Darkness Box

by Ursula K. Le Guin

"Darkness Box" is a magical tale set in no-time - a sort of fable - one of Le Guin's fortes.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories

ebook

First published November 1, 1963

About the author

Ursula K. Le Guin published twenty-two novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. She lived in Portland, Oregon.

She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.

Reviews

[ria · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

“Is the sun shining now, outside?”

“Yes, it is—now.”

“Well, then, it’s worth it”

[Tessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little bit too short. Parts are incomprehensible.

[Cassie C · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have liked it to be a bit longer to get a little bit more from it, but it serves as a kind of interesting fable.

[Kerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thus was not one of her better works. A bit confusing, I think this would have worked better a longer story. But this is a good 3.5 stars rounded up.

[Storm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collected in The Wind's Twelve Quarters: A Story. A child finds a box, that contains "Darkness" and gifts it to Prince Rickard who is caught in a repeating time loop in his bright, shining, Kingdom with no shadows. He is told what the box contains by several people, and admonished not to open it. And yet ... well, human nature makes some things inevitable, right? An interesting tale.

[Rahel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know what it is about Le Guin and gryphons but I simply cannot warm up to her stories featuring gryphons. This one was... Fine? I felt like I lost the thread on multiple occasions.

[Лина Сакс · Rating 5 out of 5]

Будьте всегда осторожны.

О! Это было так потрясающе, но так мало! Ты словно яблоко медовое в руки взял, нацелился его надкусить, а его у тебя злые люди отобрали и убежали...

Я очень люблю Урсулу Ле Гуин. Она пишет так, словно факир в дудочку дует выводя мелодию и ты за этой дудочкой подобно змее покачиваешься. Она умеет загипнотизировать тебя.

И эта история, с темнотой в шкатулке, как ящик Пандоры, который нельзя было открывать. И вот было у отца два сына. А после открытия шкатулки может оказаться, что ни одного не будет больше. А почему? Потому что кто-то потерял ключик, потому что пришло время пойти часам, потому что кому-то вполне возможно стало скучно или он просто много знал. Что будет дальше? Дальше будет Смерть. Смерть солнца, смерть луны, смерть каждого часа по звону колокола, а еще будет смерть друзей, смерть сыновей и неизвестно к чему все это приведет, кто окажется сильнее и проворнее, когда тьма выбралась наружу.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know it's up for me, if you steal my sunshine

[Charmaine vd Merwe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairytale that I wished she turned into a full length novel. There are so many stories in the too few pages.

[Marion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful imagery.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

A vivid and intriguing short story. A bit vague, but all in all enjoyable.

[kazerniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

reasonably good, if a bit too floaty and surreal for my liking

[Océane Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

This time a fantasy short by le guin. I love love being able to re read things to discover new parts of a tale. It gives so much layers. So much to think about. So much to appreciate in so little pages.