Ursula K. LeGuin "Sur" - Dec 7
Choose either/or
1. What is the main tone of the story? What for? Exemplify?
2. Why is it science fiction?
3. What is your favorite author's comment? Why?
1. What is the main tone of the story? What for? Exemplify?
2. Why is it science fiction?
3. What is your favorite author's comment? Why?
I found Ursula K. Le Guin’s interview to be extremely interesting and helpful in understanding her writing process and intentions in writing “Sur.” My favorite comment of hers was her response to the interviewer’s repeated questioning about the deeper meaning behind symbols presented in the story. After being asked three questions about the footprints in the story, Le Guin responded by saying “That’s possible too. Really, I’m sorry- but as a rule I cannot interpret what images in my work “mean,” and I receive strong warnings from within.” (208) Over the course of the interview Le Guin differentiates between the insertion of symbolism and commentary within a story and pure artistic expression. While the bulk of the story was a purposeful “feminist social satire”(204) as the interviewer alluded to, many details including the frozen footprints were just that- details. I think this exchange exemplifies a genuine disconnect that sometimes exists between writers and readers. Not always, but often, we as readers try to overanalyze what the implied author is trying to tell us when the author herself may have simply written something on a whim. I think we do this because the literature challenges us and we seek answers to these challenges, but perhaps the point of this kind of literature is to leave us with some questions left unanswered. The candidness of her response reminded me of Jennifer Fink’s own candidness regarding the interpretation of her work and the significance of the motifs in her writing. Like Le Guin, Fink was resistant towards boiling down her work into a “golden key”, and instead preferred to focus on the emotions and thoughts her art provoked. Additionally, Fink admitted to the themes of animals and Jewishness not being important in her daily life and suggested that instead the subjects of her writing might be inspired by her subconscious. Perhaps Le Guin similarly draws her inspiration for the motif of footprints from her subconscious.
ResponderExcluir-Shrenik
Sarah Kurzweil
ExcluirMy favorite comment from Le Guin’s interview was her one regarding the birth of Teresa’s child, Rosa del Sur. When I first read the story, I interpreted the birth in a similar way that the interviewer does. Because much of the message of “Sur” seems to focus on creating a world in which men in the early 1900s do not dominate over women, I thought Rosa del Sur’s birth was a particularly powerful moment and feminist statement that demonstrated female strength. Le Guin constructs a fictional world in which South American females secretely reach the South Pole before any of the European male explorers—who receive all the fame— publically announce that they have done so. It is impossible that any of the men who received the recognition overcame as much pain as Teresa did in completing the voyage. In her interview, however, Le Guin seems to downplay this moment (210). Disagreeing with her interviewer that Rosa del Sur’s birth is the climax of the story, Le Guin says that “It just happened” (210). She objects that birth is “inevitably the climactic event of a woman’s life” and instead claims that she included this moment in the story because “Birth is a thing that tends to happen when women are around” (210). Even though I originally did think that the birth was the biggest feminist statement that Le Guin makes, I really liked her comment on the subject because it allowed me to understand that the story’s significance can be found in the way that it renders it subversive to claim that the story is science fiction because women make the journey despite the gender inequality of the early 1900s and one gives birth to a child who survives the trip back to South America. The female power in this story is more related to women’s ability to compete with men skillwise and do what males do, only earlier—women’s strength should be attributed to their similiarities with men, not their differences, and certainly not just their ability to carry a child.
Response by Zachary Fagan
ResponderExcluirMy favorite author’s comment in the interview about “Sur” was her response to the question from the interviewer in regards to why the narrator said that she was “home at last” after she sets foot on Antarctica, particularly the second reason that she provides. In saying that these women feel more at home with one another rather than the men in their lives, it only serves to enhance the “feminist social satire” (204) that this story is. In her connection to the story by James Tiptree, Jr. in how women feel more comfortable with aliens than they do with men, it relates the alien world of the South Pole to actual aliens. Throughout the story the narrator is clear that this expedition is to remain a secret, as it would be “terribly embarass[ing] and dissapoint[ing]” (202) for the man who was the “first” to reach the South Pole. Though this story has a primarily female presence and feminist motif it is interesting that the characters want to still protect the integrity of the men even though “they own everything, do everything, are everything…” (206). Perhaps this is because if the world knew what the women had done, instead of being praised, they would be chastised for not knowing their “place in the world” and not fitting the classical idea of what a woman is supposed to be. Or perhaps they just did not want the fame, rather keep this incredible journey a cherished secret to those few who experienced it themselves.
