RESONANCE WITH THE CULTURE OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT IN URSULA LE GUIN’S SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY

Abstract

The author seeks to consider the impact of the culture of the Enlightenment on the works of the master of American science fiction and fantasy Ursula Le Guin (1929–2018). It is noted that science fiction has much in common with the philosophy of most representatives of the Enlightenment: the materialistic perception of the world as an object of comprehension, study and exploitation; domination of ideas over imagery; vivid propagandistic basis; pathetic assertion of a positive hero and critical orientation. The parallels between the genre of fantasy, which is based primarily on the irrational plot assumption, and the rationally oriented cultural experience of the Enlightenment are less obvious, but there are also common features among them, namely the educational focus and the cult of Natural Man.
It is emphasized that Ursula Le Guin’s works have such basic postulates of the Enlightenment as educational focus, promotion of culture and knowledge, the struggle against dogmatism, faith in progress as a way to humanization, the protection of freedom in all its manifestations, anti-religious pathos, the cult of Natural Man, etc. Her long prose narratives are often rooted in a travel novel or a coming-of-age novel (Bildungsroman) that were leading genres of the Enlightenment.