Introduction: Ursula Le Guin, the Modern Female Conscience of Science Fiction.

             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 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, rather than revolving around grand battles, and often have dark overtone, dealing with very adult themes of the balance of nature, life after death, love and ambition.