Four Ways to Forgiveness

Four Ways to Forgiveness is what sf writer LeGuin calls a "story suite"--four interconnected short stories, one of which takes up nearly half the book. All four stories are set on the planet Werel and its colony of Yeowe, where a dominant black-skinned race holds a primarily white-skinned population in slavery. Werel and Yeowe have both been contacted by the Ekumen, the interplanetary federation of LeGuin's future history, but neither can join until the problems of slavery and gender imbalance have been solved. In "Betrayals", two old people find tenderness together after long and difficult lives; in "Forgiveness Day", the brash young Envoy of the Ekumen is kidnapped, together with the stiff-necked bodyguard she despises, and falls in love with him. "A Man of the People" is the story of Havzhiva, born to the pueblo culture of Hain, the parent world of all human races and cultures. Feeling out of place, he goes off to become a historian and winds up as the Envoy to Yeowe, the colony world where the slaves have successfully revolted and become free. It is mirrored by "A Woman's Liberation," the memoir of Rakam, born a slave, used sexually by her mistress as a child, used by men at another plantation in her adolescence, who escapes to Yeowe with the help of another Hainish envoy, the mysterious Esdardon Aya (whose name means Old Music) and becomes a teacher and, eventually, the lover of Havzhiva. I love this book and have read it repeatedly. While I don't like all of LeGuin's work equally well, some of her books I have re-read many times and been deeply influenced by--the Earthsea books, The Dispossessed, this one, and A Fisherman of the Inland Sea, which I am now reading yet again. LeGuin writes science fiction based on sociology, anthropology, biology; she's not interested in shiny spaceships or the technology that runs them, and if she writes about conquering colonists, it's usually from the viewpoint of the conquered. Plus, she can do so much with her rich, spare language. If you like unconventional sf, try LeGuin.

Le Guin, with her masterful use of seemingly simple and fluent prose, tells us the stories of how four very different people find hope after terrible ordeals. The background to the stories --and also the main source of hope-- is the need to fight: against slavery, against enormous social inequalities and brutal sexual segregation... in short, against most of the worst injustices that we can find in our world, but that Le Guin transports to the imaginary planets of Yeowe and Werel. We see in these two planets, thanks to the author's mastery, an example of nightmarish distopias whose consequences are analysed in the four main characters. However, Le Guin is always more convincing when describing a society with defects (any kind of defect), and the reactions these defects provoke in the individual, than when describing highly evolved, almost perfect societies. These latter may be better to live in, but they sure are more boring to read about, since the author has to keep within the limits of the politically corect, and that shows.

Ursula LeGuin has always been one of my favorite writers, and I particularly enjoy the many books and short stories of hers that take place amongst the worlds of the Ekumen. Of course, a book with a title like "Four Ways to Forgiveness" might be somewhat off-putting to lovers of hard science fiction, but this book is a must-have for fans of Ms. LeGuin. When we read of worlds that are gradually being welcomed into the Ekumen, we read of cultures and traditions in much the same way as we might read of foreign nations in "National Geographic." LeGuin writes humane, anthropological science fiction, and this book is an excellent example. When I came to the last page and read the last few words, I breathed a deep sigh of warmth and satisfaction. Ursula LeGuine writes that beautifully. The real tragedy is that this book is out of print and almost impossible to find. Get this book back in print!

I don't know if Ms. Le Guin was thinking of Bosnia when she crafted these tales of oppression and forgiveness, but I heard the echoes of that conflict as I read. Originally I read them separately, as they appeared in the SF magazines, but upon rereading them together I was struck by the way in which she patiently examined the roots of societal and personal oppression, and the subsequent need of a person (and a society) to forgive in order to advance. As the title indicates, there are many different approaches to healing. I wish that people who are politically or personally oppressed would be able to read these tales. More importantly, I wish that they would be read by the oppressors. I believe Ursula Le Guin is doing some of her most important work here, and I don't say that lightly. She is also writing better than she ever has. These are quietly powerful stories which should remain with you for a long time.

Ursula K. Le Guin's stories of life on other worlds always seem to speak of what it means to be human. This, for me, is the hallmark of her science fiction. Four Ways to Forgiveness is a powerful showcase of Le Guin's ability to forge characters of great depth - characters real enough to play out dramas of slavery and power, of submission and rebellion, of extreme cruelty and everyday pettiness, of love and understanding. Stories of forgiveness. A deeply moving collection of four of Le Guin's stories, Four Ways to Forgiveness is a must-read for any science fiction enthusiast, for anyone who is capable of cruelty, for anyone who is capable of love, for anyone who would like to feel a little more human for a while.