A Wizard of Earthsea

A Wizard of Earthsea

Robbins cover of first edition.
Author	Ursula K. Le Guin
Illustrator	Ruth Robbins
Cover artist	Ruth Robbins (depicted)
Language	English
Series	Earthsea Cycle
Genre	Fantasy novel, Bildungsroman
Published	1968 (Parnassus Press)
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardcover & paperback)
Pages	205 pp (first edition)
ISBN	0-395-27653-5
OCLC	1210
Preceded by	The Rule of Names (short story)
Followed by	The Tombs of Atuan

A Wizard of Earthsea is a young-adult fantasy novel written by the American author Ursula K. Le Guin, first published by the small press Parnassus in 1968. Set in the fictional archipelago of Earthsea, the story follows the education of a young mage named Ged who joins the school of wizardry. A Wizard of Earthsea is widely regarded as a classic of fantasy and young-adult literature and was one of the final recipients of the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, an award that recognized outstanding children's literature. Le Guin would later write five subsequent books that, together with A Wizard of Earthsea, are referred to as the Earthsea Cycle: The Tombs of Atuan (1971), The Farthest Shore (1972), Tehanu (1990), The Other Wind (2001), and Tales from Earthsea (2001).

Background and setting

Early concepts for the Earthsea setting were developed in two short stories, "The Rule of Names" (1964) and "The Word of Unbinding" (1964), both published in Fantastic. The stories were later collected in Le Guin's anthology The Wind's Twelve Quarters (1975). It was also used as the setting for a story Le Guin wrote in 1965 or 1966, which was never published. In 1967, Herman Schein (the publisher of Parnassus Press and the husband of Ruth Robbins, the illustrator of the book) asked Le Guin to try writing a book "for older kids," giving her complete freedom over the subject and the approach. Drawing from her short stories, Le Guin began work on A Wizard of Earthsea. Le Guin has said that the book was in part a response to the image of wizards as ancient and wise, and to her wondering where they come from. Le Guin later said that her choice of fantasy as a medium, and of the theme of coming of age, was a product of her writing for adolescents.

The short stories published in 1964 introduced the world of Earthsea and important concepts in it, such as Le Guin's treatment of magic. It also introduced Yevaud, the dragon who would also feature briefly in Wizard. Earthsea itself is an archipelago or group of islands. In the fictional history of this world, the islands were raised from the ocean by Segoy, an ancient deity or hero. The world is inhabited by both humans and dragons, and several among the humans are sorcerers or wizards. The world is shown as being based on a delicate balance, which most of its inhabitants are aware of, but which is disrupted by somebody in each of the original trilogy of novels.

Le Guin's depiction of Earthsea was influenced by her familiarity with Native American legends as well as Norse mythology. The influence of Norse lore can be seen in the characters of the Kargs, who are blonde and blue-eyed, and worship two gods who are brothers. Le Guin's belief in Taoism is also visible in the idea of a cosmic "balance" in the universe of Earthsea. Le Guin originally intended for Wizard to be a standalone novel, but she decided to write a sequel after considering the loose-ends in the first book, and wrote a third book after further consideration.

Plot summary

See also: Characters in Earthsea

The novel follows Duny, a young boy born on the island of Gont. Discovering that he has the potential to be a powerful wizard, his aunt, the village witch trains him in magic. Duny often uses his power to call birds of prey to him, earning the nickname "Sparrowhawk." When Sparrowhawk is nearly thirteen, his village is attacked by Kargish invaders, and he summons a fog to conceal his village and distract the attackers. Hearing of this incident the powerful mage Ogion takes him as an apprentice, giving him his "true name"—Ged. Ogion tries to teach Ged about the "balance," the concept that magic can upset the natural order of the world if used improperly. In an attempt to impress a girl he meets, Ged searches Ogion's spell-books and inadvertently summons a strange shadow, which is banished by Ogion. Sensing that Ged is impatient to learn wizardry faster than Ogion is willing to teach, he offers to allow Ged to attend a school for wizards on the island of Roke.

At the school, Ged's skills inspire admiration among the teachers as well as students. He befriends an older student named Vetch, but generally remains aloof from his fellows. Another student, Jasper, acts condescendingly towards Ged and provokes the latter's prickly nature. After Jasper needles Ged during a feast, Ged challenges him to a duel. He casts a powerful spell intended to raise the spirit of a dead woman, but the spell goes awry. A rip in the fabric of the world opens to the realm of the dead, and a shadow creature passes through, attacking Ged and scarring his face. The Archmage Nemmerle banishes the shadow and saves Ged's life, although it costs him his own.

