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== References ==
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{reflist|24em}}

==Sources==
* {{cite journal|title=Ursula Le Guin and Theological Alternaty|last=Anderson|first=Elizabeth|journal=Literature & Theology|date=June 2016|volume=30|issue=2|pages=182–197|doi=10.1093/litthe/frw018|ref=harv}}
* {{cite journal|last=Covarr|first=Fiona|title=Hybridity, Third Spaces and Identities in Ursula Le Guin's Voices|journal=Mousaion|volume=33|issue=2|year=2015|pages=128–139|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|last=Le Guin|first=Ursula K.|title=Voices|publisher=Harcourt Inc.|year=2008|isbn=978-0-15-205678-0|location=Orlando, Florida|ref=harv}}
* {{cite journal|last=Lindow|first=Sandra J.|title=Wild Gifts: Anger management and moral development in the fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin and Maurice Sendak|journal=Extrapolation|volume=47|number=3|year=2006|ref=harv}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Oziewicz|first1=Marek C.|title=Restorative Justice Scripts in Ursula K. Le Guin’s Voices|journal=Children's Literature in Education|date=2011|volume=42|pages=33–43|doi=10.1007/s10583-010-9118-8|ref=harv}}


[[Category:Novels by Ursula K. Le Guin]]
[[Category:Novels by Ursula K. Le Guin]]

Revision as of 05:39, 11 September 2017

Voices
AuthorUrsula K. Le Guin
LanguageEnglish
SeriesAnnals of the Western Shore
GenreFantasy
PublisherHarcourt[1]
Publication date
1 September 2006[1]
ISBN0152056785
Preceded byGifts 
Followed byPowers 

Voices (2004) is the second book in the trilogy Annals of the Western Shore, sometimes called Chronicles of the Western Shore,[2][3] a young adult series by Ursula K. Le Guin. It is preceded in the series by Gifts and followed by Powers.

Setting

The author giving a reading in 2008

Voices is set in the city of Ansul in a fictional universe depicted in the Annals of the Western Shore.[4] The civilization of this world was settled by people from across a desert to the east of the regions depicted in the series. It consists of a number of city states, as well as some nomads on the borders of the desert.[4] The city of Ansul is in the southern region of the fictional world of Annals of the Western Shore. It is a city once famous as "Ansul the wise and beautiful" as a center of learning, with a renowned library and university.[5][6][7] Situated on the shore of a bay, the city is named for a mountain it faces across the water. Ten years before the story told in Voices the city, which has no military, is attacked by a desert people known as the Alds, who break into the city looting and raping, before being expelled. After a year-long siege, the Alds conquer the city.[8] Memer Galva, the protagonist of the story, is a "siege brat"; a child born during the siege to a mother raped by an Ald soldier.[8][6][9] Memer's mother Decalo is head housekeeper to the "Waylord" of Ansul, who arranges trade between Ansul and its neighbors. His house of Galvamand is the oldest in the city, and is among the largest and wealthiest as well. Decalo dies soon after giving birth to Memer. The Waylord, Sulter Galva, is imprisoned and tortured, and is crippled when released.[10] The city under the Alds is greatly impoverished, and many of its residents enslaved.[9]

Plot

The story begins with Memer narrating her earliest memory; of entering a secret room filled with books, to which the door may only be opened by making shapes on the wall. Memer believes she is the only who knows how to get in,[11] until she finds the Waylord there when she is nine years old.[12] He offers to teach her to read, after swearing her to secrecy: Memer proves to be a quick learner.[13] Four days after her seventeenth birthday, Memer makes the acquaintance of Orrec and Gry, the protagonists of Gifts.[14][15] Orrec, famous as a poet and storyteller, has been invited to Ansul to perform: Memer invites them to stay at Galvamand.[16][17] They tell the Waylord that though the Gand invited them to Ansul, they came to find Galvamand, for the ancient library rumored to have once existed there.[18] Orrec questions Memer about the history of the city: she tells him that Galvamand used to be known as the Oracle house, and realizes she does not know why.[19]