However, the author herself even has trouble explaining these things, as she says “but this explanation is both crude and approximate” (206), explaining that the characters and the stories they tell are the best way to see the intentions of the author. Throughout this interview, she speaks about being directed by the main character and narrator. By seemingly compromising her own intentions (or not having any in the first place), but rather the characters and setting being the main source of inspiration gives a sense of genuineness to the reader and only enhances one’s own meaning they find while reading this story.
I processed the tone as one of trying to stick purely to the facts without adding a sort of dramatic flair to it. The narrator establishes this tone at the beginning when she writes, “I have no intention of publishing this report…so I shall keep it in the leather trunk in the attic, along with Rosita’s christening gown and Juanito’s silver rattle and my wedding shoes and fineskos” (Le Guin 185). She finds the trunk a fitting place to keep the report because she doesn’t want someone other than perhaps her grandchildren to read it, yet what’s really notable is how seemingly ordinary the objects in the trunk are. To her, either her experience was not that extraordinary, or she wants to downplay it.
ResponderExcluirTo me, that’s why every scene or time there’s conflict is intentionally fairly bland. When they start experiencing what I would assume is the first stages of hypothermia at the end, there’s little action described. I feel as though one of the most dramatic lines of this scene is when she writes, “It actually became acutely painful to keep lookout for landmarks or depot flags, to take sightings, even to study the compass, which had to be laid down on the snow to steady the needle” (Le Guin 199-200). Considering how terrifying hypothermia is as an experience, this really is not all that dramatic in its description. Rather, it continues to follow the factual tone.
That’s why at the end, I felt a sort of incongruence when she writes about if and when her grandchildren ever find it and read it. She paints the experience as one that really was not that incredible, but then she writes, “Even if they [her grandchildren] are rather ashamed of having such a crazy grandmother, they may enjoy sharing in the secret” (Le Guin 202). She both calls her exhibition “A simple ambition, I think, and essentially a modest one” (Le Guin 186) yet one in which her grandchildren will find her “a crazy grandmother.” Maybe this means that she believes that this truly was an extraordinary experience yet she is attempting to downplay it. Or maybe it just means that while she saw it more as just another interesting trip to take, others may see it as an incredibly fascinating and insane experience.
~Mike Neary
Reading Ursula Le Guin’s interview was certainly helpful in developing a greater understanding of the text, while it also provided the author’s perspective of her work. My favorite quote from the interview came when Le Guin was asked about revealing that the expedition was a success so early on, to which she largely dismissed with an interesting justification. When speaking on suspense, she notes that she finds it to be often “quite destructive to a story. It is a mechanical device to force and drag the reader forward. As I reader I would rather be lured forward by the interest of what is being told. As a writer I prefer to lure rather than drag.”(209) While reading the story, the admission of the expedition as a success did in some way lower my excitement, as I figured this story would follow the typical path of an exploration tale, with the result of the journey being the climax or revealed at the very end. After reading her response, I agree that suspense, in some instances, can be used as a cheap tool to carry the reading along, rather than rely on the quality of writing and narrative to effectively lure the reader into the story. Further, this provides interesting insight into the mind of Le Guin, as it is clear she holds herself to a higher standard than many of the writers that employ this technique, which ultimately works to the reader’s benefit. Le Guin definitely does not fall into this trap, as she develops other compelling aspects of her story. Specifically, the surprise pregnancy of Teresa and subsequent birth of Rose del Sur in the most adverse of conditions create a better plot-line, as the notion of giving birth and surviving during an expedition to Antarctica is almost inconceivable. Moreover, the death of Rose just five years later presents a cruel irony, as this baby was able to survive in the most dire circumstances, yet later succumbs to a common childhood illness. As Le Guin describes it “life is like that. You survive birth in a hole in the ice of Antarctica, and then die at the age of five of chickenpox. It is not fair”(210).
ResponderExcluirMy favorite comment from the author: "I don't think Rosa's birth is any sort of, er, climax. Why would it be?... It just happened. Birth is a thing that happens when women are around. There were not a lot of childbirths on most Polar expeditions, when one comes to think of it. It wasn't an option for most of them. Poor fellows." There are several things I loved about this comment and I think they need to be broken into two: one beautifully equalizes the woman experience and the other points out how much we have missed by allowing men to dominate most achievements.
ResponderExcluirThe first part of the author's comments normalizes woman's experience. The author is pointing out that while childbirth is a fantastic concept it is not abnormal. Woman have babies- end of sentence. It is a normal event. The author's comment highlights the idea that by making it anything else, inherently unequalizes women. We need to accept the normal events in women's life if we are to treat them equally.