Ged spends many months healing before resuming his studies. The new Archmage, Gensher, describes the shadow creature as an ancient evil that wishes to possess Ged. Gensher warns him that the creature has no name, and that only Roke's magic protects him from it. A few years later, Ged receives his wizards' staff from the school, and goes to serve the villagers of the Ninety Isles, who fear an attack from a dragon and its brood that live on the nearby island of Pendor. While attempting to save the life of a fisherman's daughter, Ged crosses the barrier to the land of the dead and learns that he is being pursued by the shadow creature. Deciding to flee from the creature, he sails to Pendor, where he kills five young dragons before threatening the old dragon with Ged's knowledge of his true name, learned on Roke. The dragon offers to tell Ged the name of the shadow creature in return for remaining unharmed, but instead Ged exacts a binding promise that the dragon and his brood will never threaten the archipelago.

Chased by the shadow, Ged travels north to the island of Osskil, hoping to seek advice from the stone of the Terrenon, which is said to have the power to answer any question. On Osskil, he realises that his guide has been possessed by the shadow; fleeing in terror, Ged stumbles into the Court of Terrenon. The creature destroys his staff, but cannot penetrate into the castle. Serret, the lady of the castle, looks after Ged, and when he recovers shows him the stone of Terrenon. She tempts Ged to speak to it, claiming it can give him limitless knowledge and power. Believing the stone harbors an ancient and evil spirit, Ged refuses. When Serret again attempts to persuade him, he realizes that she and her husband Benderesk are trying to enslave him and use his power. Ged flees, and though he is pursued by Benderesk's minions he transforms into a falcon and flies away.

Ged flies back to Gont goes to Ogion, who crafts a new staff for him. Contrary to Gensher, Ogion insists that all creatures have a name, and advises Ged to confront the shadow creature. Setting sail in a small boat Ged pursues the creature across the sea until it lures him into a fog where his boat is wrecked on a reef. Ged recovers with the help of an elderly couple marooned on the island as children. When he leaves, the woman gives Ged part of a broken bracelet as a gift. Ged patches his boat with magic and escapes the island pursuing the creature into the East Reach of the Archipelago. On the island of Iffish he meets his friend Vetch, who insists on joining him. They journey east far beyond the last known lands before they finally come upon the shadow. Here Ged realizes that the shadow has always been a part of his own spirit. Naming it with his own name, he merges with the shadow creature, understanding and accepting it as part of himself, and thus healing himself.

Publication and reception

A Wizard of Earthsea was first published in 1968 by Parnassus Press in Berkeley, a year before The Left Hand of Darkness, Le Guin's watershed work. Wizard was also a landmark for Le Guin, as it represented her first attempt at writing for children; she had written only a handful of other novels and short stories prior to its publication. It was also her first attempt at writing fantasy, rather than science-fiction. Wizard was soon followed by The Tombs of Atuan (1970) and The Farthest Shore (1972), books which are together seen as the "original trilogy". They were followed by Tehanu (1990), Tales from earthsea (2001), and The Other Wind (2001), which are sometimes referred to as the "second trilogy"

The book has garnered acclaim as a work for children. In her 1975 annotated collection Fantasy for Children, British critic Naomi Lewis described it in the following terms: "[It is not] the easiest book for casual browsing, but readers who take the step will find themselves in one of the most important works of fantasy of our time." Similarly, Margaret Esmonde wrote in 1981 that "Le Guin has [...] enriched children's literature with what may be its finest high fantasy." Multiple critics have noted that the Earthsea novels in general received less critical attention because they were considered children's books. Le Guin herself took exception to this treatment of children's literature, describing it as "adult chauvinist piggery." In 1976, George Slusser criticized the "silly publication classification designating the original series as 'children’s literature.'" Barbara Bucknall stated that "Le Guin was not writing for young children when she wrote these fantasies, nor yet for adults. She was writing for 'older kids.' But in fact she can be read, like Tolkien, by ten-year-olds and by adults. These stories are ageless because they deal with problems that confront us at any age."

