Aussiecon (1975) Worldcon - Ursula K. Le Guin Guest of Honor Speech

[@Primarch359]

Thank you to whoever saved this over the years

[@gh0stb1rd]

i hope this video stays up forever.

[@athenassigil5820]

RIP , you were an amazing writer.Wonderful speaker, too! Loved this talk, it was like being in 75, again.

[@bozart6001]

She's my favorite author , and I love her .

[@deanzig]

Strong agree

[@PinakiSwain]

"I will be glad to see a day where I could go to a library and see The man in the high castle....by an author named Philip K Dock next to that of Charles Dickens where it belongs." Brilliant speech. Thanks for sharing this.

[@FANACFanHistory]

Glad you all liked it.

[@metanoiacloud3718]

What an absolute delight. Thank you.

[@stellasun3815]

This is gold!!! And such high quality! Thanks so much for posting

[@jamesrichey]

Thank you for these videos. I have such fond memories of these writers and their stories.

[@FANACFanHistory]

You're very welcome!

[@hainish2381]

Thank you so much for posting this document! Extraordinary woman and extraordinary speach.

[@AtomicusPrime]

This is amazing! I still have yet to read anything by her - I will start with her essays on craft. Thank you a million times over for saving and sharing this powerful artifact.

[@noriteller-elsberg2816]

How far have you gotten? Have you fallen in love with her mind yet?

[@AtomicusPrime]

@ I have indeed. I have read many of her essays now--all that o could find, and oddly enough, I have read none of her fiction. The essays are just so powerful.

[@anniemundie4421]

Thank you so much for doing this for us

[@FANACFanHistory]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@BecomeUseful]

This is great. Thank you for sharing. I’d love to see more.

[@kittybyrne4082]

A very erudite, intelligent and amusing woman. Inspiring.

[@ricardosalinas308]

This is extraordinary. Thanks so much for posting it.

[@jonasvanmaldeghem688]

Thanks for this upload. What a woman!

[@LargoGabriel]

Earthsea rules!

[@AdnanAlsannaa]

This is amazing. Thank u for sharing

[@jadenwaz9585]

“To cling to a posture of evasion and defense once persecution and contempt has ceased is not to be a rebel but to be a cripple.”

[@jbr4gg]

Great comments on perfection and artistic endeavor at 24:00 or so

[@tohellwithintentions]

omg the reference to the '75 constitutional crisis in Australia - excellent

[@robertdavenport7802]

Inspiring.

[@jadenwaz9585]

Brilliant woman.

[@paulrudd1063]

Wow. When you listen to this lecture today and put it in context it is incredible. She would have been so happy to see women like JK Rowling achieve such success. Her observation about schools not letting kids read “escapist” literature still holds true. Schools haven’t progressed in 50 years.

[@Anonymous-xm8ir]

Indeed. Totally agree about schools not having progressed beyond anything which is not considered "real literature". Though, I believe "The Left Hand of Darkness" is on course to becoming one of those definitive novels - a la Tolkien - that not only transcends Si-Fi / Fantasy, but redefines it as "real literature". Schools will be adding it to their curriculum... next century... no doubt. It takes awhile to catch up. Regarding JK Rowling, Le Guin died in 2018, so she would have certainly witnessed the massive success of Harry Potter (books, films, theme parks, etc.) and the god(ess) like status bestowed on Rowling. In fact she said of Rowling... "This last is the situation, as I see it, between my A Wizard of Earthsea and J.K.Rowling’s Harry Potter. I didn’t originate the idea of a school for wizards - if anybody did it was T.H.White, though he did it in single throwaway line and didn’t develop it. I was the first to do that. Years later, Rowling took the idea and developed it along other lines. She didn't plagiarize. She didn’t copy anything. Her book, in fact, could hardly be more different from mine, in style, spirit, everything. The only thing that rankles me is her apparent reluctance to admit that she ever learned anything from other writers. When ignorant critics praised her wonderful originality in inventing the idea of a wizards’ school, and some of them even seemed to believe that she had invented fantasy, she let them do so. This, I think, was ungenerous, and in the long run unwise."

[@Kuhmuhnistische_Partei]

She died in 2018, so she knew JK Rowling and the Harry Potter books. She didn't like those book: "When so many adult critics were carrying on about the 'incredible originality' of the first Harry Potter book, I read it to find out what the fuss was about, and remained somewhat puzzled; it seemed a lively kids fantasy crossed with a 'school novel', good fare for it age group, but stylistically ordinary, imaginatively derivative, and ethically rather mean-spirited"

[@Danlovar]

She is not that important.

[@deanzig]

Who of us is?

[@Ahopek]

Is it you who wrote "She is not that important" in the comments of at least one other interview I've seen of hers? If she isn't important, why do you take the time to watch her, and then comment? To paraphrase someone's reply under the other video, Ursula K Le Guin won't be important to people who don't appreciate the craft.

[@keaganwheeler-mccann8565]

Listen to what she is actually saying. Judge the value of the words on their merit.

[@Highbrowser]

How many books have you published?