The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader and the Imagination

She was a captivating presence, and I could actually listen to her thoughts forever.

Her words seemed to flow like a gentle stream, carrying with them a world of emotions and ideas.

As she spoke, I found myself completely immersed in her mind, eager to discover every nuance and detail.

The way she expressed herself was both articulate and passionate, making it impossible for me to look away or lose interest.

Whether she was sharing her dreams, her fears, or her most profound insights, I hung on to her every word, feeling as if I was being let in on a secret that only a few were privileged to know.

In her presence, time seemed to stand still, and I was content to simply listen and soak up all that she had to say.

I knew that this was a rare and precious experience, and I intended to cherish every moment of it.

Unlike many readers, I embarked on my journey into science fiction and fantasy decades after indulging in a wide variety of mysteries, literary fiction from numerous countries, Canadian literature encompassing novels, poems, children's books, histories, political analysis, and especially short stories, along with various other interests.

Initially, I was put off by what I perceived as two-dimensional science fiction writing, filled with metallic gadgets, one-dimensional archetypes, and stilted dialogue. The futuristic premises seemed imaginatively lacking, and the political and psychological aspects juvenile, causing me to dismiss the entire genre. I must confess, to the possible horror of some, that I have yet to read Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, or any of the Harry Potter books beyond the first one. I'm not sure why, perhaps it's a character flaw, but I will get around to reading these Great Works, I promise!

My foray into the genre began with Ursula Le Guin and her remarkable EarthSea books. Then, in no particular order, I read works by Jim Crace such as The Pesthouse, Bodil Bredsdorff's The Crow-Girl, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Paulette Jiles' Lighthouse Island, and many other outstanding, beautifully written books with unforgettable characters.

I haven't read all of Le Guin's impressive output across several genres, but it's on my to-do list, especially after reading the essays in this wonderful collection. The essays are grouped under categories like Personal Matters, Readings, Discussions and Opinions, and On Writing. The edition I read was from the library, but I now plan to buy it, just like Bredsdorff's timeless The Crow-Girl, as I want to read it annually to cleanse my mind and remind myself of what great writing entails. For any writer feeling stuck, I highly recommend the essay "The Question I Get Asked Most Often." In it, Le Guin emphasizes that the secret to writing is writing itself, elaborating on how imagination interacts with life experience to reincarnate truth as art. It's a truly wonderful, illuminating, and encouraging piece of writing.

Clearly, Le Guin had brilliant, kind, and adventurous parents, which may explain her ability to tackle Tolstoy's famous quote in another of my favorite essays. She challenges the notion that extra-Grimm realism and Ultimate Tragedy are the highest artistic achievements, while Humour, Empathy, Courage, and the pursuit of Happiness are suspect and sentimental. I cheered as she tore down this heavy-handed dictum in "All Happy Families." As stand-up comics often say, with a straight face, "Tragedy is easy, Comedy is hard." So is being patient and trusting one's own material, waiting for the story-statues to emerge from the stones we carry as writers.

I'm still pondering the title of the book, which comes from a sentence fragment in a letter by Virginia Woolf. She described sitting "crammed with ideas, and visions and so on, and can't dislodge them, for lack of the right rhythm." This is profoundly interesting and true. I know what it's like to ride the "wave of the mind" like a surfer, and also what it's like to be thrown off after false starts. But I'm always working while waiting for the rhythm, the undertow of every story, always on the lookout for the big one, testing the waters, and practicing the craft. What an inspiring book!

Although I'm not usually drawn to collections of essays, I couldn't pass up this one by Le Guin.

She has been a favorite of mine ever since I first read the Earthsea books in middle school. Her writing here, as always, is beautiful and never tedious.

All the essays were arresting in one way or another. Some were deeply inspiring, making me reflect on various aspects of life and art.

Her discussions of her own writing process were fascinating. It was like getting a behind-the-scenes look at how a master creates.

As a whole, this book helped reinforce my respect for Le Guin as an artist and a master of her craft. It left me excited to read more of her fiction, eager to explore the wonderful worlds she has created.

I highly recommend this collection to anyone who appreciates great writing and wants to gain insights into the mind of a brilliant author.

Reading aloud is truly a remarkable and often overlooked activity. It can be a deeply enriching and even religious experience.

When we read aloud, we engage multiple senses. The words come alive as we hear our own voices pronouncing them, and this auditory feedback enhances our understanding and connection with the text.

Leer en voz alta fue una experiencia religiosa, as it allows us to enter a different realm of concentration and focus. We can lose ourselves in the story or the ideas being presented, and feel a sense of unity with the author and the words themselves.

Moreover, reading aloud can have a profound impact on our emotions. It can evoke joy, sadness, excitement, or inspiration, depending on the nature of the text.

In conclusion, whether it's for pleasure, learning, or spiritual growth, reading aloud is an activity that we should all embrace and make a regular part of our lives.

