The Wind's Twelve Quarters

Cover of the first edition
Author	Ursula K. Le Guin
Cover artist	Patricia Voehl
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Science fiction, fantasy
Published	1975 (Harper & Row)
Media type	Print
Pages	303
ISBN	0-06-012562-4
OCLC	1366086
Dewey Decimal	813/.5/4
LC Class	PZ4.L518 Wi PS3562.E42

The Wind's Twelve Quarters is a collection of short stories by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, named after a line from A. E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad,^[1] and first published by Harper & Row in 1975.^[2] A retrospective of Le Guin's short stories, it collects 17 previously published pieces, four of which were the germs of novels she was to write later.^[3] The collection was critically well-received, with Publishers Weekly describing it as "First-rate Le Guin".^[4]

Contents and analysis

The Wind's Twelve Quarters collects 17 previously published stories. Four of these were the germs of novels she was to write later: "The Word of Unbinding" and "The Rule of Names" were Le Guin's first pieces set in Earthsea; "Semley's Necklace" was first published as "Dowry of the Angyar" in 1964 and then as the prologue of the novel Rocannon's World in 1966; and "Winter's King" is about the inhabitants of the planet Winter, as is Le Guin's later novel The Left Hand of Darkness.^[3][5] Several of the other stories are also connected to Le Guin's novels.^[3] the protagonist of the "The Day Before the Revolution" was an inspiration for the society depicted in The Dispossessed (1974), and the short story is described as a prologue to that novel, though it was written later.^[6] Like Le Guin's later novel The Word for World Is Forest, "Vaster than Empires and More Slow" examines the relationship between humans and their natural environment.^[7][8]

The stories are arranged approximately in order of publication, and several share themes and motifs.^[9] Three stories — "Winter's King", "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow", and "Semley's Necklace" — touch on the effects of relativistic time dilation.^[10] Two others; "April in Paris" and "Darkness Box" also feature time as a prominent theme.^[11] Reid writes that "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" shares philosophical underpinnings with the utopian experiment depicted in The Dispossessed, while "The Day Before the Revolution" examines the life of Odo, who inspired the society of The Dispossessed.^[12]

List of stories

Reception

A review in Publishers Weekly praised the collection as "First-rate Le Guin", describing it as a "retrospective" of the a decade of Le Guin's writing and a demonstration of her "special talent" for speculative fiction. The review highlighted the stories "April in Paris", "Nine Lives", and "The Ones Who Walk from Omelas" (sic), and also called attention to the author's notes that preceded each story, saying they offered "interesting additional insight" into the stories.^[4] Susan Wood wrote that the collection was a good showcase of Le Guin's "rapid development as a writer" in the period following the publication of her first stories. Wood called particular attention to "Nine Lives", "Winter's King", and "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow", writing that in each, scientific extrapolation was used as a "framework for powerful psychological studies".^[32] Suzanne Reid wrote in 1997 that the stories showcased Le Guin's "wide range of talents and ethical concerns" and praising her comfort with widely varied settings.^[33] Reid also highlighted "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow", calling it a "Le Guin classic", as well as "April in Paris", praising Le Guin's use of her knowledge of medieval French culture.^[33] Literary scholar Charlotte Spivack had similar praise for "April in Paris", describing it as a "delightful "time" fantasy".^[34]

Two of the stories in the volume won awards when first published. "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" was nominated for the Locus Award for Best Short Fiction^[35] and won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1974,^[36] while "The Day Before the Revolution" won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story,^[37] the Locus Award for best short story,^[38] and the Jupiter Award for short stories, all in 1975.^[39] It was also nominated for the 1975 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.^[40] Additionally, "Vaster than Empires and More Slow" was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1972,^[41] and came 14th in a poll for the Locus Award for Best Short Story.^[42]

See also

• Classical compass winds - the phrase refers to the Classical 12-point wind rose, not the later mariners' rose of 8, 16, or 32

References

Sources

• Bucknall, Barbara J. (1981). Ursula K. Le Guin. Frederick Ungar publishing. ISBN 978-0-8044-2085-3.
• Cummins, Elizabeth (1990). Understanding Ursula K. Le Guin. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-87249-687-3.
• Erlich, Richard D. (December 2009). Coyote's Song: The Teaching Stories of Ursula K. Le Guin. Wildside Press LLC. ISBN 978-1-4344-5775-2.
• Le Guin, Ursula K. (2004). the wind's twelve quarters. Harper Perennial. ISBN 978-0-06-091434-9.
• Reid, Suzanne Elizabeth (1997). Presenting Ursula Le Guin. Twayne. ISBN 978-0-8057-4609-9.
• White, Donna (1999). Dancing with Dragons: Ursula K. Le Guin and the Critics. Columbia, South Carolina: Camden House. ISBN 978-1-57113-034-1.
• Wood, Susan (1986). "Discovering Worlds: The Fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin". In Bloom, Harold (ed.). Modern Critical Views - Ursula K. Le Guin. Modern critical views. Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 978-0-87754-659-7.