Ursula K. Le Guin 

21 October 1929–22 January 2018
Ten Things I Learned from Ursula K. Le Guin, by Karen Joy Fowler. The Paris Review
Ursula Le Guin, master of speculative fiction, by Amy Wang. The Oregonian
Ursula K. Le Guin, Acclaimed for Her Fantasy Fiction, by Gerald Jonas. The New York Times
(the three articles posted on the first page of Ursula K. LeGuin’s website the week she died.)

Five Favorite Quotes:

“Light is the left hand of darkness and darkness the right hand of light. Two are one, life and death, lying together like lovers in kemmer, like hands joined together, like the end and the way.”
“Fantasy is not antirational, but pararational; not realistic but surrealistic, a heightening of reality. In Freud’s terminology, it employs primary not secondary process thinking. It employs archetypes which, as Jung warned us, are dangerous things. Fantasy is nearer to poetry, to mysticism, and to insanity than naturalistic fiction is. It is a wilderness, and those who go there should not feel too safe.”
“To hear, one must be silent.”
“When you light a candle, you also cast a shadow.”“We read books to find out who we are.”
The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PI1xwT2-74]

I read Ursula K. LeGuin’s stories in my twenties. They have echoed and resonated through my adult life.
May she rest in peace, and if there is a heaven, may she land near a well-stocked library.