Initial recognition for the book was among children's-book critics, and only later did it get attention attention from a more general audience. Literary scholar George Slusser described the Earthsea cycle as a "work of high style and imagination," and the original trilogy of books a product of "genuine epic vision". In 1974, critic Robert Scholes compared Le Guin's work favorably to that of C. S. Lewis, saying, "Where C. S. Lewis worked out a specifically Christian set of values, Ursula LeGuin works not with a theology but with an ecology, a cosmology, a reverence for the universe as a self-regulating structure." He added that Le Guin's three Earthsea novels were themselves a sufficient legacy for anybody to leave. The book also won several awards, including the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award (1969), and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award (1979).

The book has been seen as widely influential within the genre of fantasy. Margaret Atwood has called A Wizard of Earthsea one of the "wellsprings" of fantasy literature, illustrating Le Guin's influence within the genre. A Wizard of Earthsea has been compared to major works of high fantasy such as J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Modern writers have credited A Wizard of Earthsea for introducing the idea of a "wizard school," which would later be made famous by the Harry Potter series of books. The notion that names can exert power is also present in Hayao Miyazaki's 2001 film Spirited Away; critics have suggested that that idea originated with Le Guin's Earthsea series.

Themes

Coming of age

A Wizard of Earthsea focuses on Ged's adolescence and coming of age, and along with the other two works of the original Earthsea trilogy forms a part of Le Guin's dynamic portrayal of the process of growing old. The three novels together follow Ged from youth to old age, each of them also follow the coming of age of a different character. Mike Cadden stated that the book was "a convincing bildungsroman to a reader as young and possibly as headstrong as Ged, and therefore sympathetic to him."

Ged is depicted as being proud and yet unsure of himself in multiple situations: early in his apprenticeship he believes Ogion to be mocking him, and later, at Roke, feels put upon by Jasper. In both cases, he believes that others do not appreciate his greatness, and Le Guin's sympathetic narration does not immediately contradict this belief. Cadden writes that Le Guin allows young readers to sympathize with Ged, and only gradually realize that there is a price to be payed for his actions, as he learns to discipline his magical powers. Similarly, as Ged begins his apprenticeship with Ogion, he imagines that he will be taught mysterious aspects of wizardry, and has visions of transforming himself into other creatures, but gradually comes to see that Ogion's important lessons are those about his own self.

The passage at the end of the novel, wherein Ged finally accepts the shadow as a part of himself and is thus released from its terror, has been pointed to by reviewers as a rite of passage. Jeanne Walker, for example, wrote that the rite of passage at the end was an analogue for the entire plot of A Wizard of Earthsea, and that the plot itself plays the role of a rite of passage for an adolescent reader. Walker goes on to say "The entire action of A Wizard of Earthsea ... portrays the hero’s slow realization of what it means to be an individual in society and a self in relation to higher powers.

Le Guin described coming of age as the main theme of the book, and wrote in a 1973 essay that she chose that theme since she was writing for an adolescent audience. She stated that "Coming of age [...] is a process that took me many years; I finished it, so far as I ever will, at about age thirty-one; and so I feel rather deeply about it. So do most adolescents. It's their main occupation, in fact." She also said that fantasy was best suited as a medium for describing coming of age, because exploring the subconscious was difficult using the language of "rational daily life". The coming of age that Le Guin focused on included not just psychological development, but moral changes as well.

Many readers and critics have commented on some similarities between Ged's process of growing up and ideas in Jungian psychology. The young Ged has a scary encounter with a shadow creature, which he later realizes is the dark side of himself. It is only after he recognizes and merges with the shadow that he becomes a whole person. Le Guin claimed never to have read Jung before writing the Earthsea novels.

Equilibrium and the power of names

The world of Earthsea is depicted as being based on a delicate balance, which most of its inhabitants are aware of, but which is disrupted by somebody in each of the original trilogy of novels. The includes an equilibrium between land and sea (implicit in the name Earthsea), and between people and their natural environment. In addition to physical equilibrium, there is a larger cosmic equilibrium, which everybody is aware of, and which wizards are tasked with maintaining. Describing this aspect of Earthsea, Elizabeth Cummins wrote that "The principle of balanced powers, the recognition that every act affects self, society, world, and cosmos, is both a physical and a moral principle of Le Guin's fantasy world. The concept of balance is related to the novel's other major theme of coming of age, as Ged's knowledge of the consequences of his own actions for good or ill is necessary for him to understand how the balance is maintained. While at the school of Roke, the Master Hand tells him:

But you must not change one thing, one pebble, one grain of sand, until you know what good and evil will follow on that act. The world is in balance, in Equilibrium. A wizard's power of Changing and of Summoning can shake the balance of the world. It is dangerous, that power. It is most perilous. It must follow knowledge, and serve need. To light a candle is to cast a shadow.

