Four Ways to Forgiveness

Hainish Cycle #7

by Ursula K. Le Guin

At the far end of our universe, on the twin planets of Werel and Yeowe, all humankind is divided into "assets" and "owners," tradition and liberation are at war, and freedom takes many forms. Here is a society as complex and troubled as any on our world, peopled with unforgettable characters struggling to become fully human. For the disgraced revolutionary Abberkam, the callow "space brat" Solly, the haughty soldier Teyeo, and the Ekumen historian and Hainish exile Havzhiva, freedom and duty both begin in the heart, and success as well as failure has its costs.

In this stunning collection of four intimately interconnected novellas, Ursula K. Le Guin returns to the great themes that have made her one of America's most honored and respected authors.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Feminism

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

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

[Magrat Ajostiernos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro compuesto por 4 relatos maravillosos (especialmente los dos últimos) que están conectados por varios personajes y especialmente por los dos mundos en los que se ambientan las tramas.
Son historias muy del estilo de 'Los desposeídos' o 'La mano izquierda de la oscuridad', en el que hay enviados del Ekumen ejerciendo de embajadores y donde lo importante es conocer esos mundos, su cultura, sociedad y política.
En este caso son cuatro libros en los que la esclavitud es el tema central, pero que también abarca temas como la corrupción, las dinámicas de poder, el machismo sistémico o la colonización.
Como siempre con Ursula K Le Guin son obras pausadas, introspectivas, para saborear y reflexionar sobre todo lo que la autora nos quiere contar.
Desde luego imprescindible para todos los que amamos a esta autora y las novelas de ciencia ficción que están más centradas en conseguir que el lector se plantee determinadas cosas que seguir la acción.

[Kat Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I may have found a new girl crush in Ursula K. Le Guin and her collection of four short stories, Four Ways To Forgiveness.

I never did like weak, insipid damsels in distress.

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In fact, I think it is those very characteristics that cause me to pull away from and revile books like Fallen, Twilight and Hush Hush. It seems to me that in these books, nobody aspires to be anything more than Mrs. Cullen and to terrorize the local woodland creatures as some sort of gothic reverse of Snow White.


Fuck!

However, though I enjoy books like Bitten, The Mercy Thompson series, Chicagoland Vampires series and their ilk - I get annoyed that these chics have super strength and special powers etc. Do our chic heroines need super powers to be badass and totally incredible? Le Guin says not and shows you how awesome a chic can be without breaking out the shurikens and exploding powder even once.

So you can understand why I adored these four short stories about women so awesome that even awesome had to step back and appreciate them. Much like we might all want to appreciate Aunt Sarah who, like these women, marches to the beat of her own drum:

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I want to meet Aunt Sarah and give her a girl power hug!

I think my favourite story was the first one as I felt that Yass had such a beautiful, strong and loving heart that I fell completely in love with her.

I also loved Rakam for her strength of character in surviving where ever she was and thriving in conditions I couldn't even imagine. Her ability to find love again with Havzhiva was so beautiful.

I enjoyed Solly for her dignified, authoritarian and energetic ways.

All three of these women were strong, sexual, thoughtful women who took the circumstances that they had and filled their lives with passion - whether that was work, a career a cause or a man or all three at once.

The men in this book, Abberkam, Teyeo and Havzhiva were fantastic. They were all strong without dominating, encroaching on or crowding the brilliance that each of these women had in their spirits. Instead they came alongside them and helped them shine brighter. I cannot express how much I love Le Guin for this.

Maybe I'm just vulnerable to this. When I worked full time, people treated me differently. As an employee for a cruise line whose job it was to organize their charitable donations to certains organizations, I found people treated me with respect and were happy to talk to me on an intellectual level. Then I had my son and suddenly at parties or social situations, I wasn't an intellectual individual anymore, I was Mrs. Kennedy. Housewife and mother.


No, I do not want to know about your fucking bake sale!

Does it matter that I'm an editor of manusripts for authors looking to be published or that I'm writing a novel of my own? No, as soon as they ask what I do for a living and I tell them that I'm a mother, their eyes glaze over and they assume that I don't have a legitimate opinion on the criminal justice system or batman or whatever the hell they're talking about.

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I can contribute to the batman discussion, damnit!

Le Guin, I tip my hat to you! A spectacularly crafted read!

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four (actually five now, in the edition I read) interlocking novellas by Ursula Le Guin, exploring the history of two planets, Werel and Yeowe, with an entrenched culture of slavery based largely on race. Here it's the black race that has enslaved the whites, although after a few thousand years of slaves being used and raped, many of the slaves are as dark-skinned as their masters.

When the Hainish spacefaring race rediscovers Werel, which they populated millions of years ago, the interactions between the master race on Werel and the Hainish envoys lead to all kinds of unforeseen consequences. Le Guin explores those events through the eyes of five different characters, including a female slave and three visiting envoys. Le Guin's anthropological version of science fiction is amazingly insightful and often deeply disturbing, but well worth reading.

Review to come. I received a free copy of this collection from the publisher for review, as part of the Library of America collection, Ursula K. Le Guin: Hainish Novels and Stories

[Tatiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writing this review is hard, simply because I don't think I am equipped to adequately relay Ursula K. Le Guin's genius. She is one of the cleverest writers I have ever come across and her anthropological science fiction never ceases to amaze and distress me.

Of course, at the core of every sci-fi novel lies an alien world. The one depicted in this collection of 4 interconnected novellas is particularly gruesome IMO. This collection of stories is about slavery, freedom, and women's liberation. But even more, it is about understanding and forgiveness. Le Guin makes it possible: to understand and forgive a disgraced leader of the the War of Liberation who is accused of embezzlement and debauchery; for a Werelian officer, disgusted by a female representative's of Ekumen (the Envoy) childishness and loose behavior, and the Envoy, turned off by the officer's uptight, proprietary behavior towards her, to understand each other and fall in love with the very qualities they had thought off-putting; for a representative of a better, more peaceful world, to come to understand how a refusal of newly freed men to allow their women the same freedoms can be justifiable.

