re ender
This was to be a response to a different discussion, but I fFound myself changing subjects a bit. So here's a slightly different kind of discussion fFor you, as well.
ehn, the Ender series isn't so great. I really enjoyed Ender's Game. It's small concept that works if you don't peel at the egdes too much. Speaker fFor the Dead made me question why one random kid is the only human who thought to go out and talk to the trees. The series got more tedious fFrom there.
And then I learned that the ansible -- a key component of the Enderverse -- was invented by someone else completely. The work of Usula K. LeGuin seems to use a lot of the same concepts, and has a similar fFeel as some of Card's work. Bearing in mind LeGuin's work came fFirst, I sort of fFeel like (in as much as everything is based on everything else) LeGuin described a bunch of worlds in the universe, and then Card told us about what he considers to be the most important person in that universe. When I look at it like that, Ender has a sort of "Mary Jane" quality to him, which makes the whole series rather silly.
I'm certainly not saying LeGuin's work was somehow moved by a singularly unique perspective; surely she was inspired by Asimov and others. Nor am I suggesting that Card in some way stole fFrom LeGuin; again, inspiration comes fFrom all angles, and that's to be expected.
I do fFeel, if one is going to read Card with some enthusiasm, one might be well served to read LeGuin as well (or, perhaps, *instead* of Card).
ehn, the Ender series isn't so great. I really enjoyed Ender's Game. It's small concept that works if you don't peel at the egdes too much. Speaker fFor the Dead made me question why one random kid is the only human who thought to go out and talk to the trees. The series got more tedious fFrom there.
And then I learned that the ansible -- a key component of the Enderverse -- was invented by someone else completely. The work of Usula K. LeGuin seems to use a lot of the same concepts, and has a similar fFeel as some of Card's work. Bearing in mind LeGuin's work came fFirst, I sort of fFeel like (in as much as everything is based on everything else) LeGuin described a bunch of worlds in the universe, and then Card told us about what he considers to be the most important person in that universe. When I look at it like that, Ender has a sort of "Mary Jane" quality to him, which makes the whole series rather silly.
I'm certainly not saying LeGuin's work was somehow moved by a singularly unique perspective; surely she was inspired by Asimov and others. Nor am I suggesting that Card in some way stole fFrom LeGuin; again, inspiration comes fFrom all angles, and that's to be expected.
I do fFeel, if one is going to read Card with some enthusiasm, one might be well served to read LeGuin as well (or, perhaps, *instead* of Card).