Le Guin's belief in Taoism is evident through much of the book, especially in her depiction of the "balance." At the end of the novel, Ged, may be seen to embody the Taoist way of life, as he has learned not to act when absolutely necessary. He has also learned that seeming opposites, like light and dark or good and evil, are actually interdependent.

In Le Guin's fictional universe, to know the true name of an object or a person is to have power over it. Each child is given a true name when they reach puberty, a name which they share only with close friends. Wizards exert their influence over the equilibrium through the use of names. According to Cummins, this is Le Guin's way of demonstrating the power of language in shaping reality. Since language is the tool we use for communicating about the environment, she argues that it also allows humans to affect the environment, and the wizards' power to use names symbolizes this. Cummins went on to draw an analogy between the a wizard's use of names to change things with the creative use of words in fictional writing.

Several of the dragons in the later Earthsea novels, like Orm Embar and Kalessin, are shown as living openly with their names, which do not give anybody power over them. In Wizard, however, Ged is shown to have power over Yevaud. Cadden writes that this is because Yevaud still has attachment to riches and material possessions, and is thus bound by the power of his name.

Human evil

The nature of human evil forms a significant theme through Wizard as well as the other Earthsea novels. As with other works by Le Guin, evil is shown as a misunderstanding of the balance of life. Ged is born with great power in him, but the pride that he takes in his power leads to his downfall; he tries to demonstrate his strength by bringing a spirit back from the dead, and in performing this act against the laws of nature, releases the shadow that attacks him. Slusser suggests that although he is provoked into performing dangerous spells first by the girl on Gont and then by Jasper, this provocation exists in Ged's mind. He is shown as unwilling to look within himself and see the pride that drives him to do what he does. When he accepts the shadow into himself, he also finally accepts responsibility for his own actions, and by accepting his own mortality he is able to free himself. His companion Vetch describes the moment by saying {{quote|that Ged had neither lost nor won but, naming the shadow of his death with his own name, had made himself whole: a man: who, knowing his whole true self, cannot be used or possessed by any power other than himself, and whose life therefore is lived for life's sake and never in the service of ruin, or pain, or hatred, or the dark.

Thus, although there are several dark powers in Earthsea (like the dragon, and the stone of Terrennon) the true evil were not these powers or even death, but Ged's actions that went against the balance of nature. This is contrary to conventional Western though, in which light and darkness are considered opposites, and are seen as symbolizing good and evil, which are constantly in conflict. On two different occasions, Ged is faced with the temptation to dry and defy death and evil, but eventually learns that neither can be eliminated: instead, he chooses not to serve evil, and stops denying death.

Style and structure

Wizard and other novels of the Earthsea cycle differ notably from Le Guin's early Hainish cycle works, although they were written at a similar time. George Slusser described the Earthsea works as providing a counterweight to the "excessive pessimism" of the Hainish novels. He saw the former as depicting individual action in a favorable light, in contrast to works such as "Vaster than Empires and More Slow". In discussing the style of her fantasy works, Le Guin herself said that in fantasy it was necessary to be clear and direct with language, because there is no known framework for the reader's mind to rest upon.

A Wizard of Earthsea has strong elements of an epic; for instance, Ged's place in Earthsea history is described at the very beginning of the book in the following terms: "some say the greatest, and surely the greatest voyager, was the man called Sparrowhawk, who in his day became both dragonlord and Archmage." The story also begins with words from the Earthsea song "The Creation of Éa", which forms a ritualistic beginning to the book. The teller of the story then goes on to say that it is from Ged's youth, thereby establishing context for the rest of the book. In comparison with the protagonists of many of Le Guin's other works, Ged is superficially a typical hero, a mage who sets out on a quest. However, Le Guin also subverted many of the tropes typical to such "monomyths"; the protagonists of her story were all dark-skinned, in comparison to the white-skinned heroes more traditionally used; the Kargish antagonists, in contrast, were white-skinned, a switching of race roles that has been remarked upon by multiple critics. Critics has also cited her use of characters from multiple class backgrounds as a choice subversive to conventional Western fantasy. Several critics have argued that by combining elements of epic, bildungsroman, and young adult fiction, Le Guin succeeded in blurring the boundaries of conventional genres.