There are many profound things touched upon in this book: the destructive, alienating nature of slavery; the futility of just giving people freedom when they never dared to want it and never fully understood it; that freedom begins with sexual freedom, a freedom within our bodies; the wrongness of simply bringing one's ideas of liberty to force upon people without understanding the people's culture, no matter how right and humane these ideas are. I think Le Guin articulates the last argument very well in this quote:

"You can't change anything from the outside in. Standing apart, looking down, talking the overview, you see pattern. What's wrong, what's missing. You want to fix it. But you can't patch it. You have to be in it, weaving it. You have to be part of the weaving."

Truly, there are so many things that I loved about these 4 stories, I can't quite express it. Le Guin brings often under-appreciated genre of science fiction to a whole new level. I am in awe of her talent.

[Aletheia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uffff... qué libro más esperanzador acabo de leer. Ursula K. Le Guin coge la miseria, la injusticia, la violencia y los abusos de poder inherentes a las civilizaciones humanas, les da cuatro vueltas y se mea en todos esos libros feelgood con portada cuqui que nos venden por ahí.

Esta señora, que debería ser una de las santas patronas del feminismo con su pelito cortado a tazón y su profundo conocimiento en antropología social, es consciente de que no nos gusta que nos pongan un espejo delante, que los humanos aprendemos mejor con historias; así que aprovecha para inventarse un sistema planetario jerárquico para hablarnos de libertad, identidad, racismo, feminismo, lucha de clases, deseo sexual, educación, revolución... No está a la altura de Los Desposeídos porque al estar estructurado en cuatro relatos largos interconectados, no tiene margen para desarrollar tanto los personajes y lo compensa con las ideas: Werel y Yeowe son dos planetas con un sistema político, social y religioso basado en la esclavitud: propietarios y activos. Durante la novela ambos pasan, por separado, por revueltas locales, revoluciones y guerras. Asistimos sobre todo al final de ese proceso y el inicio de unas nuevas sociedades "democráticas" en las que van renqueando, arrastrando viejas creencias, rencores y costumbres.

Traiciones es el más sencillo porque no se mete mucho a desgranarnos el sistema político, religioso y social de Yeowe, es más íntimo y también el más breve. Una buena apertura. "La paz era la verdadera vida; era educar a los niños en el trabajo y el aprendizaje. La guerra, que devoraba obras, enseñanza y niños, era la negación de la realidad."

El día del perdón es el más flojo de los cuatro, porque sirve para enseñarnos teoría sobre el sistema planetario y su relación con el Ecumen. No reseñé ninguna frase y la trama es más bien televisiva... un cinco pelao y pasas al siguiente.

Un hombre del pueblo: "Uno no puede cambiar nada desde el exterior. Manteniéndose aparte, viéndolo desde arriba, con una visión panorámica, uno ve el dibujo. Lo que está mal, lo que falta. Para arreglarlo no se pueden utilizar remiendos. Hay que meterse dentro, hay que tejerlo. Uno tiene que formar parte de la trama." Seguimos a Havzhiva desde su infancia en Hain hasta su asentamiento como un wereliano de adopción. Me encantan las reflexiones que hace sobre el conocimiento y la identidad.

En La liberación de una mujer se hace hincapié en la importancia de la alfabetización y la educación de la sociedad para alcanzar la auténtica libertad individual y realización personal: "Lo que yo descubrí en la historia es que la libertad se hace, no se da." Es el que mejor trata el tema del género.

Al final aparecen unas notas sobre los planetas, que como soy algo cotilla me leí justo después de "Traiciones" y me ayudó a entender mejor los otros relatos. Quizás estarían mejor como prólogo.

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four Ways to Forgiveness: Slavery, oppression, revolution, and redemption
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature

Ursula K. Le Guin is hardly afraid to tackle difficult topics. In fact, she delves into them with a fearless but controlled approach that forces us to look at painful subjects we may prefer not to. This time she is going straight for the jugular, exploring the sensitive subjects of freedom, slavery, oppression, sexual politics, and revolution. In the wrong hands this could easily become a heavy-handed polemic that might be unreadable.

However, Le Guin is far too skilled a writer to wield a cudgel — instead, she uses her scalpel to peel away layer after layer of ingrained societal norms as she explores just how human societies are affected by these topics, and leaving no side free of sin but shows how even the slavers victimize themselves as they indoctrinate their own children into the system. There are no purely evil people in her stories, but much cruel and unthinking behavior.

As with her other Hainish stories, in Four Ways to Forgiveness she uses the Envoys of the advanced space-faring Ekumen as the neutral observers of the more primitive native societies, determined to not take sides but forced to by circumstances. In these stories Envoys get kidnapped, tortured, and otherwise dragged into messy situations. In the end, we see just how cruel, damaging, and irrational slavery is, symbolized by reversing the usual pattern of our world with darker-skinned people enslaving lighter-skinned people.

Four Ways to Forgiveness introduces a pair of worlds named Werel and Yeowe. Werel was first to be populated by the Hainish in antiquity, and many generations later when the Hainish come back in contact, they discover that the Werelians have a firmly entrenched system of slavery. In fact, the shock of encountering these space-faring “aliens” prompts the Werelians to colonize the planet of Yeowe using an-all male population of slaves (which they label “assets”).

Though later female slaves are sent to join them, they have already developed an extremely masculine hierarchical and homosexual society, and the women are placed at the bottom of it. What is both surprising and upsetting is that even after the light-skinned Yeowe slaves stage a successful revolution, the women still find that their status of subservience does not change as much as hoped.

There are a lot of unpleasant and brutal scenes in Four Ways to Forgiveness — Le Guin really forces the reader to face the ugliness of societies built around oppression and abuse those unable to defend themselves. In the case of slaves, both men and women are abused and treated inhumanly, whereas among both slaves and slavers, women are victimized by men. The cycle of oppression leaves its psychological scars deep in people’s minds for generations. Approaching the issue from numerous angles, we see how it affects every individual in the story.

Eventually, each story comes to some form of resolution or rapprochement, and oftentimes individuals of very different backgrounds come to understand and even love others. While this can be properly labeled “understanding” or “empathizing,” I was a bit hard-put to identify “forgiveness” in an overt form in some cases. That would imply a victim forgiving a victimizer, I would think, and that didn’t seem to always be the case. Perhaps other readers can interpret the book’s title better than I can.

