Original artwork, not a still
The Language of the Night • 1979
We read books to find out who we are.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Reading is framed as self-discovery rather than escape: a story is a mirror held up from an odd angle, and the odder the angle the more you see. It is the line for anyone defending fantasy and science fiction against the charge of being unserious, and it travels on bookshop tote bags, library posters and reading-list headers.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for The Language of the NightShow the scene
Le Guin wrote the line in "Prophets and Mirrors: Science Fiction as a Way of Seeing," an essay first printed in the journal The Living Light (volume 7, number 3, Fall 1970). Nine years later it was reprinted in The Language of the Night, the Putnam collection of her essays on fantasy and science fiction, edited by Susan Wood. The collection gathers her thinking on why people write and read imaginative fiction, and this sentence is its most-quoted statement of what reading does for the reader.
Sources (2)
- Wikiquote: Ursula K. Le GuinSourced section, first entryReference checked
- Wikipedia: The Language of the NightLead paragraphReference checked
Context reviewed
