Planet of Exile
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| Image:PlanetofExile.jpg Cover of first edition (softcover) | |
| Author | Ursula K. Le Guin |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Hainish Cycle |
| Genre(s) | Science Fiction novel |
| Publisher | Ace Books |
| Publication date | 1966 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| ISBN | NA |
| Followed by | City of Illusions |
Planet of Exile is a 1966 science-fiction novel by Ursula K. Le Guin in her Hainish Cycle. It was first published as one half of an Ace Double in 1966, bundled with Mankind Under the Leash by Thomas M. Disch. It was reissued in 1994, with two other early Le Guin novels, under the title Worlds of Exile and Illusion.
[edit] Plot summary
The story is set on Werel, the third planet of the Gamma Draconis system. The planet has an orbital period of 60 Earth years, and is approaching its correspondingly long winter. The main characters are members belong to one of two major groups: Wold and his daughter Rolery are members of the Tevarans, a tribe of humanoid extraterrestrial indigenous to the planet. Jakob Agat is a young man from a dwindling colony of Earth humans that have been effectively marooned on the planet. Although both populations share a common genetic heritage in the Hainish people, the difference is significant enough to prevent interbreeding.
The relationship between the two groups has long been tense and characterized by limited interaction. However, with the approaching dangers of winter and mauraders, the visit of curious young Rolery to the colony becomes a sign of coming changes.
[edit] Role in the Hainish Cycle
The peoples of the various worlds in Le Guin's space fiction are descendants of an ancient settlement from Hain. Whether or not the Alterrans were gentically engineered is not discussed. The Gethenians of The Left Hand of Darkness are believed to have been, as are several other peoples, but the Alterrans are not mentioned in this context.
Descendants of the earth human/Trevarian mix would eventually rescue a conquered Earth from alien conquerors who could mind lie - which they used to conquer the telepathic League of All Worlds. This is the 'backstory' to City of Illusions. The reunification is mentioned in The Left Hand of Darkness, though no story has yet given us any details.
The planet called Werel in Four Ways to Forgiveness is a completely different world from the planet of the Alterrans.
[edit] Translations
- Russian: "Планета изгнания" ("Planet of Exile"), 1980, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2006
- Italian: Il Pianeta dell'esilio
Ursula K. Le Guin bibliography | |
|---|---|
| Earthsea | Listed in order written with publication date in parentheses. "The Word of Unbinding" (1964) • "The Finder" (2001) • "Darkrose and Diamond" (1999) • "The Rule of Names" (1964) • "The Bones of the Earth" (2001) • A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) • The Tombs of Atuan (1971) • "On the High Marsh" (2001) • The Farthest Shore (1972) • Tehanu (1990) • "Dragonfly" (1997) • Tales from Earthsea (coll 2001) •The Other Wind (2001) |
| Hainish Cycle | "Dowry of the Angyar" (1964) • Rocannon's World (1964) • Planet of Exile (1966) • City of Illusions (1967) • The Left Hand of Darkness (1967) • "Winter's King" (1969) • "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow" (1971) • The Dispossessed (1974) • "The Day Before the Revolution" (1974) • The Word for World is Forest (1976) • "The Shobies' Story" (1990) • "Dancing to Ganam" (1993) • "Another Story or A Fisherman of the Inland Sea" (1994) • "The Matter of Seggri" (1994) • "Unchosen Love" (1994) • "Solitude" (1994) • Four Ways to Forgiveness (1995) • "Coming of Age in Karhide" (1995) • "Mountain Ways" (1996) • "Old Music and the Slave Women" (1999) • The Telling (2000) |
| Other fiction (novels bold) | The Lathe of Heaven (1971) • The Wind's Twelve Quarters (1975) • Orsinian Tales (1976) • The Eye of the Heron (1978) • Malafrena (1979) • The Beginning Place (1980) • The Compass Rose (1982) • Always Coming Home (1985) • Buffalo Gals, and Other Animal Presences (1987) • Searoad (1991) • A Fisherman of the Inland Sea (1991) • Unlocking the Air and Other Stories (1996) • The Birthday of the World (2002) • Changing Planes (2003) |
| Nonfiction | The Language of the Night (1979) • Dancing at the Edge of the World (1982) • Revisioning Earthsea (1992) • Steering the Craft (1998) • The Wave in the Mind (2004) |