Of note, there is another story set in the same world of Werel and Yeowe called “Old Music and the Slave Women,” which fits very much into the same framework of the other stories and belongs together with them. It can be found in The Found and the Lost: The Collected Novellas of Ursula K. Le Guin, along with three of the stories from Four Ways to Forgiveness, “Forgiveness Day,” “A Man of the People,” and “A Woman’s Liberation.” The first story, “Betrayals”, can be found in The Unreal and the Real: The Selected Short Stories of Ursula K. Le Guin.

I listened to the audiobook versions of both available from Recorded Books, with The Found and the Lost narrated by Alyssa Bresnahan and Jefferson Mays, and The Unreal and the Real narrated by Tandy Cronyn. All do an excellent job as Le Guin’s stories are perfectly suited for reading aloud. The narrators’ voices are strong, direct, and passionate, and the characters and dialogue take center stage, reflecting Le Guin’s love of story-telling and poetry.

[Beatriz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maravilloso. Cuatro historias que llegan al alma. Son relatos en que el amor llega a sanar y tranquilizar el corazón cuando no hay más esperanza que seguir caminando por los derroteros de la vida cargando pérdidas, traiciones, soledad, vergüenza, abandono… Las cuatro historias son independientes pero a la vez relacionadas entre sí, ya que todas transcurren en el mismo sistema planetario, en que la autora ha desarrollado todo un régimen económico, político, social y religioso complejísimo en menos de 300 páginas, y en el que el lector se va adentrando y comprendiendo sin mucho esfuerzo a través de estos cuatro relatos, magníficamente escritos. Nos habla de esclavitud, de destrucción del medio ambiente, de ritos de iniciación, guerras tribales, levantamientos, el sometimiento de la mujer, corrupción y mucho más, me quedo muy corta en esta enumeración.

Lo otro que me gustó muchísimo es que los relatos también se relacionan porque algunos de sus personajes aparecen en más de uno de ellos, pero en diferentes momentos de su vida, asumiendo tanto roles principales como secundarios e, incluso, a veces solo tangenciales al permitir que se produzca algún hecho o acontecimiento. Ursula K. Le Guin se ha transformado, en tan sólo unos pocos días, en mi autora favorita de ciencia ficción y, sin duda, seguiré incursionando en su obra.

[Arsénico · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este ha sido mi segundo acercamiento a la autora y me ha vuelto a dejar sin palabras. 

El libro se compone de cuatro relatos narrados por distintos personajes, espaciados en el tiempo, pero íntimamente relacionados. De este modo veremos que algunos de los personajes principales de unos relatos son secundarios en otros o simplemente han dejado huella en su historia, y es interesante ver cómo cambia la perspectiva según el narrador. Y es que el héroe de una historia puede ser perfectamente el villano de otra. 

La ambientación transcurre entre los planetas Werel y Yeowe, en un mundo donde las poblaciones se dividen en propietarios y activos (esclavos), en los que las mujeres son esclavas de esclavos. Y son estas mismas mujeres la llama que da pie a lo que será el inicio de la rebelión.
A pesar de ser relatos Ursula no necesita demasiado para ofrecernos una visión muy rica del mundo que ha creado y sus sistemas de clases, cuidando sobre todo de ahondar en los personajes, en lo que les ha tocado vivir según su lugar de nacimiento, cultura y creencias. La autora aprovecha las vivencias de estos para hacer una fuerte crítica social y hacernos reflexionar sobre temas como la esclavitud, el racismo, el feminismo, los derechos humanos o la naturaleza. 

Todos los relatos son maravillosos pero los dos últimos han sido mis favoritos, sobre todo el último, narrado por una esclava desde su niñez. Brutal.

Quizá no sea el mejor libro para empezar con Le Guin, o quizá sí lo sea. Qué más da. Leedlo si os llama la atención. Leedlo si os gustan las historias con mensajes, llenas de belleza y crueldad, de enseñanzas. Leedlo si no teméis escuchar voces que han sido silenciadas salvajemente durante años y años. Leedlo, aunque duela. La verdad, casi siempre lo hace. 

Deseando leer más libros de la autora.

[nastya · Rating 3 out of 5]

What is one man's and one woman's love and desire, against the history of two worlds, the great revolutions of our lifetimes, the hope, the unending cruelty of our species? A little thing. But a key is a little thing, next to the door it opens. If you lose the key, the door may never be unlocked. It is in our bodies that we lose or begin our freedom, in our bodies that we accept or end our slavery. So I wrote this book for my friend, with whom I have lived and will die free.

These are four interlinked stories about slavery and oppression of women, and also about desires: sexual, desire for freedom and for a connection to another human. Great themes and all, topics I'm interested in, but unfortunately their implementation left me cold. And maybe I’ve read too much of Toni Morrison, because on the whole they felt underdeveloped, exhausted and uninspired especially since they were written in 1994, not 60s. Also for some reason characters failed to come to life, I was never feeling for them and they've been through a lot and I should've. I don’t think these are the stories that will stay with me for a long time.

Still, it’s Ursula and she is better than most, she is a great writer and there were thoughts that I liked. So don't let me dissuade you from picking up this collection. Maybe I'll reread them one day and will discover that I missed something.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quintessential Le Guin. It's apparently part of the Hainish cycle, which I have never read. This seems like the "Tales from Earthsea" of the Hainish cycle: it's a collection of short stories that easily stand alone, but are part of the same universe as other books, and it's, most likely, the best book in the lot. I've heard, anyway, that people don't get that excited about the Hainish books, so I assume this one may stand out.

It's four, tangential stories that surround a slave rebellion and a war for independence. Le Guin beautifully and articulately (with her anthropologist's lens) describes the tension of different cultures trying to understand each other: local truths for each culture that conflict each other, but are all still equally true. She delves deep into the feelings of hatred, confusion, disgust, and possible empathy and love that can take place across these borders.

