Gethen as Yin Utopia: Taoism in Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_tropelias/tropelias.20254411707

Keywords:

Ursula K. Le Guin, Taoism, Utopia, Science fiction, Hainish

Abstract

This article analyzes Taoism in Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) from a philosophical, ethical and ecological perspective. Based on these concepts, the author explains how she constructs a "yin utopia". This relationship between utopia, Taoism, and the possible world influences the construction of charecters, the relationships between them, and the spatiotemporal concepts proposed, with implications of gender, nature, and government that formally influence the very structure of the novel. For this analysis, I propose a methodology constructed from Taoist theories and Le Guin's writings on them, which could be applied to other works with "yin utopias", both by Le Guin and by other authors.

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Published

2025-07-26

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Section

Papers

How to Cite

López Gómez, P. (2025). Gethen as Yin Utopia: Taoism in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness. Tropelías: Review of Literary Theory and Comparative Literature, 44, 165-181. https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_tropelias/tropelias.20254411707