A Wizard Of Earthsea

THE LAST HARRY POTTER: FAREWELL TO A PHENOMENON

In his uneven, but remarkable work on the Western Canon, Harold Bloom observes that, in our world, the dominant question for readers is not “What should I read?’, but “What should I not read?” I think that Bloom is quite right, but, obviously, the books that belong in the do-not-open category will vary from reader to reader. Those who, whether because of religious fanaticism or extreme literary snobbery, condemn the Harry Potter books to the bin are utterly misguided, for there can be no doubt that the Potter phenomenon has been, in that memorable phrase from “1066 and All That”, “a good thing”. I am not claiming that J. K. Rowling is a literary genius.The Potter novels vary a great deal in literary quality, and the later works certainly err on the side of prolixity and purple prose. However, there is no denying the imaginative power, sheer readability, and tearjerking skill (I defy you not to weep over Cedric’s death, or over Snape’s, for that matter) of the entire series, and the Rowling ‘recipe’, if I may call it that, has certainly ensured the even the most philistine of schoolkids has opened at least one book. The ‘recipe’ is both simple and extraordinarily clever: unite many genres beneath one cover. So, all the Potter novels contain a dollop of the school yarn (“Billy Bunter” and “Malory Towers”), a soupçon of the adolescent bildungsroman (admittedly, more Booth Tarkington’s “Seventeen” than James Kirkwood’s “Good Times/Bad Times”), and vast quantities of the swords, sorcery, apocalyptic battles, and redemptive self-sacrifice that we associate with J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. (In the final Potter novel, Harry is definitely a non-leonine Aslan, willingly surrendering himself in order to save his followers.)

J. K. Rowling herself never flinches from acknowledging the tradition to which her individual talent belongs. She has paid generous tribute to her predecessors; her praise has caused young readers to discover the joys of that very witty, and subtle writer, Edith Nesbit, and her acknowledgement of the influence of “The Little White Horse” (the eponymous beast is a unicorn , of course) may help to rescue Elizabeth Goudge’s fine novel from undeserved obscurity. The Potter novels are didactic, if not as explicitly allegorical as Lewis’s Narnia works. They glorify intellect, industry (a ‘swot’ heroine with a phenomenal memory will always meet with my approbation!

A Wizard of Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 1) | Find Smart Sale

Amazon.com Review

Often compared to Tolkien’s Middle-earth or Lewis’s Narnia, Ursula K. Le Guin ’s Earthsea is a stunning fantasy world that grabs quickly at our hearts, pulling us deeply into its imaginary realms. Four books (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, and Tehanu) tell the whole Earthsea cycle–a tale about a reckless, awkward boy named Sparrowhawk who becomes a wizard’s apprentice after the wizard reveals Sparrowhawk’s true name. The boy comes to realize that his fate may be far more important than he ever dreamed possible. Le Guin challenges her readers to think about the power of language, how in the act of naming the world around us we actually create that world. Teens, especially, will be inspired by the way Le Guin allows her characters to evolve and grow into their own powers. In this first book, A Wizard of Earthsea readers will witness Sparrowhawk’s moving rite of passage–when he discovers his true name and becomes a young man. Great challenges await Sparrowhawk, including an almost deadly battle with a sinister creature, a monster that may be his own shadow. Anthropological Fantasy Masterpiece

Ursula Le Guin is the daughter of Alfred Kroeber, an anthropologist, and Theodora Kroeber, a psychologist and writer. It’s easy and accurate to say that her parents’ interests inform her brilliant writing, and that cultural anthrpology and Jungian psychology are at the core of Wizard of Earthsea and its three sequels. But the book isn’t a treatise. It’s a wonderful, well-told story of a young man, Ged, coming of age in a world where words can have the power of magic and dragons are as real as earthquakes. There is nothing didactic about this story; Le Guin’s writing is compelling and her characters are vivid: Ogion, the Mage of Silence, whose word had stilled an earthquake; Vetch, who helps Ged on a deadly quest for no reason but friendship; Murre, Vetch’s sister; Yevaud, the dragon of Pendor; and Skiorh, possessed by a gebbeth. Earthsea doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Le Guin constructs a deep and textured history, and her characters act in ways that are consistent with that world. She manages the trick of writing a mythic tale without falling into the traps and foibles of sounding like you are trying. The climax is straight from Carl Jung, but you don’t need to know Carl Jung from Steve Young to appreciate it. From time to time, religious groups call for this book to be banned from school libraries, claiming it promotes witchcraft. Nonsense. This is a book every teenager should read. It speaks to self-understanding, nothing more. And some feminists criticize Le Guin because Ged is a male character. Again, nonsense, Ged is an archetype, and his gender matters not at all. This is an important book. It’s also terrific fun. Highly recommended.

It's all A Wizard of Earthsea's fault. I never thought I'd like a set text, but I did end up really liking it. Sparrowhawk, Osprey.. Ged ;A;

Check out this great item: A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA ~ BY URSULA K. LE GUIN ~ 1984 PB

Check out this great item: A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA ~ BY URSULA K. LE GUIN ~ 1984 PB

A wizard of Earthsea

A Wizard of Earthsea

A Wizard of Earthsea

A wizard of Earthsea, Vol 1 The Earthsea trilogy

A Wizard of Earthsea