She focuses on specific kinds of relationships: slave and owner, colonized and colonizer, between generations, and, of course, between genders. Le Guin argues that all relationships across cultures are akin to the sexual relationship between two people, and that all larger freedoms begin with the freedom of one's own body. Having a sexual relationship is akin to crossing a border between nations, between cultures, and all the same issues of colonialism, of oppression and freedom, are manifest.

It's classic Le Guin. An amazing feat of anthropology, as well as just heartwrenchingly beautiful and human. She manages to address huge sociological issues, and the intimate lives of lovers, seamlessly, with gorgeous detail that all rings very true.

[Effie (she-her) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Το βιβλίο αυτό αποτελείται από 4 διηγήματα τα οποία διαπραγματεύονται την ίδια ιδέα. Την απελευθέρωση. Την απελευθέρωση της γυναίκας και των υπόδουλων ανθρώπων.
Οι ιστορίες επικεντρόνονται στους πλανήτες Βερέλ και Γεοβέ όπου υπάρχει ακόμα δουλεία και οι γυναίκες θεωρούνται κτήματα των αντρών. Όπως πάντα, οι ηρωίδες της le Guin είναι δυναμικές, ανεξάρτητες και ασυμβίβαστες. Δε δέχονται να υποταχθούν σε κανέναν και μάχονται για την ισότητα και τα δικαιώματά τους. Και φυσικά αγαπάνε με πάθος! Μέχρι τώρα η le Guin είναι η μόνη συγγραφέας που έχει καταφέρει να με κάνει να ευχαριστηθώ love story επειδή είναι η μόνη που έχει γράψει για γυναίκες με τις οποίες μπορώ να ταυτιστώ.

Κάτι εξίσου υπέροχο στις ιστορίες αυτές αλλά και γενικά στα βιβλία της le Guin είναι ότι πάντα υπάρχουν lgbt χαρακτήρες και σε αρκετές περιπτώσεις μας ταξιδεύει σε πολιτισμούς που σε κάποιες περιπτώσεις οι ομόφυλες σχέσεις θεωρούνται περισσότερο αποδέκτες από τις ετερόφυλες.


Μακάρι να παραδειγματίζονταν όλοι οι συγγραφείς από τον τρόπο που χρειάζεται τους χαρακτήρες της. Έχουμε πήξει στους ματσό άντρακλες και τις αδύναμες γυναικούλες.

[Ivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books from Ursula Le Guin I read which is sazing something since she has some prettz wonderful books.

[Septimus Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I already adored Ursula Le Guin, and yet this book raised her pedestal even higher for me. Four Ways to Forgiveness is a beautiful collections of stories that underscore her skill as a storyteller and a master of speculative fiction. These four tales are set on other worlds, but they are very simply about people and relationships. The SF locale isn't all laser guns and spaceships, but a mirror to our own contemporary realities and conflicts. Le Guin deals with themes of slavery, intergenerational trauma, and individual power bravely, and with wisdom. I rank this collection near the top of her Hainish Cycle, but then again, I loved nearly every title in this series.

[Librukie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Los hombres creen que tienen que ser jefes. Tienen que dejar de pensar eso. Una cosa que he aprendido en la vida es que no se cambia la forma de pensar a golpe de pistola. Matas al jefe y te conviertes en el jefe. Tenemos que cambiar esa mentalidad. Es la mentalidad del esclavo, la mentalidad del jefe."

Werel y Yeowe son dos planetas del mismo sistema. En ambos se ha establecido un sistema político capitalista basado en el esclavismo, un sistema de propietarios y siervos, donde estos últimos apenas son considerados personas, y en el que la mujer tiene un papel absolutamente irrelevante, aún dentro de la casta propietaria. Con el primer contacto con el Ecumen, las cosas empezarán a cambiar poco a poco, pero aún queda un largo camino hacia la libertad...
En "Cuatro caminos hacia el perdón", Úrsula explora estos dos planetas y su historia a través de cuatro relatos interrelacionados. Con sus distintos puntos de vista, personajes diversos, y diferentes momentos históricos, la visión global y el conjunto es tremendamente rico. A pesar de ser relatos, la impresión final es de novela, ya que todo guarda una estrecha relación entre sí.
A pesar de que Úrsula suele dar muchísima importancia al mundo en sí, a la estructura política y social, y las consecuencias que esto provoca, en estos relatos he sentido a los personajes algo más profundos y humanos que en otras de sus novelas. Siento que ganan más peso, que su historia personal y sus sentimientos también importan, y no solo el mundo que les rodea, y lo he sentido en los cuatro relatos. Para mi esto es un plus muy importante, ya que soy consciente de que, a pesar de que adoro a la autora, a veces peca un poco de descuidar a sus personajes en favor de un worldbuilding muy interesante que tira un poco de todo lo demás. Creo que en esta historia no pasa, con lo cual pienso que es uno de los libros más redondos que he le��do de Úrsula hasta ahora. Y sí, para mi gusto está incluso por encima de "La mano izquierda de la oscuridad" y "Los desposeídos".
Como siempre Le Guin aprovecha la historia para introducir crítica social y reflexiones, en este caso muy variadas. Desde la importancia de la educación, de la Historia, de los derechos fundamentales del ser humano, más concretamente de las mujeres, de la xenofobia... Y gran parte de la novela hace una referencia muy clara a la esclavitud en Estados Unidos.
A mi me ha fascinado de principio a fin. La estructura de los relatos hace para mi algo más fácil y rica la comprensión de la situación, ya que se puede analizar desde distintos puntos de vista muy diferentes: desde una enviada del Ecumen, acostumbrada a una civilización mucho más avanzada, pasando por un soldado, hijo de propietarios, hasta una esclava de Werel. Todo ello contado con esa forma tan poética que tiene Úrsula de narrar.

Un libro redondo, qué más puedo decir.

"Lo que yo descubrí en la historia es que la libertad se hacía, no se daba."

