National Endowment for the Arts READER'S GUIDE ..INSTITUTE of , ., MuseunrtandLibrary SERVICES URSULA K. LE GUIN'S A Wizard of Earthsea / / M do think novels beautiful. To me a novel can be as Beautiful as any symphony, as beautiful as the sea. As complete, true, real, large, complicated, confusing, deep, troubling, soul enlarging as the sea with its waves that break and tumble, its tides that rise and ebb." —URSULA K. LE GUIN from The Wave in the Mind Preface Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard ofEarthsea didn't start out as a classic — no book does — but this superb coming-of-age novel has gradually become one. Originally published as a young-adult fantasy novel in 1968, Le Guin's adventure proved so imaginatively compelling and psychologically profound that it has captivated readers of every age. I didn't discover it myself until I was in my early thirties. It so impressed me that I went on to read everything Le Guin had written as well as read the first three Earthsea novels aloud to both of my sons. The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts designed to revitalize the role of literary reading in American popular culture. Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America, a 2004 NEA report, identified a critical decline in reading for pleasure among American adults. The Big Read aims to address this issue directly by providing citizens with the opportunity to read and discuss a single book within their communities. A great book combines enlightenment with enchantment. It awakens our imagination and enlarges our humanity. It can even offer harrowing insights that somehow console and comfort us. Whether you're a regular reader already or a nonreader making up for lost time, thank you for joining The Big Read. £&&>&<< Dana Gioia Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts Ursula K. Le Guin ^£>^> ■Th' Sou*/) fa c ^+) .J^T3 it The island of Gont, a single mountain that lifts its peak a mile above the storm-racked Northeast Sea, is a land famous for wizards." — from A Wizard of Earthsea URSULA K. LE GUIN an original mimscncs based on mis classic laie... A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA This Reader's Guide was written by Michael Dirda, a Pulitzer Prize-winning critic who writes frequently about fantasy, science fiction, and children's books. He holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Cornell University and is the author of the memoir An Open Book (2003) and of four collections of essays: Readings (2000), Bound to Please (2005), Book by Book (2006), and Classics for Pleasure (2007). Introduction to the Novel Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) is arguably the most widely admired American fantasy novel of the past fifty years. The book's elegant diction, geographical sweep, and mounting suspense are quite irresistible. Earthsea — composed of an archipelago of many islands — is a land of the imagination, like Oz, Faerie, or the dream-like realm of our unconscious. Earthsea may not be a "real" world but it is one that our souls recognize as meaningful and "true." Actions there possess an epic grandeur, a mythic resonance that we associate with romance and fairy tale. Songs, poems, runes, spells — words matter a great deal in Earthsea, especially those in the "Old Speech" now spoken only by dragons and wizards. To work a spell one must know an object or person's "true name," which is nothing less than that object or person's fundamental essence. In Earthsea, to know a person's true name is to gain power over him or her. "A mage," we are told, "can control only what is near him, what he can name exacdy and wholly." Understanding the nature of things, not possessing power over them, is the ultimate goal of magic. Indeed, the greatest wizards do all they can to avoid using their skill. They recognize that the cosmos relies on equilibrium, appropriateness, and "balance" — the very name Earthsea suggests such balance — and that every action bears consequences. To perform magic, then, is to take on a heavy responsibility: One literally disturbs the balance of the universe. The young Ged is born — a fated seventh son — on the island of Gont and, by accident, discovers that he possesses an innate talent for magic. Even as an untrained boy he is able to use his nascent powers to save his town from marauders. Soon, though, he goes to study with gende Ogion the Silent, whom he foolishly fails to appreciate. Sent to complete his studies at the Archmage's school for wizards on the island of Roke, Ged grows