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Biography
Born in Berkeley, California, and a longtime resident of
Portland, Oregon, Le Guin was educated at Radcliffe College
and Columbia University. She is the acclaimed author of science
fiction that extends the moral and ecological boundaries
of her own world to explore new possibilities for human society.
Her publications include a celebrated series of children's
books known as the Earthsea Trilogy, the novels The Left
Hand of Darkness (1969) and The Dispossessed (1974),
the multimedia production Always Coming Home (1985),
and essay and poetry collections.
Explorations
Schrödinger's Cat (1982) exemplifies the mind-stretching
science fiction for which Le Guin is famous. The tale is
in some ways "about" quantum physics, a body of thought that
most of us do not understand at any level beyond the superficial.
In fact, the story is about being puzzled and about what
can happen to our thinking, and our imagining, when we grasp
principles of uncertainty or apprehend the possible instability
and contingency of the universe we live in.
1. Relax and play with the first long paragraph of Schrödinger's
Cat. What is going on here? Can we be sure? If not,
then what can we say is the tone of this opening? What
kinds of expectations do we need to suspend, as readers,
in order to move onward into the story?
2. Have a look at Scientific American's excellent web
page exploration on the "Schroedinger's Cat" hypothesis which
describes in detail "how radically the quantum realm
differs from the macroscopic, everyday world that we
inhabit." How can we care about such possibilities in
a speculative realm that seems strange, theoretical,
and removed from our own? In other words, can this be
considered in any sense a tale about human experience?
3. When "Rover," the mailman dog, arrives with Schrödinger's
box, the story begins to suggest a situation comedy. Is
the situation amusing? Frightening in its implications?
How is the predicament resolved, regarding the box, the
cat, and the two humans (maybe) who watch the experiment
unfold?
4. Is Schrödinger's theory answered, extended, turned
inside-out, or refuted by what happens? If we take the
narrator's theorizing seriously, then where do we end
up--in a more certain reality, or a less certain one? Other sites to consult:
"Meet
the High Priestess of Science Fiction," an
interview of Le Guin by Elisabeth Sherwin.
Le
Guin resource page, an excellent source for
reviews, interviews, bibliographies, weblinks, and
more http://www.ursulakleguin.com/:
Ursula Le Guin’s Web site.
http://www.salon.com/people/bc/2001/01/23/le_guin/
and http://www.salon.com/books/review/2002/04/26/leguin/index.html?x:
An article in Salon on Le Guin’s career and a review
of her latest collection of stories, The Birthday of
the World.
http://www.bookmagazine.com/issue12/trailblazer.shtml:
An article in Book magazine about Le Guin.
http://www.sfsite.com/isfdb-bin/exact_author.cgi?Ursula_K._Le_Guin:
A bibliographic summary of the prolific Le Guin’s
career.
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