 Cover of first edition (hardcover) |
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| Author | Ursula K. Le Guin |
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| Illustrator | Ruth Robbins |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Earthsea Cycle |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Parnassus Press |
| Publication date | 1968 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| ISBN | NA |
| Preceded by | The Rule of Names |
| Followed by | The Tombs of Atuan |
A Wizard of Earthsea, first published in 1968, is the first of a series of books written by Ursula K. Le Guin and set in the fantasy world archipelago of Earthsea depicting the adventures of a budding young wizard named Ged. The tale of Ged's growth and development as he travels across Earthsea continues in The Tombs of Atuan and The Farthest Shore and is supplemented in Tehanu and The Other Wind. The series has won numerous literary awards, including the 1990 Nebula for Tehanu, the 1972 Newbery Silver Medal Award The Tombs of Atuan, 1972 National Book Award for Children's Books The Farthest Shore, and 1979 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award for A Wizard of Earthsea. Two of the 10 chapters focus on events which happen to the protagonist at a boarding school for fledgling wizards, a concept not unlike that of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry later popularized by J. K. Rowling in the Harry Potter series of novels in 1997. An original mini-series based very loosely on A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan was broadcast on the Sci Fi Channel. Le Guin has stated that she was not pleased with the result.[1]
Contents |
Plot summary
Duny is a young boy from Gont, one of the larger islands which dot Earthsea. His mother being dead, his father a dour, taciturn bronze-smith, and his much older siblings having already left home, he grows up alone, headstrong and wild. The boy discovers he has a strong innate affinity for magic. His aunt, the village witch, teaches him the little she herself knows, but his power far exceeds hers. One day, he uses his natural talent and a fog-gathering spell he learned from a passing weatherworker to save his village from a raiding party of barbaric Kargs bent on looting and killing. The tale of his remarkable feat spreads far and wide, finally reaching the ear of a wise Gontish mage, Ogion the Silent. He recognizes that the boy is so powerful he must be trained so as not to become a danger to himself and others. In the rite of passage which leads to adulthood, he gives the boy his "true name", Ged, and takes him as an apprentice. (One's true name is revealed only to those who are trusted implicitly, since it can be used to control that person. Normally, someone is referred to by one's "use name"; Ged's is Sparrowhawk.)
The undisciplined young man grows restless under the gentle, patient tutelage of his master. Ogion finally gives him a choice: stay with him or go to the renowned school for wizards, on the island of Roke. Though he has grown to love the old man, the youngster is drawn irresistibly to a life of doing, rather than being. At the school, Sparrowhawk masters his craft with amazing ease, but his pride and arrogance grow even faster than his skill and, in his hubris, he attempts to conjure a dead spirit - a dangerous spell which goes awry. He inadvertently summons a spirit of darkness which attacks and scars him. The being is driven off by the Archmage, the head of the school, but in doing so, he exhausts all his power and dies soon afterwards. Sparrowhawk is racked with guilt at causing the old man's death, but after a painful and slow recovery, he graduates. Normally, Roke's wizards are sought after by princes and rich merchants, but the new Archmage sends Sparrowhawk, with his willing acquiescence, to a poor island group, to protect the inhabitants from a powerful dragon. After waiting fearfully for the spirit he released to return and try to possess him, he realizes he cannot both protect himself from the spirit and his charges from the dragon at the same time. He takes a desperate risk; in the old histories, he has found the true name of a dragon which might be the one he must confront. His gamble succeeds and he forces the dragon to bind itself with oaths to never trouble the islanders. Freed from one responsibility, Sparrowhawk resolves to track down his other foe and destroy or banish it. Sparrowhawk is pursued by his nemesis, being forced to flee each time it finds him. Eventually, he instinctively returns to Ogion, who advises him to overcome his fear and turn and hunt his shadow. Ultimately, he finds the means to defeat it. Though some of his teachers had thought it to be nameless, Sparrowhawk masters his enemy by speaking its true name. In doing so, he reconciles himself with his shadow.
Inspiration
Le Guin has said that the book was in part a response to the image of wizards as ancient and wise, and to her wondering where they come from.
References
- ^ Le Guin, Ursula (December 16, 2004). A Whitewashed Earthsea - How the Sci Fi Channel wrecked my books.. slate.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-16.
External links
- Ursula K. Le Guin's official website
- An excerpt of Tales from Earthsea
- Earthsea series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
| Preceded by: | Series: |
Followed by: |
|---|---|---|
| The Rule of Names | Earthsea | The Tombs of Atuan |
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|---|---|
| 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) |