[manuti · Rating 4 out of 5]

He vuelto a leer este libro muchos años después de haberlo leído y muchos años después de habérmelo regalado. La vez anterior lo leí con ganas pero un poco por obligación, no tenía contexto suficiente del Ciclo Hainish y aunque se puede disfrutar en sí mismo creo que gana coma parte de ese conjunto de libros. Así que voy a hacer varias recomendaciones.
Primero que leas este libro después de otros del ciclo Hainish o al menos buscar info en la wikipedia para saber de qué va ese rollo de que haya "homínidos" en otros planetas que no sean la Tierra y cómo llegaron allí y porque hay alienígenas también homínidos.
Segundo, es que creo que los 4 relatos que componen el libro se podrían disfrutar más en otro orden. Empezar por leer o al menos ser consciente de que hay un resumen de historia y geografía de los planetas en que transcurre los relatos al final del libro "Notas finales sobre Werel y Yeowe". Werel y Yeowe que son el 4º y 3º planeta de un sistema solar lejano, también es importante saber que este Werel es distinto del Planeta de exilio y es que a Ursula K. Le Guin según ella misma reconoció se le había olvidado que ya usó ese nombre en otra novela.
Tercero, de los cuatro relatos (los cuatro caminos) tres están conectados entre sí que son el 2º, 3º y 4º y además transcurren antes en el tiempo que el primero. Así que mi recomendación es leerlos en otro orden pero que es una recomendación qué podéis pasar por alto como si nada, que no soy nadie para enmendar a editores y menos a autores como Ursula. Aún así allá va:
► (5) "Notas finales sobre Werel y Yeowe" la parte dedicada a Werel.
► (2) El día del perdón, de 1994, publicado por primera vez en Asimov´s
► (5) "Notas finales sobre Werel y Yeowe" la parte dedicada a Yeowe.
► (3) Un hombre del pueblo, de 1995 y publicado originalmente en Asimov´s
► (4) La liberación de una mujer, de 1995 y publicado por primera vez en Asimov´s
► (1) Traiciones, escrito en 1994 y publicado originalmente en Blue Motel.

Tras esta lectura he decidido darle 4 estrellas **** y lo recomiendo como continuación de los otros libros del Ciclo Hainish. Resulta impactante y duro la forma en que muestra su visión de un lugar donde sigue habiendo un fuerte racismo (de negros sobre blancos), machismo extremo y esclavitud sin escrúpulos tratando a personas peor que a bestias. Y a pesar de todo dar cierta esperanza de que mucho de lo que leemos es una metáfora y una advertencia de que cualquier situación pasada puede repetirse en el futuro o en otro planeta, o lo que es peor aquí mismo.

Esta es la reseña original de la lectura anterior.
Otro de la lista de 2004-2005. Este libro de ciencia-ficción me lo regaló «la lectora que se ríe de la ciencia-ficción» y como además tarde algo así como 6 años en leérmelo desde que me lo habían regalado, no contribuyó a que hubiese muchos más libros de ese género.
Los libros tienen eso, tienen su momento, empiezas a leerlo y no te engancha, lo ves en la estantería y dejas pasar el tiempo, y de repente un día lo coges y lo lees del tirón.
Este libro no es ninguna obra maestra, le doy 3 estrellas, y lo mismo lo puede leer un amante de la ciencia-ficción que uno que no lo sea, es más bien lo que podría llamarse una «novela alegórica», ya que la tecnología o ciertos aspectos que podrían definir esta obra como perteneciente a ese género casi no están presentes.
El libro es una recopilación de cuentos largos, o de relatos cortos, que tratan los temas de la libertad y la mujer que tienen ese toque femenino que siempre se echa en falta en la ciencia-ficción. Los títulos de los cuatro relatos hablan por si mismos: Traiciones, El Día del perdón, Un hombre del pueblo y La liberación de la mujer. El ambiente de las historias me recordó a La quinta cabeza de Cerbero de Gene Wolfe y me dejaron con ganas de más, así que cualquier día tendré que hacerme con el volumen recopilatorio de sus novelas premiadas.

* Ursula K. Le Guin en wikipedia
* Doce moradas web dedicada a Ursula K. Le Guin

ver reseña en mi blog

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ursula K. Le Guin era una maestra creando analogías entre sus mundos imaginarios y el nuestro propio. Y hacía uso de estos mundos para reflejar el comportamiento de nuestros propios sistemas sociales y económicos con un ojo analítico envidiable. Escudada tras la ficción, cargaba de fuerte crítica social sus obras, de una manera que oscila entre lo sutil y lo evidente; y todas las reflexiones que se pueden sacar, las deja en exclusiva para el lector, haciendo que con cada libro que leas de ella te conviertas en alguien que es capaz de ver el mundo desde diferentes perspectivas para que lo comprendas en profundidad.

Cuatro Caminos Hacia El Perdón es un buen ejemplo de esto. Ubicado en dos planetas vecinos, conoceremos una sociedad dividida entre propietarios y activos (esclavos) donde se intenta llegar a un mundo más justo tras la llegada del Ekumen y para poder formar parte de él. Dividido en cuatro relatos interrelacionados, iremos adentrándonos en su historia, sus diferentes culturas y tradiciones a través de personajes de cada condición.

Es un libro que va mucho más allá de la crítica hacia la esclavitud o a los sistemas de castas, toca temas muy diversos y se pueden sacar lecturas de todo tipo. Tiene especial importancia el papel de la mujer, mostrando de manera muy clarificadora el lugar al que es relegada en la sociedad. Aquí (como sucede en la nuestra propia) da igual que sea propietaria o activa, a la mujer se le considera un ser inferior.

Decir que me ha encantado, es quedarme corta. Me ha parecido terriblemente complejo (no de leer, sino por todo lo que trata) y a la vez hermosísimo. Toca con crudeza todo lo malo y lo mezquino que quiere denunciar pero a la vez es un alegato al amor, al amor de todo tipo. Pues, a pesar de que somos diferentes, tanto cada ser como cada cultura de la que procedemos, al final estas diferencias no son tan importantes ni significativas como todo lo que nos hace iguales.

Recomendadísimo e imprescindible.

[Maria Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

La reseña completa en http://inthenevernever.blogspot.com/2...

«Todo conocimiento es parcial, infinitamente parcial… Todo conocimiento humano es local. Toda vida, toda vida humana, es local y arbitraria, el momentáneo e infinitesimal centelleo de un reflejo».

