Ekumen
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The Ekumen is the fictional galactic federation of human-inhabited worlds mentioned in several of the science fiction novels of Ursula K. Le Guin. The name is derived from the Greek "oikoumene", meaning "the inhabited world".
In keeping with Le Guin's soft science fiction style, the setting is used primarily to explore anthropological and sociological ideas. The Ekumen worlds are some dozens of planets populated millions of years ago by human beings from the original human world of Hain. The Hainish used genetic engineering techniques to adapt human beings to non-optimal worlds (for example the androgynes of Gethen in The Left Hand of Darkness). In her stories of the Ekumen, Le Guin frequently uses the word "hilf" which is an acronym for highly intelligent lifeform, a member of a given planet's native human race.
Hainish civilization subsequently collapsed and the colony planets (including Earth) forgot that other human worlds existed. The Ekumen stories tell of the renewal of near-lightspeed relativistic interstellar travel that takes years to travel from star to star (although only weeks or months from the viewpoint of the traveler, because of time dilation) and instantaneous communication over the same distances using the ansible and the efforts to re-establish a civilization on a galactic scale.
Especially notable (award-winning) Ekumen novels are The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed. Other Ekumen novels are Rocannon's World, Planet of Exile, City of Illusions, and The Telling. The series also contains some of Le Guin's short fiction, including the award-winning "The Word for World is Forest" and "The Day Before the Revolution".
Contents |
[edit] List of books
[edit] Novels
The order presented here is the internal chronology of the series, not the order in which the books were written.
- The Dispossessed (1974) - Urras-Anarres (Tau Ceti)
- The Word for World is Forest (1976) - Athshe/New Tahiti
- Rocannon's World (1964) - Rokanan (Fomalhaut II)
- Planet of Exile (1966) - Werel (Gamma Draconis III)
- City of Illusions (1967) - Terra
- The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) - Gethen
- Four Ways to Forgiveness (1995) - Yeowe-Werel
- The Telling (2000) - Aka
[edit] Short stories
In publishing order.
- Dowry of the Angyar (1964) - appears as Semley's Necklace in The Wind's Twelve Quarters (1975) - Rokanan
- Winter's King (1969) - appears in The Wind's Twelve Quarters (1975) - Gethen
- Vaster Than Empires and More Slow (1971) - appears in The Wind's Twelve Quarters (1975) - World 4470
- The Day Before the Revolution (1974) - appears in The Wind's Twelve Quarters (1975) - Urras
- The Shobies' Story (1990) - appears in A Fisherman of the Inland Sea (1994) - Hain, Ve, M-60-340-nolo
- Dancing to Ganam (1993) - appears in A Fisherman of the Inland Sea (1994) - Ganam (Tadkla)
- Another Story or A Fisherman of the Inland Sea (1994) - appears in A Fisherman of the Inland Sea (1994) - O
- The Matter of Seggri (1994) - appears in The Birthday of the World (2002) - Seggri
- Unchosen Love (1994) - appears in The Birthday of the World (2002) - O
- Solitude (1994) - appears in The Birthday of the World (2002) - Eleven-soro
- Coming of Age in Karhide (1995) - appears in The Birthday of the World (2002) - Gethen
- Mountain Ways (1996) - appears in The Birthday of the World (2002) - O
- Old Music and the Slave Women (1999) - appears in The Birthday of the World (2002) - Yeowe-Werel
[edit] Timeline
Writing for Science Fiction Studies in March 1975, Ian Watson proposed the following chronology for the first six novels[1].
- c.2300 AD - The Dispossessed
- c.2368 AD - The Word for World is Forest
- c.2684 AD - Rocannon's World
- c.3755 AD - Planet of Exile
- c.4370 AD - City of Illusions
- c.4670 AD - The Left Hand of Darkness
[edit] Planets of the Ekumen
The Ekumen contains a very large number of planets and is continually exploring new ones. Some of those mentioned in the stories above are:
- Aka - A monoethnic world that recently underwent an aggressive revolutionary change in technological status, during which almost all of the traditional culture was abandoned. Aka is governed by a despotic state which mandates a form of scientific theism and aims to turn its citizens into ideal producer-consumers, with the ultimate goal of attaining advanced spaceflight capabilities. Aka is the setting of most of The Telling.
- Athshe - A forest planet (whose name means "forest"), also called "New Tahiti" by Terrans. Athshe is peopled by a small, furred group of high-intelligence life forms. It was exploited for its timber resources before a native revolt expelled the Terrans, as described in The Word for World is Forest.
- Gethen - Also known as "Winter". A very cold, glacier-covered planet, inhabited by an androgynous intelligent species. Gethen appears in The Left Hand of Darkness, and in the short stories Winter's King and Coming of Age in Karhide.
- Hain - The Prime World. Also known as Davenant. The oldest culture in the Ekumen and supposedly the ultimate source of most intelligent life in the planets of the Ekumen. Observers for the Ekumen are trained on Hain.
- Rokanan - Also called "Rocannon's World". The second planet of the star Fomalhaut, peopled by at least three high-intelligence life forms. The setting of Rocannon's World.
- Urras-Anarres - A double planet system (the people of each regard the other as their moon) in orbit around the star Tau Ceti. The Cetians who inhabit both worlds are a hirsute humanoid race which is scientifically advanced. Urras is divided into many countries with a variety of political systems; Anarres is peopled by the Odonians, an anarchist group in voluntary exile from Urras. The action of The Dispossessed takes place on Urras and Anarres; Urras is also seen in The Day Before the Revolution.
- Werel - Homeworld of the Alterrans, a hybrid race of Terrans and the original native high-intelligence life forms. Also referred to as Alterra(?). The third planet of the star Gamma Draconis.
- Yeowe-Werel - The third and fourth planets, respectively, of a star system not to be confused with Gamma Draconis.
- Terra- The third planet of the Solar system, homeworld of Terrans. In Ekumen universe it is a lost polluted planet, abandoned by those who had the means to do so.
Other planets mentioned in The Left Hand of Darkness include: Chiffewar, Cime, Ensbo, Four-Taurus, Gao, Gde, Kapetyn, O, Ollul, S, Sheashel Haven and Uttermost(?).
[edit] External links
- The Hainish Series at Le Guin's World - Hainish chronology, plot summaries, encyclopedia, and other resources
- In what order should I read the Ekumen books? - Ursula K. Le Guin on the coherency and chronology of the Ekumen books