increasingly proud, over-confident, and competitive. To display his much-vaunted skills, he rashly attempts a dangerous spell — with dire consequences for Earthsea and himself. Hoping to repair the damage he has caused, the chastened Ged embarks on a series of journeys around Earthsea — and eventually beyond the known world. National Endowment for the Arts • THE BIG READ 3 Major Characters in the Novel Ged The hero of A \\ Izard of Earthsea is called Dunv bv his family and known to the world as Sparrowhawk But Ged is his hidden true name, disclosed to him in an adolescent rite of passage. He must learn self-discipline, humility and the power of silence. By so doing, he gradually acquires the inner balance and wisdom that will make him, in due course, worthy of two other names: Archmage and dragonlord. Ogion the Silent This quiet, philosophical magician is Ged's first teacher. He lives on the island of Gont in utter simplicity, yet his powers are formidable. Osion urnes moderation and restraint to the impetuous Ged — to no avail. His manner recalls that of a Taoist master, practicing stillness and non-interference (ivu—wei). Jasper and Vetch At Roke, where Ged has gone to learn magic., he makes an enemv of the quicksilver Jasper and a friend of the stolid Vetch. These two boys pull Ged in different directions: Jasper taunts him to demonstrate just how good a magician he really is; Vetch, hoping to temper the rivalry, repeatedly urges restraint and caution. Jasper eventually leads Ged into overestimating his powers, with terrible consequences. Serret and Yarrow These are the two principal female figures in the novel, one reminding Ged of the dark allure of great power, the other of the satisfactions FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION, AND URSULA K. LE GU 1930s Ursula Kroeber grows up surrounded by books and three older brothers, and passes her summers on a ranch in the Napa Valley. T.H. White publishes his beloved Arthurian fantasy. The Sword in the Stone, 1938. The first Worldcon — science fiction's annual convention — takes place. 1939. 4 THE BIG READ • National Endowment for the Arts 1920s E.R. Eddison brings out his epic fantasy The Worm Ouroboros. 1922. Book-of-the-Month Club is founded. 1926. Ursula Kroeber is bom in Berkeley. California, on October 21.1929. 1940s This is the great decade of the science fiction and fantasy magazines, including Amazing Stories, Astounding Science Fiction. Startling Stories. and Thrilling Wonder Stories. of an ordinary life. Serret is the seductive chatelaine of a strange casde, who nurses a ravaged Ged back to health — but for purposes of her own. By contrast, Vetch's sister, the kind-hearted Yarrow, offers the even greater temptation of a family, home, and children. The Shadow When Ged works a summoning spell over which he doesn't have full control, he releases a dark formless power of "unlife" into the world. It apparendy seeks to take over his body and wreak evil through him. Much of the second half of A Wizard ofEarthsea focuses on the contest between the young magician and this creature of darkness. But what, really, is the Shadow? A scene from the 2006 anime adaptation of Tales from Earthsea. "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.... To light a candle is to cast a shadow." — Ogion the Silent to Ged, in^4 Wizard of Earthsea Ursula Kroeber enters Radcliffe College, 1947. Mervyn Peake creates his expressionist Gothic masterpiece, 77ftys Groan (1 946), followed by Gormenghast{1%0) and Titus Alone (1959). This is the heyday of flying saucers, alien invaders, the space race, comic-book heroes, and fears of atomic disaster. Ursula Kroeber continues her studies in romance languages at Columbia; marries historian Charles LeGuin, 1953. J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is published, 1954-55. 1960s 777e Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and Star Trek become hit television shows. Maurice Sendak revolutionizes children's picture books with Where the Wild Things Are (1963). Ursula K. Le Guin begins to publish science fiction and fantasy. A Wizard of Earthsea (1 968) receives the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. National Endowment for the Arts • THE BIG READ 5 Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929) Ursula K. Le Guin spent her childhood in California, mainly in Berkeley, where her anthropologist father (Alfred L. Kroeber) was a professor, but also in the Napa Valley, where her family owned a ranch. As a child she heard Native American myths as bedtime stories, while