Σπουδαία γραφή. Είναι τόσο οξυδερκής που τραβάει την προσοχή του αναγνώστη από την πρώτη λέξη. Είναι επίσης τόσο παραστατική που δημιουργεί μια πολύvivid εικόνα στο μυαλό του αναγνώστη. Ακόμη και στα σημεία που ελαφρώς κουράζει, όπως εκεί κάπου στο μέσο των δοκιμίων, μπορεί κανείς να νιώσει τη σπουδαιότητά της. Η γραφή αυτή έχει το δικό της γένος μαγείας που κρατά τον αναγνώστη συνδεδεμένο και ενδιαφερόμενο μέχρι την τελευταία λέξη.

Este libro contiene diferentes conferencias y artículos de Ursula K. Le Guin, que ha revisado y a menudo ampliado para aparecer en este volumen.

I have been savoring each of the articles for a month. I wish this book had a thousand pages instead of 400. Here, Le Guin talks to us about her experience as a writer, as a reader, and as a woman. We get to know snippets of her childhood, the readings that marked her (Tolkien, Tolstoy, and Virginia Woolf are very present in this book ♡), her fellow writers, sexism, Taoism...

This volume very well summarizes many of her ideas and concerns in a light, very entertaining way, with irony and a critical sense. Only in the central part, there are a couple of essays that I found a little denser, but truly 95% of the book reads easily and is a real pleasure.

There are many things that Le Guin reflects on that ended up circling in my head for days. This is one of those books. I really liked that claim of "telling stories", telling them aloud (like mothers, grandparents do, as was done at the beginning of time), that reflection on how reading is not something passive and that the importance of the reader is enormous, on how writing is finding the rhythm, getting on the wave, waiting patiently until you have it and then letting go... There are anecdotes that especially impacted me, like the one in which she comments how a jury composed of women would have given the first prize and the consolation prizes to 4 women, and out of fear that they would be labeled as radical feminists and that this would negatively influence the winner, they decided to give the second prizes to two men.

In short, this is a wonderful book, and as the publisher says in a note: "a miracle" that it has reached our market, so it's time to enjoy it, read it, and reread it, and learn from everything that this wonderful author had to teach us.

And yes, you will like it much more if you are fans of Ursula K Le Guin, but I don't think it's necessary to enjoy it.

I truly adored these essays. I savored each and every one of them. I would read a few paragraphs, then skip around, chewing on the words and letting their meanings wash over me. They are definitely worthy of being read again, of delving deeper into, and of pondering. And I suppose they appeal to me so much because, as Le Guin says, "I did it in writing because I think best in writing." And I can completely relate to that sentiment.

My absolute favorite essay was "Fact and/or/plus Fiction" which explored the distinction between fiction and nonfiction, as well as the role of memory and how a writer's experiences serve as the compost for what she writes. She states, "Memory is an active and imperfect process. Memories are shaped and selected, often profoundly, in that process. Like souls in heaven, they are saved, but changed."

"If this nondistinction of the fictive and the factual is a general trend, maybe we should celebrate it as a victory of creativity over unimaginative, indiscriminate factualism. However, I worry about it because it seems to me that by not distinguishing invention from lying, it puts imagination itself at risk."

I particularly liked the essays "On the Frontier" and "All Happy Families (on Tolstoy)." In "On the Frontier," she writes, "A frontier has two sides. It is an interface, a threshold, a liminal site, with all of the danger and promise of liminality." And, "If there are frontiers between the civilised and the barbaric, between the meaningful and the unmeaning, they are not lines on a map nor are they regions of the earth. They are boundaries of the mind alone."

In "All Happy Families (on Tolstoy)," she muses on the opening of Anna Karenina: "All happy families are alike; unhappy families are each unhappy in their own way." and remarks on what a load of crap that is. She also says, "I began to wonder if he (Tolstoy) really knew what he was talking about any better than anybody else, or if what he knew better than anybody else was how to talk about it. The two things are easily confused."

Finally, in "Things Not Actually Present," she argues that "Fiction as we currently think of it, the novel and the short story as they have existed since the eighteenth century, offers one of the very best means of understanding people different from oneself, short of experience. Fiction is often much more useful than lived experience; it takes much less time, costs nothing (from the library), and comes in a manageable, orderly form. You can understand it. Experience just steamrollers over you and you begin to see what happened only years and years later, if ever. Fiction is much better than reality at providing useful factual, psychological, and moral understanding."

Ursula K. Le Guin showcases her sharp intelligence, coherence, and humanity on every page of this remarkable book of essays. Here are her ideas, but above all, what we find is her overwhelming personality, her voice.

However, the interest wanes on some occasions; it ranges from the slightly dull in those essays that are furthest from literature, to the most captivating when she is carried away by what impresses her the most, like Tolkien, for example. In this sense, "The Language of the Night", which only covers literary aspects, I liked a little more.

Still, it is a highly recommended book that helps to understand this giant of literature. It provides valuable insights into her thoughts and perspectives, allowing readers to gain a deeper appreciation for her work and her place in the literary world. Whether you are a fan of her fiction or simply interested in exploring the mind of a great writer, this book is well worth reading.

Overall, it is a testament to Le Guin's talent and influence, and a must-have for any serious literature lover.