The Wind's Twelve Quarters
LC Class | PZ4.L518 Wi PS3562.E42 |
The Wind's Twelve Quarters is a collection of short stories by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, named after a line from A. E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad,[1] and first published by Harper & Row in 1975.[2][3] A retrospective of Le Guin's short stories, it collects 17 previously published pieces of speculative fiction. Four of these were the germs of novels she was to write later, and a few others shared connections to Le Guin novels.[4] At least four stories are set in the Hainish Universe, and two others in Earthsea. Many stories share themes and motifs, including time and utopia: certain images and characters also recur, including isolated scholars or explorers seeking knowledge in a hostile world.[5]
The Wind's Twelve Quarters won the
Contents
The Wind's Twelve Quarters was first published in 1975 by
The stories are arranged approximately in order of publication,
List of stories
Title | Time of first publication | First edition publisher/publication | Summary | Citations |
---|---|---|---|---|
" Semley's Necklace "
|
September 1964 | Amazing Stories | The first piece of Hainish Cycle fiction written by Le Guin. Previously published as "The Dowry of Angyar", and used as the prologue of Rocannon's World. The story, inspired by the Norse legend of the Brísingamen, tells of an impoverished bride that journeys off-world to retrieve a precious necklace that once belonged to her family. | [21][22] |
"April in Paris" | September 1962 | Fantastic magazine | Le Guin's first professionally published short story. A destitute 15th century French scholar accidentally summons an American professor of the 20th; they begin a friendship, and summon two other people, women from the past and far future. | [23][24] |
"The Masters" | February 1963 | Fantastic magazine | Le Guin's first published science fiction story. In a dystopian future, the use of science is greatly limited, and Arabic numerals are considered black magic. Two mechanics covertly study mathematics, and are punished when discovered. | [23][25] |
"Darkness Box" | November 1963 | Fantastic magazine | "Darkness Box" is a fantasy: a king who wishes to end the conflict between his sons stops time by trapping darkness in a box and flinging it into the ocean. | [26][25] |
"The Word of Unbinding" | January 1964 | Fantastic magazine | Le Guin's first story set in Earthsea: a wizard attempts to escape from an enemy who has returned from the dead. | [27][25] |
"The Rule of Names" | April 1964 | Fantastic magazine | A light-hearted story and the second set in Earthsea. A wizard named Blackbeard attacks Mr. Underhill, a seemingly inefficient wizard, thinking to overpower him with his true name. | [27][25] |
"Winter's King" | 1969 | Orbit 5, edited by Damon Knight. | Set on the same world as The Left Hand of Darkness, the story follows the king of the nation of Karhide, who returns to his society after extended space travel having barely aged in the interim. Originally published using male pronouns for its dual-sexed characters, it was reworked to use female pronouns while retaining male titles in this publication. | [28][29][30][5] |
"The Good Trip" | August 1970 | Fantastic magazine | This story is a fantasy with a realistic setting; a young man whose wife has mental health troubles takes LSD with his friends, and has a vision in which he is finally able to connect with his wife. | [27][29] |
"Nine Lives" | November 1969 | Playboy | "Nine Lives" is a science fiction story, in which a group of human clones join a two-person exploratory party on a remote planet. | [31][25] |
"Things" | 1970 | Orbit 6, edited by Damon Knight | In a society that believes it must prepare for its end, a brickmaker decides to build a causeway into the sea. This story was described as a "psychomyth" by commentators. | [31][29] |
"A Trip to the Head" | 1970 | Quark/1, edited by Samuel R. Delany and Marilyn Hacker
|
Two people and a Through the Looking Glass .
