Being a fan of science fiction, the name Ursula LeGuin has come up a number of times, and I hate to admit that I never took the opportunity to read any of her work. I remedied this recently by listening to the audiobook of The Left Hand of Darkness, which some consider her finest work. I can see why.

Genly Ai is a human envoy sent to the planet Gethen by an interplanetary union called the Ekumen to see if this world would be open to joining them. The world was visited once before by scouts for the Ekumen, but this is the first time a dialogue has been broached. The main difference between the Gethens and humans is that they have acclimated to a much colder climate than we are used to, and they have no sex. There are no males and females; they are just one sex. When the time is right, they might bear a child.

There are different alliances on Gethen. Ai first broaches communication with the Karhides, who are ruled by a King. He is befriended by one of the King’s ministers, Estreven, who sees the promise in an alliance with these other worlds. The two develop a mutual respect for one another despite the differences. Estreven’s advocacy for the King to meet with Ai causes them to be labeled a traitor and banished.

Having failed to convince the Karhides to enter into talks with the Ekumen, Ai turns tothe Orgoreyns. They are even more wary of the envoy and dispatch him to a prison workcamp across the glaciers that are located in the northern part of the planet. Estreven hears what has happened to their friend and is determined to mount a rescue mission.

To say that The Left Hand of Darkness was ahead of its time is putting it mildly. Its publication predates the Stonewall Riots by several months. The concept of an asexual society is as foreign to us today as understanding what it meant to be gay was then, so it still works quite well, even if some of the messaging has been lost with society being more accepting. Ai is in a society that is completely alien to him, but seems normal to the Gethens. They find the place he comes from harder to imagine. The idea is for a mutual understanding, but the Gethens are afraid of what they don’t understand.

At the same time, there is a development of something between Ai and Estreven, despite their societal differences. Love knows no bounds. Although Ai tries to deny it, by the tragic end, he finds he loves Estreven in a way he has difficulty with. There’s the question of what love entails and how we can feel it for someone so different from us.

“It is a terrible thing, this kindness that human beings do not lose. Terrible, because when we are finally naked in the dark and cold, it is all we have. We who are so rich, so full of strength, we end up with that small change. We have nothing else to give.”

The book was not easy to listen to, and I can imagine it’s even harder to read. Most of what takes place is seen from Ai’s point of view, so it’s like he is dictating a journal of what is happening to him on this foray. LeGuin’s style isn’t all that descriptive; it’s more focused on what is happening and what is being said. At the same time, I think I grasped Gethen society pretty well from Ai’s point of view. There are some ideas that suffer in the fifty-plus years since it was published, but some that still resonate quite deeply.

The audiobook is narrated by Michael Crouch. This was recorded at a time when he was really just reading the book. He doesn’t try to impart emotions or really differentiate between characters. It’s a monotone read. I didn’t mind it so much, but it was a bit of an adjustment from what I am used to.

In 1969, we were about to reach the moon and were watching shows like Star Trek, which was making the case that humans would venture into space and meet other races. LeGuin tries to show that we would encounter societies that don’t mirror our own and could be quite different, in fact. She was asking people to open their minds and to include the people right here on Earth in that opening. We haven’t reached the potential she saw of us back then, but we’ve made progress.