also having the run of her parents' library. The young Le Guin read voraciously. Her favorite books included the Norse myths, retellings of folktales and legends from J. G. Frazer's The Golden Bough (1890), and the fantasy stories of Lord Dunsany. Such a background may explain, in part, Le Guin's own approach to literature: She is a world-builder. Indeed, just as an anthropologist reports on an indigenous people in as much detail as possible, so a science fiction or fantasy author will build up an elaborate picture of an alien culture and its inhabitants. In her teens, Le Guin read fantasy and science fiction magazines but also devoured many of the classics of world literature. She once listed her influences as Percy Bysshe Shelley; John Keats; William Wordsworth; Giacomo Leopardi; Victor Hugo; Rainer Maria Rilke; Edward Thomas; Theodore Roethke; Charles Dickens; Leo Tolstoy; Ivan Turgenev; Anton Chekhov; Boris Pasternak; Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte; Virginia Woolf; and E. M. Forster. Among science fiction authors, she has spoken with admiration about the fiction of Cordwainer Smith (Paul M.A. Linebarger); James Tiptree, Jr. FANTASY, SCIENCE FICTION.AND URSULA K. LE GUII 1970s Le Guin grows increasingly active as a teacher, mentor, and example to younger writers of fantasy and science fiction, particularly women. Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber (\979) re-imagines classic fairy tales from a feminist perspective. Fantasy becomes a dominant aspect of much Jorge Luis Borges innovative fiction around the world, notably in the work of Italo Calvino, Jorge Luis Borges, John Barth, Donald Barthelme, and many others. 1980s John Crowley creates a genuinely American fantasy classic, Little, Big, 1981. Le Guin creates the dossier- like Always Coming Home (1985), the portrait of a peaceful, cooperative culture. She also brings out a series of fairy tales and picture books for young children. 6 THE BIG READ • National Endowment for the Arts (Alice B. Sheldon); and Philip K. Dick. A lifelong interest in Lao Tzu and Taoism eventually led her to translate the Too Te Ching (1999). Le Guin attended Radcliffe College and then Columbia University, where she earned a master's degree in Italian and French, with a focus on Renaissance literature. While on a trip to France, she met her future husband, the historian Charles A. Le Guin. The couple settled in Portland, Oregon, with their three children. Le Guin has said that she enjoys a very regular life there and prefers things to be "kind of dull, basically," so that she can get on with her work as a writer. While preferring a quiet routine and privacy, Ursula K. Le Guin does speak out strongly on matters she cares about — American politics, the value of fantasy and science fiction, the importance of reading, and, above all, the condition of women in the arts and society. During much of the 1970s and '80s, she was a frequent speaker and instructor at writing workshops around the country. Over the years Le Guin has won numerous awards for her novels and stories, including the Hugo and Nebula for science fiction, but also the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award (for A Wizard ofEarthsed) and the National Book Award. She is perhaps the most honored living writer of science fiction and fantasy — and one of America's finest writers. More and more women publish science fiction and fantasy, including Joanna Russ, C.J. Cherryh, Octavia E. Butler, Tanith Lee, Karen Joy Fowler, and Connie Willis. Octavia E. Butler Author Web sites, fan groups, and online discussions of fantasy and science fiction proliferate on the Internet. Le Guin returns to Earthsea with Tehanu, 1990. Philip Pullman publishes The Golden Compass (1996), followed by The Subtle Knife (1997), and The Amber Spyglass (2000). 2000s Le Guin continues to write innovative fiction and essays about literature, politics, and the imagination. Peter Jackson's The Return of the King wins the Oscar for best picture, 2003. With Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling completes her seven-volume series about the education of a young wizard, 2007. National Endowment for the Arts • THE BIG READ 7 The Fantasy Tradition Myths, folktales, animal fables, medieval romances, Arabian Nights entertainments, Celtic accounts of the Other World, fairy tales and tall tales, ghost stories, horror fiction, and much of our greatest children's literature might all be loosely thought of as fantasy. In such works impossible or surreal things happen — and no one