The story often appears to assume that readers are familiar with the geography and history of Earthsea, a technique which allowed Le Guin to avoid exposition. In keeping with the notion of an epic, the narration switches from looking ahead into Ged's future and looking back into the past of Earthsea. At the same time, Slusser described the mood of the novel as "strange and dreamlike," fluctuating between objective reality and the thoughts in Ged's mind; some of Ged's adversaries are real, while others are phantoms. This narrative technique, which Cadden characterizes as "free indirect discourse" makes the narrator of the book seem sympathetic to the protagonist, and does not distance his thoughts from the reader.

Adaptations

• A condensed, illustrated version of the first chapter was printed by World Books in the third volume of Childcraft in 1989.

• The work was produced as an unabridged recording performed by Robert Inglis who also narrated the unabridged audiobook editions of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

• BBC Radio produced a radioplay version in 1996 narrated by Judi Dench.

• An original mini-series titled Legend of Earthsea was broadcast in 2005 on the Sci Fi Channel. It is based very loosely on A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan. Le Guin has stated that she was not pleased with the result, which included "whitewashing Earthsea."

• Studio Ghibli released an adaptation of the series in 2006 titled Tales from Earthsea. The film very loosely combines elements of the first, third, and fourth books into a new story. Le Guin has commented with displeasure on the results.

• BBC Radio produced a six part series adapting the Earthsea novels in 2015, broadcast on Radio 4 Extra.

See also

• Le Guin's comments regarding the similarities to Harry Potter

Sources

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• Bloom, Harold, ed. (1986). Ursula K. Le Guin (Modern Critical Views) (1st ed.). New York, NY: Chelsea House. ISBN 0-87754-659-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Cadden, Mike (2005). Ursula K. Le Guin Beyond Genre: Fiction for Children and Adults (1st ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-99527-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• "The Boy Who Became A Wizard". Childcraft: Stories and poems. World Book, Inc. 1989. pp. 176–187.

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• Kuznets, Lois R. (1985). ""High Fantasy" in America: A Study of Lloyd Alexander, Ursula Le Guin, and Susan Cooper". The Lion and the Unicorn. 9: 19–35. doi:10.1353/uni.0.0075. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Le Guin, Ursula K.; Wood, Susan (1980). The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction. Ultramarine publishing. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Le Guin, Ursula (December 16, 2004). "A Whitewashed Earthsea – How the Sci Fi Channel wrecked my books". slate.com. Retrieved 2011-07-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)

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• Martin, Philip (2009). A Guide to Fantasy Literature: Thoughts on Stories of Wonder & Enchantment (1st ed.). Milwaukee, WI: Crickhollow Books. ISBN 978-1-933987-04-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Mathews, Richard (2002). Fantasy: The Liberation of Imagination (1st ed.). New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-93890-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Pringle, David (1988). Modern fantasy: the hundred best novels: an English language selection, 1946–1987 (1st ed.). London: Grafton Books. ISBN 0-87226-219-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Reider, Noriko T (2005). "Spirited Away: Film of the fantastic and evolving Japanese folk symbols". Film Criticism. 29 (3): 4. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Rochelle, Warren G. (2001). Communities of the Heart. Liverpool University Press. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Russell, Anna (16 October 2014). "Margaret Atwood Chooses 'A Wizard of Earthsea'". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 10 November 2014. {{cite news}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Slusser, George Edgar (1976). The Farthest Shores of Ursula K. Le Guin. Wildside Press LLC. ISBN 9780893702052. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Spivack, Charlotte (1984a). Ursula K. Le Guin (1st ed.). Boston, MA: Twayne Publishers. ISBN 0-8057-7393-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Spivack, Charlotte (1984b). "'Only in Dying, Life': The Dynamics of Old Age in the Fiction of Ursula Le Guin". Modern Language Studies. 14 (3): 43–53. doi:10.2307/3194540. JSTOR 3194540. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• "A wizard of Earthsea: Inglis, Rob, Le Guin, Ursula K., 1929– : eAudiobook : Toronto Public Library". Torontopubliclibrary.ca. Retrieved 2016-08-29.

• "A wizard of Earthsea (Audiobook on Cassette, 1992)". [WorldCat.org]. 2016-08-06. Retrieved 2016-08-29.

External links

• Ursula K. Le Guin's official website