|
[32][25] |
"Vaster than Empires and More Slow" | 1971 | New Dimensions 1, edited by Robert Silverberg. | This piece follows an exploratory ship sent to a newly discovered planet, named World 4470. The crew includes Osden, an "empath" able to feel others' emotions. The crew finds a world covered in forests and apparently devoid of animal life, but eventually begins to feel a fear emanating from the planet. | [33][29][34] |
"The Stars Below" | 1974 | Orbit 14, edited by Damon Knight | The protagonist of this story is an astronomer whose instruments are burned on the church's orders. He escapes into a silver mine, where he befriends the miners. | [35][29] |
"The Field of Vision" | October 1973 | Galaxy Science Fiction, vol. 34 | This story tells of a spaceship returning from a planet where the astronauts were converted to religious beliefs against their better judgement; now one is blind because he only sees God, while the other is deaf because he only hears God. | [36][29] |
"Direction of the Road" | 1973 | Orbit 12, edited by Damon Knight | This story is a fantasy written from the perspective of a conscious tree as it stands beside a road. Le Guin acknowledged that it was inspired by a tree in the real world. | [36][37] |
"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" | 1973 | New Dimensions III, edited by Robert Silverberg
|
This piece describes a town whose citizens are universally happy, but whose happiness depends on a single child being in perpetual torment. Le Guin wrote that the story was inspired by a passage from the philosopher William James. | [38][25] |
"The Day Before the Revolution" | August 1974 | Galaxy Science Fiction | Described by Le Guin as being about "one of the ones who walked away from Omelas", this story tells of Odo, an aging revolutionary, on the day before an uprising that she helped inspire takes place. | [39][29] |
Reception
The Wind's Twelve Quarters was positively received by critics, though, according to Spivack, reviewers were generally less favorable toward Le Guin's short stories than her novels.
Commentators favorably highlighted a variety of individual stories. Wood called particular attention to "Nine Lives", "Winter's King", and "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow", writing that in each, scientific extrapolation was used as a "framework for powerful psychological studies".
Awards and honors
The Wind's Twelve Quarters won the Locus Award for best single author collection in 1976.[51] Science fiction editor and critic David G. Hartwell included it with 23 others on his list of the best short-story collections of the 1970s.[52] Two of the stories in the volume won awards when first published. "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" was nominated for the Locus Award for Best Short Fiction[53] and won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1974,[54] while "The Day Before the Revolution" won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story,[55] the Locus Award for best short story,[56] and the Jupiter Award for short stories, all in 1975.[57] It was also nominated for the 1975 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.[58] Additionally, "Winter's King" was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1970,[59] and "Vaster than Empires and More Slow" was nominated for the same award in 1972,[60] and came 14th in a poll for the Locus Award for Best Short Story, while "Nine Lives" was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Short Story in 1970.[51] "Vaster than Empires and More Slow", "The Field of Vision", and "The Stars Below" were all nominees for the Locus Award, in 1972, 1974, and 1975 respectively.[51]
See also
- Classical compass winds – the phrase refers to the Classical 12-point wind rose, not the later mariners' rose of 8, 16, or 32
References
- ^ Le Guin 2004, p. v.
- ^ Le Guin 2004, p. iv.
- ^ a b Nicholls & Clute 2019.
- ^ a b c d Bucknall 1981, p. 133.
- ^ a b c d e Wood, Susan (November 17, 1975). "The Wind's Twelve Quarters". Locus (181): 4.
- ^ a b c Reid 1997, p. 68.
- ^ a b c d "Science Fiction". Publishers Weekly: 55. September 8, 1975.
- ^ a b c Noonan, William (March 12, 1977). "Science Fiction". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
- ^ Le Guin 2004, p. x, 93.
- JSTOR 3194540.
- ^ Watson, Ian (November 1975). "The Forest as Metaphor for Mind: "The Word for World is Forest" and "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow"". Science Fiction Studies. 2 (3): 231–237.
- OCLC 898065808.
- ^ a b Bucknall 1981, pp. 133–140.
- ^ Cadden 2005, p. 30.
- ^ Bucknall 1981, pp. 78–78, 135.
- ^ Spivack 1984b, p. 95.
- ^ Reid 1997, p. 60.
- ^ a b Bucknall 1981, pp. 139–141.
- ^ Spivack 1984b.
- ^ Cummins 1990, p. 196.
- ^ Bucknall 1981, pp. 16–17.
- ^ Nicholls, Peter; Clute, John; Sleight, Graham, eds. (April 7, 2018). "Le Guin, Ursula K.". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. London: Gollancz. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
- ^ a b Bucknall 1981, p. 134.
- ^ Erlich 2009, p. 25.
- ^ a b c d e f g White 1999, p. 123.
- ^ Bucknall 1981, pp. 134–135.
- ^ a b c Bucknall 1981, p. 135.