seems at all surprised. Animals talk. Wishes are granted. Predictions come true. This is, in truth, the realm of dream, of the unconscious manifesting itself in story. Such narratives hint at our hidden desires, reveal unacknowledged aspects of ourselves, and usually teach us some good lessons, too. The truest fantasies are never frivolous — the smallest action, the least word spoken or unspoken may prove consequential, dire, even fatal. As Ursula K. Le Guin writes, "Fantasy is the natural, the appropriate language for the recounting of the spiritual journey and the struggle of good and evil in the soul." People sometimes imagine that fantasy offers mere escapism, whimsical adventures full of improbabilities or elves. In fact, the great modern fantasies possess a brilliant purity, often denied to modern realist fiction. They show us the natural world's mystery and holiness, the grandeur of noble men and women, the need for integrity, the beauty of self-sacrifice Litde wonder that fantasy is a cousin to the fairy tale, parable, and religious allegory. As in the medieval Arthurian romances or John Bunyan's The Pilgrim s Progress (1678-1684), heroes are tested, confronted with painful ethical dilemmas and difficult moral choices. Vfc I Certainly the great modern fantasies — whether by J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, or Philip Pullman — often externalize what are, in fact, psychological or spiritual batdes that go on inside each of us. The clashes of armies in Middle Earth are, in part, symbols of the ashen and weary Frodo's inner fight against the growing power of the evil Ring. Even in a cinematic fantasy such as Star Wars (1977), Luke Skywalker must put his trust in the force that flows through the Tfif COLDf N COMPfl universe. Yet while fantasies look at life steadily and hard, they don't end 8 THE BIG READ • National Endowment for the Arts in despair: These narratives of spiritual education, set in what Tolkien called a "secondary world," describe a hero's journey from ignorance and bondage to wisdom and an earned, if unexpected, happiness. A Wizard ofEarthsea is more than just an exciting story. Like so many other great fantasies, it is, as Le Guin has written, "a journey into the subconscious mind, just as psychoanalysis is. Like psychoanalysis, it can be dangerous; and it will change you? SOURCES OF INSPIRATION The Language of Fantasy A writer, like a wizard, creates with words. Throughout A Wizard ofEarthsea Le Guin's language is plain, strong, and exact; her tone grave and slightly formal; and the rhythm of her sentences carefully balanced and musical. Note the occasional touches of alliteration and assonance — reminiscent of Old English verse — in such phrases as this: "Forest rises ridge behind ridge to the stone and snow of the heights." Taoism This ancient Chinese philosophy pervades Le Guin's work Lao Tzu's poetic meditation on how to live, the Tao Te Ching — roughly "The Classic Book of Integrity and the Way" — emphasizes silence, peace, and non-violence. It rejects dualism — good vs. evil, light vs. dark — for mutual interdependence, typically represented by the yin-yang symbol, made up of interlocking light and dark semi-circles. The Journey into the Self Le Guin's work draws on several ideas and symbols used in cultural anthropology (see, especially, Arnold van Gennep's 1909 classic, The Rites of Passage). Some of these elements include rites of initiation, night-sea voyages, rituals of death and rebirth, and what the psychologist Carl Gustav Jung called archetypal images: the wise old man, the helpful animal, the Shadow. Dragons Dragons are ambiguous creatures in Earthsea. They are fearsome and destructive yet they possess great wisdom. While most literary dragons are creatures of darkness — William Blake's horrific red dragon, the covetous Smaug of Tolkien's The Hobbit, the devil serpent defeated by St. George — Le Guin's dragons are great forces of nature, dangerous and sublime. National Endowment for the Arts • THE BIG READ 9 An Interview with Ursula K. Le Guin On January 7, 2008, Dan Stone of the National Endowment for the Arts interviewed Ursula K. Le Guin at her home in Oregon. Excerpts from their conversation follow. Dan Stone: What does fantasy allow you to do that realistic fiction doesn't? Ursula K. Le Guin: Fantasy has a much larger world to play with than realism does. Realism is stuck pretty much with the here and now because as soon as you get more than a century in the past, you're writing historical fiction, which is a form of fantasy. Fantasy has