2016 read #15: The Telling by Ursula K. Le Guin.

The Telling by Ursula K. Le Guin
264 pages
Published 2000
Read from February 24 to February 26
Rating: ★★★½ out of 5

Le Guin's Hainish novels and short stories are works of anthropological science fiction. They each begin with a fascinating what-if -- What if people were genderless? What if true anarchy were possible? How would a society built upon active non-interference with other individuals function? -- and explore the ramifications and outcomes with Le Guin's characteristic humanity and compassion. The Telling, it seems to me, grows from a less immediately compelling seed, a sort of anthropological investigation of the furtive cultural practices persisting underground after a Cultural Revolution. It juxtaposes a viewpoint character, Sutty, left psychologically wounded by religious fundamentalism on Earth, with the secular fundamentalism on the planet Aka, where Le Guin erects the sort of society sure to appeal to the instincts of a writer, with a foundation of ceaseless storytelling, a cultural communication in words of what cannot be communicated in words (to paraphrase Le Guin from some unrelated quotation). "Their culture is built upon storytelling!" seems like such a science fiction cliche to me, though to be honest, I can't point to any specific novel or story that used the gimmick before. The traditional Akan culture, despite Sutty's avowed attempt at clear, unbiased observation, comes across as utopian, too perfect by half; the occasional hints of the dangers of cultural homeostasis never amount to anything definite, and nothing really dings the perfection of old Akan storytelling-culture as Le Guin depicts it. Even its downfall, a reaction against the corruption of greedy "boss" storytellers, is shown as an aberration, an adulteration of the pure storytelling culture in the hands of a "barbaric" (uneducated and profit-minded) people in a remote province. The culture of the Telling itself is never shown to be anything less than idyllic.

There is lots to unpack from this book -- the many forms of fundamentalism, technological and ideological alienation from true community -- but I felt that the text itself skates along with little reference to the potential depths of its themes. In many ways (not least the obvious parallels with Tibet and the Chinese Cultural Revolution) it feels like a throwback to the sort of orientalist enlightenment fiction of the early 20th century. The character of Sutty is handled tenderly, movingly -- a humane anchor for the depiction of a world damaged by imitation of imported ideals -- but the end comes abruptly and resolves too neatly, its "everything will probably be all right" coda unearned.

With all those complaints, it must look like I detested The Telling, which is not the case at all. The grace of Le Guin's own storytelling is quietly marvelous as usual, and as half of an anthropologist myself, it would take a lot for a book like this not to captivate me. This is just an example of my perennial trouble: it's always easier to pick apart what didn't quite work, than to gush about what did.