Ursula K Le Guin - Always Coming Home. First Published 1985. · 2015. 7. 1. · Ursula K Le Guin -...

Ursula K Le Guin - Always Coming Home. First Published 1985.

Page numbers are from the Grafton 1988 edition. I've re-ordered the material to try and make it coherent as selected extracts, chosen to their relation to the theme of the session.

The book is characterised as part novel, part archaeology of the future. More plainly, it can be seen as a collection of fictional ethnographic material created about a people living in a valley in California in the far future. It has been collectedand edited by a character called Pandora, whose identity and relationship to the society is unclear. Material not clearly in the voice of a character (such as the introduction to the life stories and the final selection on 'How to die in the Valley') can be taken as Pandora writing to us directly.

A first note (xi): a short note from the author that contextualises the material.

Poem – The sun going south (116)

Eight life Stories (263-272): I've chosen only the first four stories here, for reason of length. A further life story is included in the supplementary reading.

How to die in the valley (83-94)