all the past and all the future to play with, if it wants to call it the future. It opens all the doors and windows of the house of fiction and says, "Look, you can go out any door here and come in a different one." DS: You've talked before about wizardry being akin to artistry. Do you see A Wizard ofEarthsea being about artistry itself? UKL: What a wizard does is like what a writer does. He or she is making things out of words and making things happen with words. I saw the parallel. But I don't know where it goes or really what to do with it. I've always been talking about language, about speech, about words, about books, as a great power in our lives. This is obviously one of my themes. DS: How were wizards depicted in literature before A Wizard of EarthseaZ UKL: I believe I'm the first who described a wizard having to learn his trade and go to school to do it. I started thinking that % m K I THE BIG READ • National Endowment for the Arts wizards can't have always been old guys with white beards. So what were they like when they were fourteen? And that opens up a world, doesn't it? DS: Is it true that when you wrote the novel, you had not yet read Carl Jung? UKL: Yes. That was an amazing coincidence, if you want to see it as such, how two incredibly different minds arrived at the same point by incredibly different routes. Jung came to his idea of the Shadow through psychology; I came to it through pure fictional imagination. Ged has a darkness in him that he couldn't handle. Ged and I learned how to face his enemy as I wrote the book. I was not certain what the end would be until I got to it. DS: Some of those same ideas are found in Taoist philosophies, the ideas of balance, equilibrium, light and dark. UKL: Yes, you could say that A Wizard of Earthsea is full of Taoist imagery. The whole idea of a vital balance which is never still, which is not at rest. The wise wizards are working for a kind of balance. Young Ged gets out of balance. He's got to fix it or else it'll kill him. DS: For what age group did you write this book? UKL: In 1968, young-adult fiction was a category, but it wasn't particularly noticed. The first-edition cover flap says "eleven and up," which I think is about right. Fantasy crosses generation lines like no other literature. People who like fantasy tend to begin liking it as kids, and then twenty years later, they will go back to these books and find a whole new joy in them. Fantasy has an incredible availability to a grandfather and granddaughter at the same time. As a writer, it's wonderful, because if you write it with all your heart and all your art, you'll have readers that will be coming back to it the rest of their lives. National Endowment for the Arts • THE BIG READ Le Guin and Her Other Works Like Ray Bradbury or Philip K. Dick, Ursula K. Le Guin is among the few writers of fantasy and science fiction to escape (partially) the genre label and be regarded as simply a major American author. She is, moreover, as much a woman of letters as a storyteller and poet. Her collections of essays, especially The Language of the Night (1979) and The Wave in the Mind (2004), offer not only shrewd commentary on fantasy, but also feisty arguments about women and writing, contemporary fiction, and the processes of the imagination. Le Guin has published many novels and short stories, several of them multiple award- winners. Readers enchanted by A Wizard ofEarthsea should obviously go on to its sequels, all of which take up, with variations, the coming-of-age theme. The Tombs ofAtuan (1970) deals with the young priestess Tenar who, with the help of Ged, breaks free of a sterile underground existence to discover her real self as a woman and human being. The Farthest Shore (1972) investigates the purpose of mortality, as Ged — now Archmage — aids a young prince in discovering his destiny, while together the two seek to understand why Earthsea's magic has begun UI\SULA IV LeGUIN to fade. All three of these novels appeared within a short space of time and form a unified sequence. Much later, Le Guin continued the story of Ged and Tenar in Tehanu (1990), a somewhat somber yet powerful look at old age, the place of women in society, and what it is to lack, rather than possess, power. I 2 THE BIG READ • National Endowment for the Arts Further aspects of Earthsea are explored in The Other Wind (2001) and Tales from Earthsea (2001). This last volume includes Le Guin's "A Description of Earthsea," a kind of ethnographic account of the archipelago's history and culture. Apart from her Earthsea