The Dispossessed is a sci-fi classic, winning Hugo and Nebula awards in the mid-seventies, and continually being reprinted in new editions with increasingly elucidating cover art. I won't go into a long description of why this book is so great--taut and clear writing style, strong characterization, lyrical passages describing complex inner monologues and difficult philosophical/political/physics concepts that seem to defy the passage of time--rather I will comment on the way the themes of this novel seem to stretch and grow in my brain.

LeGuin posits a sociopolitical dance between two opposing planets: wealthy, capitalist and glamorous Urras; and arid, anarchistic Annares. Shevek, a brilliant Annaresti physicist on the verge of uncovering a fundamental truth about time and space is consistenly quashed by his countrymen who, though attesting innate individual freedom, have become stuck in a passive-aggressive determination to retain the status quo. Frustrated by his inability to test and pursue his theory, he arranges to travel to Urras in the hopes of sharing his work with Urrasti physicists.

LeGuin explores gender roles (the oppressed vs. equality), division of labor, freedom as something earned or inherently owned, and of course, anarchism vs. centralized government while we follow Shevek through uncomfortable social situations and conversations thick with hidden meaning. The arid deserts of Annares contrast with the lush and bejeweled Urrasti lifestyles. People from Annares speak honestly; Urrastis deceive. The interrelationships of the characters expand in my mind like landscapes scrolling across the window of a train.

I see me in and the people I know in both troubled civilizations: the aristocrats and the vegetable-growers, the trust fund babies and the self-made. LeGuin never preaches, and her writing doesn't suggest a personal bias. At the end, when I began to wonder more and more where our current civilization might fit in, LeGuin introduces an Earthly ambassador. I won't write more. Read the book and see if you agree with the human.