Memer attends one of Orrec's performance for the Gand, dressed as a male groom.[20] Orrec, holding no belief in the Ald god, is not allowed within the Gand's residence, but performs before an open pavilion. The relationship between the Gand Iorath, and his son Iddor, is seen to be tense: Iddor believes Orrec's poetry to be blasphemy.[21] Some of Ansul's citizens, led by Sulter's friend Desac, hope to rouse the city against the Alds, taking advantage of the struggle between the Gand and his son.[22] Desac asks Orrec to act as an instigator for a rebellion. When Orrec hesitates, the Waylord offers to consult the Oracle, revealed to still be in the house, about a rebellion.[23] He tells Memer that their family has the responsibility of "reading" the Oracle, which provides answers in the pages of certain books in the secret room. He asks the Oracle about the rebellion: Memer sees the phrase "Broken mend broken" in a book in response.[24]

The Waylord tells Orrec that he hopes to persaude the Alds to leave peacefully. Orrec offers to help him negotiate with the Gand.[25] After another of Orrec's performances, Desac and his rebels set the Gand's tent on fire, sparking sporadic fighting across the city through the following night.[26] A number of the conspirators, including Desac, are killed in the fire.[27] Sulter learns that the Gand is not dead, but held prisoner by Iddor.[28] A number of fugitives run to Galvamand, followed by Ald soliders and Iddor, who claims to be the Gand.[29] The Waylord announces that Iorath is still alive, and the Oracle speaks through Memer, crying "Let them set free".[30][31] The soldiers abandon Iddor and return to the palace, where they release Iorath.[32] Iorath order his soldiers to stand down and allows the citizens inside their palace.[33] Iddor is seized and imprisoned.[34]

The Alds retreat to the barracks, and the citizens make plans for governing Ansul.[35] During these debates Ald soldiers seen approaching the city. Memer disguises herself as a boy and goes to meet Iorath, where she learns that the troop is not an army, but only carries a message. She returns to Galvamand with and offer from to make Ansul a protectorate, rather than a colony.[36] Memer gifts Orrec one of the books from the secret room, and she and Sulter decide to make a library with the books there. After a conversation with Gry, Memer decides to travel with her and Orrec for a while.[37]

References

  1. ^ a b "Gifts". ursulakleguin.com. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  2. ^ "Ursula K. Le Guin - Online Radio Interview with the Author". theauthorhour.com. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  3. ^ "Gifts #1 by Ursula K Le Guin | Good Reading Guide by Portico Books". goodreadingguide.com. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  4. ^ a b Waltman, Jo (29 April 2009). "A new island of stability: Ursula Le Guin's Annals of the Western Shore". Tor.com . Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  5. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 6–7.
  6. ^ a b Covarr 2015, p. 131.
  7. ^ Anderson 2016, p. 184.
  8. ^ a b Le Guin 2008, pp. 5–7.
  9. ^ a b Lindow 2006, p. 453.
  10. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 5–8.
  11. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 1–4.
  12. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 3–5.
  13. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 8–11, 14–19.
  14. ^ "Voices". Kirkus Reviews. 74 (15): 790. 1 August 2006. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  15. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 36–44.
  16. ^ Le Guin 2008, p. 46-50.
  17. ^ Covarr 2015, p. 134.
  18. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 56–59, 74–77.
  19. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 106–107.
  20. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 88–92, 113–116.
  21. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 97–100.
  22. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 140–141.
  23. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 158–162.
  24. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 172–177.
  25. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 189–192.
  26. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 210–220.
  27. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 221–230.
  28. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 228–231.
  29. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 234–242.
  30. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 243–250.
  31. ^ Anderson 2016, p. 191.
  32. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 245–255.
  33. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 255–261.
  34. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 267–268.
  35. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 285–300.
  36. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 300–315.
  37. ^ Le Guin 2008, pp. 328–341.

Sources

  • Anderson, Elizabeth (June 2016). "Ursula Le Guin and Theological Alternaty". Literature & Theology. 30 (2): 182–197. doi:10.1093/litthe/frw018. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Covarr, Fiona (2015). "Hybridity, Third Spaces and Identities in Ursula Le Guin's Voices". Mousaion. 33 (2): 128–139. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Le Guin, Ursula K. (2008). Voices. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Inc. ISBN 978-0-15-205678-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Lindow, Sandra J. (2006). "Wild Gifts: Anger management and moral development in the fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin and Maurice Sendak". Extrapolation. 47 (3). {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Oziewicz, Marek C. (2011). "Restorative Justice Scripts in Ursula K. Le Guin's Voices". Children's Literature in Education. 42: 33–43. doi:10.1007/s10583-010-9118-8. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)


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