The Word for World is Forest
1968 and the early 70s when this book was written seem an age away. That it’s concerns remain relevant today seems unbearably sad. It’s like we’ve spent the 50 years since with it’s character, Davidson, at the helm.
The introduction Le Guin wrote in 1976 mentions the Senoi people of Malaysia, and their coincidental similarity to the Athsheans. I kept thinking of “The Cave in Punan” (podcast transcript), of the song language. I’m sure it is the attention to anthropology and our world that makes this imagined one so rich.
A beautiful, short book. I’d recommend it.
After "The Word for World is Forest" I read: The City We Became
Before "The Word for World is Forest" I read: Lovecraft Country