A collection of twenty-four essays, revised by the author a decade after its initial publication in 1979. The collection covers a wide range of topics including Le Guin's origins as a writer, her advocacy for science fiction and fantasy as mediums for true literary exploration, the writing of her own major works, and her role as a public intellectual and educator.
The essays in The Language of Night have aged unevenly, in part because of their author’s own impact ... Le Guin, however, was a staunch critic as well as a defender of genre ... Le Guin’s most interesting subject was not the now-extinct snob or the still-thriving junk writers. It was herself, capable of greatness but falling short through her reluctance to confront certain subjects.
If you want evidence that people are thinking and writing about science fiction these days with sophistication and good sense, you need go no further than this volume ... At their best they are eloquent examples of an unashamed humanism rarely encountered today.
