SOURCE: Reid, Suzanne Elizabeth. “Orsinia and Other Far Away Places: The Wind's Twelve Quarters, Orsinian Tales, The Eye of the Heron, Malafrena, Very Far Away from Anywhere Else, The Beginning Place, The Rose Compass, and Stories for Children.” In Presenting Ursula K. Le Guin, pp. 67-83. New York: Twayne, 1997.

In the following excerpt, Reid investigates Le Guin's political concerns as evinced in her short story collections with an eye to her political concerns.

Although first renowned for her science fiction and fantasy writing, Le Guin also uses her academic background in European culture to explore the tensions between public and personal responsibilities. Beginning with short stories that raise questions about the usefulness of certain commitments and ideas, Le Guin then depicts the turmoil wrought in individual lives by political conflict, especially when one faction wants absolute control over other lives. Finally, in two love stories, she describes the...