Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Dispossesed”: Urras vs Anarres Aleksandra Rokvic College

The full title of Le Guin’s 1974 novel reads “The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia” and proves to be just what the title suggests. This science fiction novel is also a utopia, but not one which serves as “a hopeful prescription for a near perfect future” but one which serves as a “critique of the inadequacies of all ideals and forms of life” (Sabia 1). As Sabia stresses, “the most thoughtful utopias in recent decades have shifted from recommending to interrogating the good, and from projecting to rejecting an end of history” (Sabia 1). In his work “Demand the Impossible”, Tom Moylan names this type of utopianism “critical utopia” and elaborates:

“A central concern in the critical utopia is the awareness of the limitations of the utopian tradition, so that these texts reject utopia as a blueprint while preserving it as a dream. Furthermore, the novels dwell on the conflict between the originary world and the utopian society opposed to it so that the process of social change is more directly articulated. Finally, the novels focus on the continuing presence of difference and imperfection within the utopian society itself and thus render more recognizable and dynamic alternatives.” (qtd. in science.jrank.org)

This proves to be...