Anarres

The Dispossessed is a 1974 utopian science fiction novel by Ursula K. Le Guin, set in the same universe as that of The Left Hand of Darkness (the Ekumen universe). The book won both the Hugo award and Nebula award in 1975, and achieved a degree of literary recognition unusual for science fiction works.

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

The story takes place on the fictional planet Urras and its moon Anarres. (Since Anarres is massive enough to hold an atmosphere, this is often described as a double planet system.) In the aftermath of a failed anarchist revolution, the rebels were exiled to the moon about two hundred years prior to the events of the story.

The protagonist Shevek is an anarchist physicist/philosopher attempting to develop a theory which will allow the construction of an ansible, a faster-than-light communications device, but his efforts are blocked by parochial and xenophobic attitudes in his home society.

He therefore embarks on the risky journey to the original planet seeking the conversation with other mathematicians and physicists which will bring his theory to fruition. The plot explores his struggles on the anarchist planet, as well as his struggles after he travels to the original planet.

The book also explores the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: on the anarchist planet the use of the possessive case is strongly discouraged. An example is given where a little girl says to Shevek: "you may share in the handkerchief that I use", rather than "you may borrow my handkerchief". The idea is that the handkerchief is not owned by the girl, merely carried by her. The language spoken in Anarres, Pravic, is a constructed language that reflects many aspects of the philosophical foundations of utopian anarchism.

The Dispossessed is considered by some libertarian socialists to be a good description of the mechanisms that would be developed by an anarchist society, but also of the dangers of centralization and bureaucracy that easily take over such society without the continuation of revolutionary ideology. Part of its power is that it gives us a spectrum of fairly well-developed characters, who illustrate many types of personalities, all educated in an environment that measures a person not by what he owns, but by what he can do, and how he relates to other human beings. Probably the best example of this is the character of Takver, the hero's partner, who exemplifies many virtues: loyalty, love of life and living things, perseverence, desire for a true partnership with another person.

The work is sometimes said to represent one of the few modern revivals of the utopian genre, though it is notable that one of the major themes of the work is the ambiguity of different notions of utopia.

Quotes from The Dispossessed:

Page 288. Odo wrote:

For we each of us deserve everything, every luxury that was piled in the tombs of the dead kings, and we each of us deserve nothing, not a mouthful of bread in hunger. Have we not eaten while another starved? Will you punish us for that? Will you reward us for the virtue of starving while others ate? No man earns punishment, no man earns reward. Free your mind of the idea of deserving, the idea of earning, and you will begin to be able to think.

Page 207. Odo wrote:

A child free from the guilt of ownership and the burden of economic competition will grow up with the will to do what needs doing and the capacity for joy in doing it. It is useless work that darkens the heart. The delight of the nursing mother, of the scholar, of the successful hunter, of the good cook, of the skilful maker, of anyone doing needed work and doing it well, - this durable joy is perhaps the deepest source of human affection and of sociality as a whole.

Page 276:

With the myth of the State out of the way, the real mutuality and reciprocity of society and individual became clear. Sacrifice might be demanded of the individual, but never compromise: for, though only the society could give security and stability, only the individual, the person, had the power of moral choice - the power of change, the essential function of life. The Odonian society was conceived as a permanent revolution, and revolution begins in the thinking mind.

Page 296. Shevek says:

You see, what we're after is to remind ourselves that we didn't come to Anarres for safety, but for freedom. If we must all agree, all work together, we're no better than a machine. If an individual can't work in solidarity with his fellows, it's his duty to work alone. His duty and his right. We have been denying people that right. We've been saying, more and more often, you must work with the others, you must accept the rule of the majority. But any rule is tyranny. The duty of the individual is to accept no rule, to be the initiator of his own acts, to be responsible. Only if he does so will the society live, and change, and adapt, and survive. We are not subjects of a State founded upon law, but members of a society formed upon revolution. Revolution is our obligation: our hope of evolution. The Revolution is in the individual spirit, or it is nowhere. It is for all, or it is nothing. If it is seen as having any end, it will never truly begin. We can't stop here. We must go on. We must take the risks.

See also

• Anarchism in the arts
• Libertarian Socialism