Ursula Le Guin is one of the most highly respected authors of fantasy and science fiction of the 20th century. The award-winning Le Guin has long been praised for combining traditional elements of literary fiction, science fiction; with philosophical and ethical speculations on ways humans have experimented with alternative societies and philosophies as well as technology.  Thus, Le Guin writes from a subjective humanist perspective, usually avoiding technical sciences as physics and chemistry in favor of cultural anthropology, political science, and psychology.  This made her write 'against the grain' of other of her fellow contemporary science fiction authors when she began to gain fame in the 1960's. Her multifaceted focus has enabled her to remain popular today, long after the technological obsessions of travel to Mars and the Moon have become dated. Her fiction makes use of psychic phenomena, including telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition, and commonly incorporates the philosophies of Taoism and Zen, resulting in themes of reciprocity, unity, and holism. By presenting complex, often paradoxical symbols, images, and allusions, Le Guin stresses

As the narrative of The Other Sea progresses, the reader is introduced one of the great heroes of Earthsea, named Ged, once Archmage of Earthsea. He sends the troubled Alder to King Lebannen. The protagonists also learn that dragons of Earthsea, which for centuries have kept their promise to abide in their western lands, have suddenly begun moving east, burning farms and cropland. Alder and King Lebannen learn they must join with one of the women burned by these attacks, a wizard of forbidden lore, and a being that is woman and dragon both to save Earthsea in a spirit of mutual cooperation.

Ethics have always been a central concern in Le Guin's writing. "While avoiding 'moralizing' and preaching simple solutions to serious moral problems,"writes Tony Burns, "Le Guin writes as a 'moralist': as someone who -in the manner of the ancient Greeks, the young Marx and anarchists such as Kropotkin-considers humans as being by nature ethical animals, and who, as a result, has an overriding interest in the ethical dimension of human existence. Le Guin wishes to stimulate and encourage her readers to think in ethical terms even if, in the end, it should transpire that they make substantive ethical judgments that are different from her own." Thus, Le Guin uses the fantastic to highlight moral and ethical issues of today, not the potential advances of technology. (Burns, p.1)

the need for individuals and societies to balance such dualities as order with chaos and harmony with rebellion to achieve wholeness. "The social sciences inform Ursula K. Le Guin's fantasies with far more earthly substance than the usual imaginary space flight, and her hypothetical futures have strong flavor of familiar history." (Updike, 275) Her books thus function as science fiction for adults, dealing with individual characters and internal struggles. The action take place within the souls of the protagonists, rath

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Approximate Word count = 1281
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)