Una de las alegrías de este año es que editorial Minotauro finalmente está reeditando los libros de la grandísima Ursula K. Le Guin. Así que hoy me gustaría hablarles de Cuatro caminos hacia el perdón, el libro con el que se inaugura la colección Bibliotecas de Autor dedicada a la escritora de Terramar, La mano izquierda de la oscuridad y Los desposeídos. Con la traducción de Ana Quijada, incluye cuatro historias independientes (aunque más relacionadas de lo que en un primer momento podemos pensar), ambientadas en el Ekumen ese universo ficticio del «Ciclo de Hainish» en el que Le Guin desarrolló muchas de sus novelas de ciencia ficción.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four interconnected love stories between people from different and difficult backgrounds. All of them end up finding their way to -don't say forgiveness. don't...- to forgiveness, which clearly consists in an understanding partner and an useful occupation. It's settled in many planets, but it's mainly about one, Yeowe, that joins the narrative advantages of having just freed itself from a colonial, pro-slavery regime and being ruled by chauvinistic assholes. Luckily, none of the characters are native of wherever they end up finding their particular brand of happiness. It's manicheistic; all things Ekumen are very likely to be good, and all things patriot are probably bad. I don't mind. There probably is much to be gained of the contact of others, specially if they are older, academically better and have a working peaceful system of govern, but I'm a worried about how the ideology at work might translate in real life.

The stories are slow to pick up, and end on the satisfying natural conclusion wholly invented by fiction. Frankly, slavery and male chauvinism are rather tired themes, specially on this planet with no history. It has to rediscover all from scratch. On the good side:
Happy endings, no they never bore me

The first story's characters are old people, and the orthodoxally interesting part of their lives is over. Is that politically incorrect? The fact is that the only thing going on is the romance; and it's a fairly common one, contrived by the oldest, really really old, ancient, tricks in the book.
She nurses him back to health, he saves her cat from a fire. La mère Michelle invented that like, a thousand years ago.

I might have found it sweet, but it info dumped me to boredom. I might have liked the male protagonist, only I didn't, because I don't have pity to spare for corrupt politicians. And she was strong and independent, but only by omission, because we didn't know that much about her. On the whole, it's a shame, because I'm usually a sucker for willful old people.

I did care for the main character of the third one, but the story focused on his relationships with women and glossed over his involvement in the feminist movements of Yeowe. I find that I enjoy reading about a man who chooses to defend the rights of women. I would object if he created the movement, but he's just willing to participate, and it's curiously moving.

The fourth one... happens... and its plot is very contrived and the main character is a bit too perfect and I should have skipped it, even though it's the longest.

The second story I liked. It was about two people made enemies by their upbringing, their experience, their beliefs, and most of all their temperament, locked up in one room, but who can think. It's about how difficult it is to understand one another, and it's a love story between flawed grown ups whose flaws are also their virtues. They dislike, then love each other for the same reasons.

There also seems so be some thinking about personal semi philosophical concepts and individual mottos, specially for the male characters: hold fast to the one noble thing, global and regional truths, and I can't remember the others (or even if there were any) but it's a great way to build a distinct character in a story so short and so focused in sci-fi's social problems.

[Xabi1990 · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10. Media de los 23 libros leídos de la autora : 7/10

La casi siempre efectiva Le Guin no suele ser nunca una mala opción de lectura. Te podrá sorprender más o menos, pero suele ser interesante leerla.
Recordemos que escribió mucho, mucho, tiene varios Hugo, Nébula, Locus y demás y fue la primera Gran Maestra de la CF.

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four tales of in the Hainish 'cycle', of the planets Werel and Yeowe and the end of racial slavery there.

These stories are more along the lines of The Dispossessed, more character driven and less plot driven, and they have taken me forever to get through (just because they never truly gripped me).

[Jessica Mae Stover]

Le Guin readers will be better served by reading the larger but more selective collection The Unreal and the Real: Selected Stories, Volume Two: Outer Space, Inner Lands (which does contain the first story from this collection) and the novels The Left Hand of Darkness, The Lathe of Heaven, and The Tombs of Atuan.

[Basia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Along with Lathe of Heaven, one of my most favorite works by her.

[Rinaldo · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.3/5

Taking place on the twin planets Werel and Yeowe where slavery is ingrained deep in the fibre of the society, Four Ways to Forgiveness is a book about agency and reconciliation.

Out of all Hainish books I've read, I feel that this is Le Guin's most feminist book so far. While her older books focused on male heroes, this book follows more central female characters from different backgrounds with varying degrees of agency. And rather than exploring hard empirical science in a single story with different POVs, this book explores in-depth social sciences and anthropology in a collection of loosely connected novellas where everything sort of converges in the last one.

The first part, Betrayals is a very cosy rural tale about past, loyalty, freedom, and growing old. While it reminds me a lot to Tehanu, this one has very little science fiction and fantasy element. It tells the story of Yoss, a retired teacher, who meets Abberkam, a retired radical politician. Rather than digging into heavy societal themes, this story kinda serves as the appetiser, slowly introducing the world of Yeowe and Werel to the reader along with their cultural and historical quirks. The mention of Ekumen and Hain in the background is neat. I like how Le Guin kinda deconstructed how Ekumen worked from an indigenous perspective. Despite all the goodwill and pacifist approach, Ekumen is still a foreign force that shakes the cultural foundation of Werel and Yeowe.

Forgiveness Day is a fascinating story about a pair of polar opposites and cultural clash. Following Solly, a young and aspiring Terran Envoy, this narrative witness the political turmoil and revolutionary change. Again, the story deconstructs Ekumen as a meddling being, an invader despite its noble intention and ethical practices. Solly is obviously competent and educated, but her lack of tact in reading the complex social clues and dynamics of Werel results in friction with Teyeo, her assigned guardian. I feel this story is more of a character study of the unlikely pair, where opposing values of different worlds clash. A pity that the last bit of the story is way too rushed.

