The Dispossessed

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1. protocoltureOct 2026
   >Somehow the anarchists never seem to expect people to use their newfound freedom to erect a new government in place of the old.

   Theres so much anarchist writing on this exact topic lmao. It's even the core theme of Le Guin's Dispossessed, with the anarchists replacing a state with an internalised social hierarchy, even while worrying that certain elements of their organisation layer are going to become the government, they rebuild the government.

   No anarchist I have ever met has ever thought that one day they turn the government off and thats the end of the job.

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2. antonvsAug 2026
   It’s hard to know what anyone considers the “usual greats”. Doris Lessing won the Nobel Prize for literature, but she doesn’t seem to make it into the “average” person’s greats list, possibly because her use of language is very much not grade 5. Try The Golden Notebook, The Summer Before the Dark, The Grass Is Singing, The Good Terrorist, The Fifth Child, or the series that starts with Shikasta.

   E.L. Doctorow is another such example. Try The Book of Daniel, Ragtime, Billy Bathgate, Loon Lake.

   In the scifi genre (aside from the Shikasta series already mentioned), M. John Harrison is worth a look. He’s got a long bibliography but Light might be a good starting point.

   Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose, Foucault’s Pendulum.

   Some of Ursula Le Guin’s more serious books might fit the bill, like The Dispossessed or The Left Hand of Darkness.

   Someone already mentioned Mervyn Peake, he definitely fits this category.

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3. pavlovOct 2025
   If you haven't read Ursula Le Guin's "The Dispossessed", check it out too.

   It's like a fine wine pairing for "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress."

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4. throwaway328Jul 2025
   The Dispossessed was great! I wanted to read something by Ursula K. Le Guin for ages, and then happened to be staying in a friend's house where that book happened to be on a bookshelf. So I'd the happy experience of just giving it a go, knowing nothing. And it was very good.

   Hadn't heard of either of the other two authors though - thank you for sharing!

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5. aquirOct 2024
   The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

   She was a great visionary and turned the Science Fiction genre upside down. This book is a thought provoking story; an "An Ambiguous Utopia" (this is the subtitle of the book. It really makes you think but also a mocking glass for our society. Close second is The Left Hand of Darkness from the same author.

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6. suranyamiJul 2024
   This is gonna sound a bit corny, but it impacted me for reasons that will become clear: "1984", by George Orwell.

   I was 13 at the time, and I was lucky enough to have a passionate English teacher that gave us challenging books to review. I chose "1984". It was the first book I'd read, up to that point, that didn't have a "Hollywood ending". The hero didn't save the day and get the girl… just the victory of tyranny over individualism. Admittedly, I had read a lot of crap, up till then.

   As the leader directly tells Winston (i.e. you, the reader): "If you want a picture of the future, think of a boot stamping on a human face - forever."

   I was gripped by the writing up till the very last words, then a panic set in… I thought that there were pages missing… I literally checked that someone hadn't torn out the last chapter where everything is made right again. No. There was no liberation. I sat stunned for the better part of an hour.

   "The Dispossessed" by Ursula le Guin: never have I experienced the idea of a working anarchism described in such a genuinely coherent form.

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