fantasies, Ursula K. Le Guin's best known works are her short story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" and her two science fiction novels, The Left Hand of Darkness (1 969) and The Dispossessed ( 1 974) . In the short story — virtually a philosophical parable — Le Guin shows us the wonderful Utopian society of Omelas, but then reveals what it truly costs, hardly anything really, to maintain its citizens' comfort and cultivated lifestyle. Perhaps the best-known and most taught of all modern science fiction novels, The Left Hand of Darkness is written in a tone even more gravely austere than A Wizard of Earthsea. Sent to a wintry planet called Gethen, the black envoy from the Ekumen discovers a world where the people are androgynous, becoming at certain times either male or female. Upon this framework Le Guin builds an intricate and moving study of politics, cultural chauvinism, friendship, and love. The Dispossessed is even more overtly about social ideals, contrasting two civilizations, one essentially capitalist, the other anarchist. Its hero, the scientist Shevek, isn't at home in either world, and Le Guin — with her Taoist belief in balance — makes it clear that there are pluses and minuses to each system. She returned to world- building in her most ambitious vision of Utopia, Always Coming Home (1985), as much a dossier as a novel, since the work presents the customs, myths, rituals, and even music (on a cassette) of the Kesh people. Though each of her novels and stories stands alone, Ursula K. Le Guin has created a body of work, an oeuvre, of great range and moral seriousness. Her many books — from the briefest children's picture album to her most recent novel {Lavinia, 2008) — testify to the commitment she feels to such themes as social and ecological responsibility, the nature of personal identity, the condition of women, and the importance of the imagination. Her writing is self— assured and wise, sometimes provocative, and always beautiful. National Endowment for the Arts "THE BIG READ | 3 Discussion Questions 1 . What are some characteristics of a young-adult novel? 2. Why is this world called Earthsea? Why might Le Guin have decided to set her story in such a world? 3. On the first page of the novel, we learn that Ged will eventually become Archmage and dragonlord. Doesn't this undercut a certain amount of suspense? Why would Le Guin tell us this? 4. The language of A Wizard of Earthsea is often quiedy poetic. Comment on three sentences that you find particularly beautiful or moving. In what ways is a writer or artist like a wizard? 5. The young Ged tends to be impulsive, getting into trouble like the sorcerer's apprentice. Point out occasions in the book when Ged loses control of himself or his magic. 6. Why do Ged and Jasper quarrel? Who is to blame? Why do Ged and Vetch become friends? 7. There are several mentions of shadows even before Ged's attempt to raise the dead Princess Elfarran. List them. What do these various shadows suggest about Ged? 8. Discuss the meaning of Ged's two encounters with the Doorkeeper of Roke. 9. Compare the evil of the Shadow with the evil of the Stone of Terrenon. Are they evil in the same way? How do they differ? 10. What does Ged learn from his encounter with the dragon Yevaud? 1 1 . Why do Ged and Vetch avoid using magic on their last voyage? 12. Were you surprised by what happens when Ged confronts the Shadow? Would you say that his realization is true of all human experience? | 4 THE BIG READ • National Endowment for the Arts If you want to read other fantasy novels for young people, you might enjoy: Philippa Pearce's Tom's Midnight Garden ( 1 958) Alan Garner's The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (I960) Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth (1961) Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time (1962) Russell Hoban's The Mouse and His Child ( 1 967) Additional Resources Selected Works by Ursula K. Le Guin A Wizard of Earthsea, 1968 The Left Hand of Darkness, 1 969 The Tombs of Atuan, 1970 The Farthest Shore, 1972 The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia, 1974 The Wind's Twelve Quarters, 1975 The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1 979 Always Coming Home, 1985 Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places, 1989 Tehanu, 1990 Tales from Earthsea, 2001 The Other Wind, 2001 The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader, and the Imagination, 2004 Lavinia, 2008 Other Works about Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Ursula IC Le Guin Bucknall, Barbara J. Ursula K. Le Guin. New York: Ungar, 1981. Clute, John and John Grant. The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997. Ursula K. Le Guin poses with her award for children's literature at the 2005 PEN USA Annual Litfest Awards. Clute, John and Peter Nicholls. