hurts that she's a second-class citizen who the world can do this to without blinking. But that's the fault of the whole world that's been created, not the fault of the particular narrative arc, and I think the author is trying to make a point by it.