- ^ Bucknall 1981, pp. 77–78, 135.
- ^ a b c d e f g Nicholls & Clute 2018.
- OCLC 2915003.
- ^ a b Bucknall 1981, p. 136.
- ^ Bucknall 1981, p. 137.
- ^ Bucknall 1981, pp. 137–139.
- OCLC 898065808.
- ^ Bucknall 1981, pp. 139–140.
- ^ a b Bucknall 1981, p. 140.
- ^ Levin, Jeff (November 1975). "Ursula K. Le Guin: A Select Bibliography". Science Fiction Studies. 2 (3). Retrieved July 8, 2018.
- ^ Bucknall 1981, pp. 140–141.
- ^ Bucknall 1981, p. 141.
- ^ Spivack 1984b, p. 100.
- ^ a b Spivack 1984b, pp. 100, 169.
- ^ a b Wood 1986, p. 186.
- ^ a b Miller, Dan (November 16, 1975). "The Latest in Science Fiction". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
- ^ LaRouche, Robert (March 23, 1976). "Book Reviews". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
- ^ Spivack 1984b, pp. 94–95.
- ^ Spivack 1984b, pp. 96–97.
- ^ a b c Guynes, Sean (August 12, 2020). "The Wind's Twelve Quarters, Part I: Le Guin's Early Stories and Germinative Tales". Tor.com. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
- ^ Barbour, Douglas (March 6, 1976). "Women Prove Science Fiction's Alive and Healthy". Toronto Star. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
- ^ a b Guynes, Sean (August 26, 2020). "The Wind's Twelve Quarters, Part II: Le Guin's Psychomyths and Those Who Walk Away". Tor.com. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
- ^ White 1999, pp. 115–116.
- ^ a b c "Ursula K. Le Guin". Science Fiction Awards Database. Locus Science Fiction Foundation. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
- ^ Hartwell, David G. (December 1991). "The 1970s in SF". The New York Review of Science Fiction (40). Retrieved October 22, 2023.
- ^ "Locus Awards Nominee List". The Locus Index to SF Awards. Archived from the original on May 14, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
- ^ "1974 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards. July 26, 2007. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
- ^ "Nebula Awards Winners List". The Locus Index to SF Awards. Archived from the original on April 24, 2012. Retrieved July 9, 2011.
- ^ "Locus Awards Winners List". The Locus Index to SF Awards. Archived from the original on May 5, 2009. Retrieved July 9, 2011.
- ISBN 9780941028769.
- ^ "Hugo Awards Nominee List". The Locus Index to SF Awards. Archived from the original on September 20, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2011.
- ^ "1970 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. July 26, 2007. Archived from the original on May 7, 2011. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
- ^ "1972 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. July 26, 2007. Archived from the original on May 7, 2011. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
Sources
- Bucknall, Barbara J. (1981). Ursula K. Le Guin. Frederick Ungar publishing. ISBN 978-0-8044-2085-3.
- Cadden, Mike (2005). Ursula K. Le Guin Beyond Genre: Fiction for Children and Adults. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-99527-6.
- Cummins, Elizabeth (1990). Understanding Ursula K. Le Guin. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-87249-687-3.
- Erlich, Richard D. (December 2009). Coyote's Song: The Teaching Stories of Ursula K. Le Guin. Wildside Press LLC. ISBN 978-1-4344-5775-2.
- ISBN 978-0-06-091434-9.
- Nicholls, Peter; Clute, John; Sleight, Graham, eds. (April 7, 2018). "Le Guin, Ursula K.". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Gollancz. Archived from the original on April 26, 2018. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
- Reid, Suzanne Elizabeth (1997). Presenting Ursula Le Guin. Twayne. ISBN 978-0-8057-4609-9.
- Spivack, Charlotte (1984). Ursula K. Le Guin. Boston, MA: Twayne Publishers. ISBN 0-8057-7393-2.
- White, Donna (1999). Dancing with Dragons: Ursula K. Le Guin and the Critics. Columbia, South Carolina: Camden House. ISBN 978-1-57113-034-1.
- Wood, Susan (1986). "Discovering Worlds: The Fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin". In Bloom, Harold (ed.). Modern Critical Views - Ursula K. Le Guin. Modern critical views. Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 978-0-87754-659-7.