A Man of the People is yet again a fascinating study and worldbuilding on anthropology, tradition, gender and societal roles. This story follows the perspective of Havzhiva, a Hain academic aspiring to be work as an Ekumen Envoy to Werel and Yeowe. I think Havzhiva is the first Hain person we truly follow from childhood to adulthood. And since the majority of Hainish Cycle actually are told from the perspective of a Terran, this story gives an interesting insight. The story also offers a meta-commentary on Ekumen's history and bureaucracy. However progressive and peaceful Ekumen is, as an outsider-observer, there's only so much you can do to help to progress a society without regressing into a tyrant with a messiah complex. Especially considering that Ekumen come from a more privileged and technologically advanced society.

A Woman's Liberation I think is the strongest story in the book, containing the meat of the story: of agency, social progress, and reconciliation. This part follows the story of Rakam, an asset/slave on Werel. The narrative follows her progress from a naive and disenfranchised young girl to fledgling academia and finally social activist. It is very much story of empowerment of the less privileged, and also a commentary on how even in slavery, there is the pariah of the pariah, the slave of the slave. It is a critique against patriarchal democracy where men have voice and presence, while women are often erased or ignored, even when they are the ones who start the movement, to begin with.

Conclusion
I think Four Ways to Forgiveness is an excellent banquet of flavours. This book to Hainish Cycle is like Tehanu to Earthsea Cycle, where Le Guin updated her already compelling worlds with the voice and agency of mature women characters. Like The Dispossessed this collection of stories also digs deep to the anthropological aspect of social architecture. And yet, despite the brilliant scholarly perspective, ultimately what makes Le Guin (and especially Hainish Cycle) so compelling is her uncompromisingly humane storytelling.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is just no denying it: Ursula le Guin is one of the greatest writers of the last 50 years (at least), and I firmly believe that the only reason she does not get more recognition for her commentary on race, politics, and - especially - gender - is because she sets much of that discussion off world. But, as I've mentioned before, this makes the discussion both easier to read - it's not my society being critiqued! - and harder-hitting, because when we see our faults in aliens... it hurts more, somehow. Or maybe that's just le Guin's genius.


So. Here we have four interconnected short stories (although if we're being technical I think the last two are probably closer to novellas). We have two planets, Werel and Yeowe. Yeowe was uninhabited until the Owners on Werel decided to start mining and farming it, for which they used the labour of their assets. Yes, Werel is a slave-owning society, and a capitalist one (I see what you did there, le Guin - very nice indeed - Marx needs a little chastising sometimes). And within the hierarchy of owner/owned there's a gender hierarchy as well, with women being firmly the lowest section of each caste. Sounding familiar? Well yes, except that here lovely onyx skin is the most prized, and the paler you are - the more 'dusty' - the more obvious your slave status.

Me, I'm one of the palest of the pale whitefellas around. No way can I presume to comment on how people of colour would react to this inversion. For myself, I'll admit that reading the derogatory term 'dusty' did not at first make sense (I thought it was referring to them living in the dirt and dust); and while it was uncomfortable in the context of slave/free, it's awesome to read stories wherein black is desirable and beautiful... and it's not a big deal.

The four stories all deal with the same basic issue and time: the consequences of a revolt of the 'assets' on Yeowe against the Corporation who owned them: consequences for the Owners and the assets, for men and women, and for the alien Ekumen observers (this fits into le Guin's Hainish cycle). For me, while revolutions are interesting and all, it's the aftermath that's really the meat of history. What difference does it actually make? How long do changes take and how long do they hang around? Changing the world is one thing; changing attitudes and desires and beliefs quite another.
The first story, "Betrayals," is set some time after the Liberation, in a nowhere town on Yeowe. It's the story that has least to do with the Liberation itself, although it comes about as a result of it. It's a tale of two old people - and how refreshing is that? - dealing with being old, and the changes in their world, and how frustrating the world can be when you're not able or allowed to make big changes yourself any more... but you can still make small ones, that do make a difference. Bitterness and growth and love. Also gossip, and the downfall of heroes.

"Forgiveness Day" comes first from the perspective of a 'space brat' - a worldly (hmm, or not; she doesn't really have a world) woman of the Ekumen sent to Werel to act as an observer there. Being an observer on tight-knit, inward-facing and closed-mouth Werel was always going to be a difficult task, but having a woman in that position - going out, rather than staying in the beza (woman's side); her own property, rather than a man's; speaking to men as their equal - is yet another kettle of proverbial. Solly deals with it rather bullishly, which is perfectly fair and understandable. What puts le Guin at the pinnacle is that she writes Solly completely sympathetically for maybe a quarter? of the story, and then relates the next section from the perspective of Teyeo, her bodyguard, of whom Solly has a very dim view but who again comes across as immensely sympathetic, and casts some shade on Solly; and then the rest is the two of them in rather a pickle. It's a commanding story of attitudes and cultural perspectives, and change in the face of necessity. It also starts opening up Werel society to the reader, giving hints and clues about how and why it works, which while not making it likeable begins to make it comprehensible.

"A Man of the People" begins on Hain, with a young boy growing up in a sheltered, insular pueblo... who eventually gets impatient with the local knowledge available and longs for something bigger. Nearly half of the story takes place on Hain as Havzhida learns about universal knowledge and eventually becomes a member of the Hainish delegation to Yeowe. While the previous story showed Werel from an outsider's perspective, seeing Yeowe post-Liberation from such a view is revealing too, not least because the gender hierarchy has been replicated. The rhetoric of freedom, of liberation, is a complex one, and le Guin makes some offerings on how to understand it in this and the next story in particular. I think this story is my favourite, at least partly because it shows how power doesn't have to come from violence, and subversion doesn't have to involve deceit. And the characters are wonderful and varied, and Havzhida is a willing observer - not insistent on participation where that might not be appropriate. Which is something that some activists might do well to understand.