The second part of the comment slyly criticizes history's preference toward men. Choosing the word "options," the author qualifies childbirth as a desirable event. Thus, the "poor" men have had a disadvantage. Even more importantly, this part of the comment reminds its readers of how much society missed out on by only allowing men to go on explorations.
I liked this comment the most because it managed to, in an elegantly subtle manner, critique our machinist history and elevate women at the same time.
The main tone of the story is one of a strong woman narrator which highlights the “feminist social satire” (204) that he interviewer brings up when discussing the story with Ursula K. Le Guin. When talking about the writing process of this story, the author claims “the unnamed narrator of “Sur” began to tell me the story, very directly, plainly, and without pausing for questions” (204). This narrator is described as “not the kind of woman you argue with” (204), and the author simply lets her tell her story. This strength and firm tone is carried by the narrator throughout the tale as she recalls the difficult journey she and her comrades faced. The leadership qualities that the narrator possessed were highlighted when the narrator is voted speaking leader of the group and crowned “Supreme Inca” (188). I believe this story is given this strong, yet humble tone to highlight the fact that these women could accomplish something that so many men sought to do. They successfully reached the south pole, but did not seek any recognition for it because to them they did not need it. The timing of this event also adds to the significance of the story, and ties in with the strong tone that the narrator had throughout the story. Overall, the narrator and the women in general had to be strong in the story to show that women can accomplish the same things as men, and to add to the key message in the story.
ResponderExcluirAndres Gonzalez
One of my favorite author’s comments is actually one of the earlier ones in response to the question “What draws you to the idea of invented or barely trodden territory? Is it freeing?” I enjoy her comment so much because it appears to mirror what we as a class have heard from a previous author about the writing process, and I think it makes an argument for why so many of us are drawn to realms so dissimilar from those in our daily lives. In answering the question about her inspiration, I notice that she begins with the “apparently.” Apparently denotes that it was out of the control of the author but also obvious and necessary. I was reminded of how Jennifer Fink described the influence of her subconscious coming out in her writing seemingly without her control at times. It seems that for authors such as Le Guin and Fink, the writing process allows the subconscious to come out and inject into the story whatever it sees fit to get the story on the page. In Le Guin’s case, alien worlds afford her the “indirection” that she needs to write. I also very much connected with her description of how imagined worlds free her in the writing process, “by shedding the trappings and fashions and inevitable references of the modern, and painting real people in imagined settings, they could achieve a large clarity of actions and emotion, a broad but intense relevance.” As a reader, I often find myself searching for literature that allows me to feel transported from my normal surroundings into worlds that require my imagination in order to see because it makes the whole experience feel more magical. After reading Le Guin’s comment, I see also how these settings create opportunities for “purification” that allow “what the story is about” to take center stage. It almost seems that everything within these stories become amplified because the setting is so raw and open.
ResponderExcluirThe tone of Le Guin’s “Sur” is very formal and serious, and lacks much of the dramatic flair and inflammatory commentary that one may expect to find in the journal of an adventurer. The reason behind the “Sur” solemn and earnest tone could come from the narrator’s desire to be, as an individual and the expedition as a whole, to be taken seriously by the reader. Le Guin’s writing contains numerous feminist undertones, and it is clear that the narrator of the story feels obliged to suppress emotions and presenting the facts of the expedition as is. The narrator often includes ironic and lightly humorous commentary that illustrates the dilemma of the woman and for their voyage to be taken seriously. For example, Le Guin writes, “How could one bear housework, or looking after babies, let alone the rigors of sledge-hauling in Antarctica, without grumbling?... but we nine were, and are, by birth and upbringing, unequivocally and irrevocably, all crew” (188). This slight indicates the narrator’s disdain towards the, assumedly present during the 1900’s, gender roles. Throughout the story, the narrator makes repeated references to Sir Ernest Shackleton’s and others failed attempts to reach the pole. The women of the expedition understand that despite their accomplishments, the public will likely disregard it, and focus on others. At the end of the story, this reality is revealed; “In 1912 all the world learned that the brave Norwegian Amundsen had reached the South Pole” (201). Interestingly, despite the harsh reality that they will be overlooked, the women of the expedition remain both poised and humble, and do not seek attention. In fact, “Sur” begins with, “although I have no intention of publishing this report, I think it would be nice if a grandchild of mine, or somebody’s grandchild, happened to find it some day” (185). Overall, the purpose behind the serious tone is to express the feminist overtones of the author.
ResponderExcluir