“Wheels turning in opposite directions”: the Utopian Dynamics of Individual and Collective Temporality in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed and Sheri S. Tepper’s The Gate to Women’s Country
Einstein may deem objective temporality an illusion, but temporal relations of self and other still strongly shape our lived experience. I explore how individual and communal temporality function in two apparently “ideal” societies, Anarres in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed (1974) and Women’s...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Finnish Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy Research
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Fafnir |
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| Online Access: | http://journal.finfar.org/articles/2569.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797942285693878272 |
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| author | Sarah Lohmann |
| author_facet | Sarah Lohmann |
| author_sort | Sarah Lohmann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Einstein may deem objective temporality an illusion, but temporal relations of self and other still strongly shape our lived experience. I explore how individual and communal temporality function in two apparently “ideal” societies, Anarres in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed (1974) and Women’s Country in Sheri S. Tepper’s The Gate to Women’s Country (1988). While both quasi- utopias are founded on long-term egalitarian communality, I argue that anarcho-communist Anarres successfully combines progress- orientation with holistic cyclicity to pursue sustainable inclusivity against the odds while Women’s Country fails to do the same through separatist feminism and performative group identity: it succumbs to the tragic temporal trajectory at its core. However, I ultimately suggest that the novels still serve as complementary testimonials to the utopian potential of sustainably integrative temporality if we consider the utopianism negatively encoded in Gate’s performativity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T20:06:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a68fb537f58242299a8f4461e999a2cc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2342-2009 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T20:06:02Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Finnish Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy Research |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Fafnir |
| spelling | doaj.art-a68fb537f58242299a8f4461e999a2cc2023-01-26T18:28:33ZengFinnish Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy ResearchFafnir2342-20092022-12-019298117“Wheels turning in opposite directions”: the Utopian Dynamics of Individual and Collective Temporality in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed and Sheri S. Tepper’s The Gate to Women’s CountrySarah LohmannEinstein may deem objective temporality an illusion, but temporal relations of self and other still strongly shape our lived experience. I explore how individual and communal temporality function in two apparently “ideal” societies, Anarres in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed (1974) and Women’s Country in Sheri S. Tepper’s The Gate to Women’s Country (1988). While both quasi- utopias are founded on long-term egalitarian communality, I argue that anarcho-communist Anarres successfully combines progress- orientation with holistic cyclicity to pursue sustainable inclusivity against the odds while Women’s Country fails to do the same through separatist feminism and performative group identity: it succumbs to the tragic temporal trajectory at its core. However, I ultimately suggest that the novels still serve as complementary testimonials to the utopian potential of sustainably integrative temporality if we consider the utopianism negatively encoded in Gate’s performativity.http://journal.finfar.org/articles/2569.pdfutopiafeminismcommunityindividualitysustainabilitytemporalityursula k. le guinsheri s. tepperthe dispossessedthe gate to women’s country |
| spellingShingle | Sarah Lohmann “Wheels turning in opposite directions”: the Utopian Dynamics of Individual and Collective Temporality in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed and Sheri S. Tepper’s The Gate to Women’s Country Fafnir utopia feminism community individuality sustainability temporality ursula k. le guin sheri s. tepper the dispossessed the gate to women’s country |
| title | “Wheels turning in opposite directions”: the Utopian Dynamics of Individual and Collective Temporality in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed and Sheri S. Tepper’s The Gate to Women’s Country |
| title_full | “Wheels turning in opposite directions”: the Utopian Dynamics of Individual and Collective Temporality in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed and Sheri S. Tepper’s The Gate to Women’s Country |
| title_fullStr | “Wheels turning in opposite directions”: the Utopian Dynamics of Individual and Collective Temporality in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed and Sheri S. Tepper’s The Gate to Women’s Country |
| title_full_unstemmed | “Wheels turning in opposite directions”: the Utopian Dynamics of Individual and Collective Temporality in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed and Sheri S. Tepper’s The Gate to Women’s Country |
| title_short | “Wheels turning in opposite directions”: the Utopian Dynamics of Individual and Collective Temporality in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed and Sheri S. Tepper’s The Gate to Women’s Country |
| title_sort | wheels turning in opposite directions the utopian dynamics of individual and collective temporality in ursula k le guin s the dispossessed and sheri s tepper s the gate to women s country |
| topic | utopia feminism community individuality sustainability temporality ursula k. le guin sheri s. tepper the dispossessed the gate to women’s country |
| url | http://journal.finfar.org/articles/2569.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sarahlohmann wheelsturninginoppositedirectionstheutopiandynamicsofindividualandcollectivetemporalityinursulakleguinsthedispossessedandsheristeppersthegatetowomenscountry |