Finally, "A Woman's Liberation" is probably the most difficult to read of the lot. The first is post-Liberation Yeowe, so at least the theory of freedom is present; the second is Werel, where there is no freedom for 'assets' but Solly and Teyeo move freely (mostly); the third is post-Liberation Yeowe too, with Havzhida moving freely and women beginning to do so. "A Woman's Liberation," though, is from the perspective of a bondswoman - an asset - on Werel. She is thus doubly bonded, doubly enslaved, both to her Owner and to the men of her caste. This makes for a sometimes-painful reading experience - not gratuitous, not unnecessary, but painful nonetheless. Things do change, as the name suggests, but le Guin does not hide the fact that changing official status is difficult, and indeed is only one step in losing the 'slave-mind'. Rakam is a glorious character who grows and struggles and is unrelentingly honest with the reader. She's inspirational.

These stories are complex and challenging and absorbing and frustrating because they do not fill in all of the gaps. By the end a general sweep of the history and society of Werel and Yeowe has been revealed, but there is so much more that could be written! This is one of the peculiar gifts of le Guin, I think - she does not tell us everything. Only what we need to know. Which is about liberation, and freedom, and individuality, and community, and love.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

"At the far end of the universe, on the twin planets of Werel and Yeowe, all humankind is divided into 'assets' and 'owners', tradition and liberation are at war, and freedom takes many forms. Here is a society as complex and troubled as any on our world, peopled with unforgettable characters struggling to become fully human. For the disgraced revolutionary Abberkam, the callow 'space brat' Solly, the haughty soldier Teyeo, and the Ekuman historian and Hainish exile Havzhiva, freedom and duty both beting in the heart, and success as well as failure has its costs.

"In this stunning collection of four intimately interconnected novellas, Ursula K. Le Guin returns to the great themes that have made her one of America's most honored and respected authors."
~~back cover

I'm a huge and loyal Ursula Le Guin fan, and several of her works are on my "Desert Island List." But this one is not among them. I was disappointed in these novellas. It felt as though she was trying to recapture the glory of the Earthsea trilogy, while at the same time using the plot and the characters to illustrate a vital but tired point: how dehumanizing slavery is, for both slaves and owners. The "awakening" of several of the characters also seemed stale and already overworked to me, and the stories provided no new insights into human behavior or clever new societies as window dressing and backdrop.

Her writing is flawless, as always. But the vehicle was unworthy of the craftsmanship.

[Linda Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was on the list from the Worlds Beyond Worlds Symposium, must-reads or would love to see as a film. Didn't know 'til just now that it was a number in the Hainish cycle. Doesn't read that on the book, but it's in the universe. This is a collection of 4 novellas intertwined with characters and locations in the system that includes planet Yeowe and planet Werel. The titles are Betrayals, Forgiveness Day, A Man of the People, and A Woman's Liberation. These are fiction along with a keen study of what it means to be free. Le Guin is a genius in swirling together stories that ask the reader to be involved, to choose, to evaluate settled knowledge and turn it on its ear. Not think. Rethink. Feel what that tastes like. Empty your brain, start over and lean into looking at freedom in a different way. Understand how easy it is to have freedom taken from you, and be afraid. Would I have the courage to fight to the death to be and remain free? Would I have the brains to comprehend how much freedom I actually have or how to get it back if its gift is lost? Great storytelling. I liked the cover on this edition so much, too. (Danilo Ducak, artist) The four figures are windswept, a nod to the setting of Betrayals and an artistic note on how tenuous freedom can be.

[Sezgi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bağışlanma Günü ve Bir Kadının Kurtuluşu hikâyeleri cidden harikaydı diğer iki hikâye ise kitabı uzatma sebebim. O kadar sıkıldım ve okumak istemedim ki o bölümleri kitabı bitirmem baya zaman aldı. Le Guin’in konu bulmada sıkıntı yaşamadığını Uçuştan Uçuşa’yı okurken fark etmiştim ama bu kitapta biraz hayal kırıklığı yaşadım. Yine de sevdiğim iki hikâye o kadar iyiydi ki diğerlerini yok saymama yetti de arttı bile. Bir Kadının Kurtuluşu’nda olayların gelişimi ve sonuç hikâye değil de roman olarak yazılsa harika olurdu çünkü Kurtuluş Savaşı’nın detaylarını okuyabilirdik. Mücadelenin nasıl başarıya ulaştığı biraz yavan kalmış. Belki yazar bilerek buraya bir merak unsuru bırakmıştır bilemiyorum.

[Matías Picó · Rating 4 out of 5]

Otro libro maravilloso de Ursula y ya a esta altura dudo que pueda escribir algo que no lo sea. Tal vez cuatro caminos hacia el perdón no alcance las cotas de brillantez de otros libros de la autora, pero en la sencillez con la que elige narrar la revolución para abolir la esclavitud en primera instancia y la misoginia después merecen todas las alabanzas.

Cuatro caminos hacia el perdón es una obra luminosa porque siempre tiene como centro la esperanza, a pesar de las adversidades y los horrores narrados, la autora consigue a través de las cuatro historias dotar a la narración de amor.

Es probablemente esta saga del Ecumen, la mejor saga de ficción científica de la historia, una saga que mantiene vigencia y que nos interpela siempre desde su sencillez.

Nota:8/10

[Bahar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ursula K. LeGuin öyle bir yazar ki, her okuduğunuzda sizi yeniden ve yeniden şaşırtmayı başarıyor, ve dürtmeyi ve düşündürmeyi... Yarı saçma bir bilim kurgu hikaye gibi başlayan bir öykü-roman sonunda sizi özgürlük, kadınlık, kölelik, farklı olmak, aşk, hayatlar döngüsü konusunda sorularla başbaşa bırakarak bitiyor... Her defasında "iyi ki okumuşum" diyerek bitiyor, tekrar ve tekrar...

[Dalibor Dado Ivanovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nekako ova zbirka zbog prve price dobiva ocjenu 4 (po mom misljenju), cak je prva prica mozda i odlicna ali ne mogu dati pet zvjezdica za cijelu zbirku kad su mi ove ostale price, onako osrednje. Znam da sam prije par godina kad sam ju procitao dao ocjenu 3, pa rekoh idem probat ponovo al eto. Prva i treca su mi nekako najbolje. U trecoj prici Covjek iz naroda, mi se svidio odnos glavnog lika Havzize sa starom vracarom Jeron, pogotovo sami kraj price je bas onako dirljivo ljudski.