1986. LE GUIN, URSULA.
The Left Hand of Darkness. London: Futura Publications.
The Left Hand of Darkness is the account of the efforts of a man named Genly Ai, a representative from a galactic federation of worlds (the Ekumen), who seeks to bring the world of Gethen into that society. It forms part of a series of books by Le Guin all set in the fictional Hainish universe. The inhabitants of Gethen are sequentially hermaphroditic humans; for twenty-four days of each twenty-six day lunar cycle they are sexually latent androgynes, and for the remaining two days (kemmer) are male or female, as determined by pheromonal negotiation with an interested sex partner. Thus each individual can both sire and bear children.
Gethen is an extremely cold planet, and is nicknamed "Winter". Its level of technology is roughly equivalent to that of 20th century Earth, although no forms of air transport (dirigibles or airplanes) have been invented. Gethen has two major nation states: Karhide and Orgoreyn. One notable feature of Gethen is that its nation states have never gone to war. Genly and the Ekumen wonder whether the harsh climate, the androgynous nature of the inhabitants, or other factors can account for the absence of war.
Another unique phenomenon on Gethen is "Foretelling". Practiced in the remote regions of Karhide, Foretelling allows a group of mystics, led by a "Weaver", to go into a trance and correctly answer any question about the future. Fascinated by this phenomenon, Genly asks a group of Foretellers whether Gethen will be a member of the Ekuman in five years. They answer "yes". Their Weaver then warns Genly that the whole point of Foretelling is to prove the futility of knowing the right answer to the wrong question. Genly, like other envoys of the Ekumen, is capable of "mindspeak" - a form of telepathy in which a speaker can make his voice heard in a listener's head, without the use of sound. Gethenians know nothing of mindspeak, but Genly hopes to be able to teach it to at least a few.
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