The Left Hand of Darkness

This is the first novel I read from Ursula K. Le Guin, and it did not dissapoint. Published in 1969, it was one of the first works of fiction to meaningfully attempt to tackle society’s gender norms, showing us an alien world where the definition of male or female is not in the equation of how things work. Gethen—also known as Winter—is a world stuck on an Ice Age, with a rather unique civilization. Our main protagonist is Genly Ai—a human embassador from “Terra” who wants Gethen to join a confederation of planets known as the Ekumen—to share knowledge and exchange ideas. Unfortunately, the cultural difference proves a big challenge. The Gethenians are ambisexual and androgynous, which is a huge barrier for mutual understanding as this affects every layer of their culture. Genly is a rather flawed protagonist, unable to cope with this reality and constatly letting his preconceptions gain the better of him. He is aided by Estraven, a Gethenian politician who seems to be the only person…

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