LOH biographical context, historical context, media afterlife

Question 1

where was LeGuin born?

Answer 1

Berkeley

Question 2

why did LeGuin’s father move to Berkeley?

Answer 2

to create a museum and department of anthropology at uc berkeley

Question 3

what degree did Theodora Krober (Leguin’s mother) receive at Berkeley?

Answer 3

masters in clinical psychology

Question 4

what controversy are LeGuin’s parents best known for?

Answer 4

their relationship to a man known as Ishi, who was likely the last surviving member of the Yahi tribe.

Question 5

Yana tribe

Answer 5

(Yahi is a subgroup of this tribe) they lived in the foothills of Mount Lassen before white people. most were killed by militia. in 1908 a small group was found; only Ishi and his mother were able to survive when this small group was looted

Question 6

When was Ishi found alive without his mother?

Answer 6

august 1911

Question 7

what happened to Ishi after he was held in jail?

Answer 7

Alfred Kroeber (Leguin’s father) and Thomas Waterman gained custody of him and made him a janitor at UC san diego. Kroeber saw him as a way to gain insight into the dying California Indian culture

Question 8

what two biographies did Theodora Kroeber write about Ishi?

Answer 8

Ishi in Two Worlds (1961) and the children’s version, Ishi, the Last of His Tribe (1964)

Question 9

Why was the Kroeber’s relationship with Ishi considered controversial?

Answer 9

some see it as an appropriation and exploitation of an indigenous man’s voice

Question 10

In 2021, what did Berkeley do in consolidation with native people?

Answer 10

removed the name Kroeber from Kroeber hall

Question 11

what architectural artwork was LeGuin raised in?

Answer 11

Semper Virens (always green) by Bernard Maybeck

Question 12

LeGuin’s childhood vacation home in Napa Valley, Kishamish, inspired which of her books?

Answer 12

Always Coming Home (1985)

Question 13

what was LeGuins other lifelong retreat (beside Kishamish)?

Answer 13

her family’s cottage in Cannon Beach, Oregon

Question 14

Leguin’s essay/lecture “Indian Uncles”

Answer 14

inspired by her fathers friends, the Papago Juan Dolores and the Yurok Robert Spott.

Question 15

generally speaking how was Leguin’s upbringing?

Answer 15

loving and unaware of the darker things in life

Question 16

J. Robert Oppenheimer (family friend) inspired which of LeGuin’s characters?

Answer 16

the protagonist Shevek in The Dispossessed

Question 17

what SF author went to LeGuin’s high-school?

Answer 17

Phillip K Dick

Question 18

what degrees did LeGuin receive?

Answer 18

Masters in Renaissance French and Italian language and literature from Columbia

Question 19

where did LeGuin meet her husband?

Answer 19

aboard the Queen Marry in 1953

Question 20

where did LeGuin and Charles Leguin (husband) live for most of their adult life?

Answer 20

Portland, Oregon

Question 21

what editor praised Leguin’s skill but (like many others) didn’t know how to market her work?

Answer 21

Alfred Knopf

Question 22

how was Leguin able to publish her work?

Answer 22

she began to send short stories to SF magazines like Amazing stories

Question 23

what were LeGuin’s earliest novels?

Answer 23

Rocannon’s World (1966), Planet of Exile (1966), and City of Illusions (1967)

Question 24

A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) by LeGuin

Answer 24

a global bestseller, the first book in LeGuin’s Earthsea series

Question 25

The Lathe of Heaven (1971)

Answer 25

won the Nebula, Hugo, and Locus award for best novel

Question 26

The Left Hand of Darkness

Answer 26

one of the first novels to speculate about gender fluidity. influenced by second wave feminism

Question 27

The dispossessed (1975)

Answer 27

won the Hugo, Nebula, and the Locus award

Question 28

The Tombs of Atuan

Answer 28

selected as a Newberry Honor Book by the American Library Association

Question 29

The Farthest Shore

Answer 29

won the National Book Award for Children's literature

Question 30

Always Coming Home (1985)

Answer 30

set in future California. Involved collaboration with a geologist, artist, and composer (the original version was published with a cassette). Won the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize and was a runner up for the National Book Award.

Question 31

Lavinia

Answer 31

a retelling of the Aeneid from Lavinia's point of view. won the Locus award

Question 32

Steering the Craft (1998) by LeGuin

Answer 32

a handbook on writing

Question 33

which awards had LeGuin won by the end of her career?

Answer 33

a National Book Award, seven Hugo Awards, six Nebula Awards, the Howard Vursell Award, the PEN/Malamud award, and the National Book Foundation Medal for distinguished contribution to American Letters (2014)

Question 34

what did the library of congress name Leguin?

Answer 34

a living legend

Question 35

how many of LeGuin's books have been finalists for the American Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize?

Answer 35

three

Question 36

What two things were The Left Hand of Darkness inspired by according to LeGuin?

Answer 36

the image of two people pulling an ice sledge and the question: what does it mean to be male or female?

Question 37

which of Leguins works are most influenced by feminism?

Answer 37

Tehanu, The Other Wind, Lavinia, and The Left Hand of Darkness

Question 38

Authors who, like LeGuin, infiltrated SF when it was white & male dominated

Answer 38

Allie Sheldon (under pseudonyms James Tiptree and Racoona Sheldon), Joanna Russ, Margret Atwood, Marge Piercy, Vonda N. McIntyre, Elizabeth Lynn, Kate Willhelm

Question 39

The Word for World is Forest (1968)

Answer 39

depicts moral issues of the Vietnam war like the use of chemical weapons (e.g. agent orange). contemplates cold war tensions, past atrocities, and also ongoing human rights violations

Question 40

ecological concerns like global warming influences which of LeGuin's works?

Answer 40

The Lathe of Heaven (1971)

Question 41

What other ecological concern is present in the Lathe of Heaven (besides global warming)?

Answer 41

the reemergence of deadly diseases, like Kwashiorkor - caused by lack of protein

Question 42

Always Coming Home addresses which ecological concerns?

Answer 42

recycling, sustainability, and ecological resource management

Question 43

He Who Shapes (1965) by Roger Zelazny

Answer 43

The Lathe of Heaven is sometimes compared to this novella; it features a physician who uses technology to shape and share others' dreams and help them with psychiatric issues

Question 44

LOH was originally published in which magazine?

Answer 44

The march and may issues of Amazing Science Fiction

Question 45

What company published LOH as a standalone novel in 1971?

Answer 45

Charles Scribner's Sons

Question 46

The Lathe of Heaven (1979) film version

Answer 46

directed by David Loxton and Fred Barzyk, LeGuin was a consultant. It was PBS's first made-for-tv movie.

Question 47

cinematographic tricks in LOH film version

Answer 47

the augmentor gets more and more outrageous as the film goes on. also reflects influence of contemporary video art with dark modernist architecture to convey an uncertain future

Question 48

LOH film version accolades

Answer 48

the most request program in PBS history, nominated for a Hugo, nominated for a Writer's guild award, Entertainment Weekly named it one of the top one hundred works of SF

Question 49

The Lathe of Heaven (2002) film version

Answer 49

directed by Alan Sharpe and Philip Hass. discards philosophical underpinnings, themes of racism, and removes the aliens altogether. Disappointment to SF fans and LeGuin

Question 50

The Lathe of Heaven (2002) accolades

Answer 50

nominated for a 2003 Saturn Award