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, 2 nd ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993. Cummins, Elizabeth. Understanding Ursula K. Le Guin. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1990. Spivack, Charlotte. Ursula K. Le Guin. Boston: Twayne, 1984. Waggoner, Diana. The Hills of Faraway: A Guide to Fantasy. New York: Atheneum, 1978. Web site The Ursula K. Le Guin Home Page www. ursulakleguin. com | 6 THE BIG READ • National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts — both new and established — bringing the N T ! . N v ! arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in arts education. Established endowment by Congress in 1 965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the forthe arts Endowment is the nation's largest annual Hinder of the arts, bringing great art deserves great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The ,\j Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect £. MuseurriandLibrary people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the national level and •.*; SERVICES r r •' • in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development. Am MIDWEST Arts Midwest connects people throughout the Midwest and the world to meaningful arts opportunities, sharing creativity, knowledge, and understanding across boundaries. One of six non-profit regional arts organizations in the United States, Arts Midwest's history spans more than 25 years. Additional support for The Big Read has also been provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Works Cited Le Guin, Ursula K. A Wizard of Earthsea. 1968. New York Bantam Books, 2004. . The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader, and the Imagination. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2004. Works Consulted Bucknall, Barbara J. Ursula K Le Guin. New York Ungar, 1981. Cummins, Elizabeth. Understanding Ursula K Le Guin. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1990. Oziewicz, Marek "Prolegomena to Mythopoeic Fantasy." The Chesterton Review XXXI, (3 & 4). South Orange: Seton Hall University, 2005. Spivack, Charlotte. Ursula K Le Guin. Boston: Twayne, 1984. Storr, Anthony, ed. The Essential Jung. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983. Tolken, J.&R. "On Fairy-Stories." Tree and Leaf. London: Allen and Unwin, 1964. Waggoner, Diana. The Hills of Faraway: A Guide to Fantasy. New York Atheneum, 1978. Acknowledgments David Kipen, NEA Director of Literature, National Reading Initiatives Writer: Michael Dirda for the National Endowment for the Arts, with a preface by Dana Gioia Series Editor: Erika Koss for the National Endowment for the Arts Image Editor: Dan Brady for the National Endowment for the Arts Graphic Design: Fletcher Design/Washington, DC Image Credits Cover Portrait John Sherffius for The Big Read. Inside Front Coven Copyright © Marian Wood Kolisch. Page 1: Caricature of Dana Gioia by John Sherffius. Page 2: Earthsea map copyright © 2001 by Ursula K. Le Guin, book cover courtesy of Random House. Page 4: Courtesy of Blank Archives/Hulton Archive/Getty Images. Page 5: Courtesy of Agence France Presse. Page 6: ©Diego Goldberg/Sygma/Corbis. Page 7: ©Matthew Jordan Smith/Corbis. Page 8: Courtesy of Random House. Page 9: Courtesy of Dorling Kindersley/Getty Images. Page 10-11: Photo by Dan Tufts/Getty Images. Page 12: The Dispossessed cover courtesy of Eos/HarperCollins Publishers, Always Coming Home cover courtesy of University of California Press, The Wave in the Mind rover courtesy of Random House, Earthsea book covers courtesy of Simon Plus/Simon & Schustet. Pages 15: © David Lomax/Robert Harding World Imagery/ Corbis. Page 16: Getty Images. This publication is published by: National Endowment for the Arts • 1 100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. • Washington, DC 20506-0001 (202) 682-5400 • www.nea.gov www.NEABigRead.org July 2008 For magic consists in this, the true naming of a thing. 1 —URSULA K. LE GUIN from. A Wizard of Earthsea NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The NEA presents The Big Read in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. A great nation deserves great art. ••••/H ..INSTITUTED . ■::.\. Museum.™.Library ' .*!• si cvir is