Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places

“Ursula Le Guin at her best…This is an important collection of eloquent, elegant pieces by one of our most acclaimed contemporary writers.” —Washington Post Book World

“Le Guin is an irreverent demystifier of the industry currently known as ‘literary criticism’ and a consummate storyteller who enlightens with her perfect weave of myth and fact, fantasy and common sense. Essential reading for anyone who imagines herself literate and/or socially concerned or who wants to learn what it means to be such.” —Library Journal

“Chronologically arranged, these 33 talks and essays and 17 reviews of books and films, dating from 1976 through 1987, record Le Guin’s responses to ethical and political climates, the transforming effect of certain literary ideas and the changes of a supple, disciplined mind…The noted science fiction writer eloquently discusses feminism, social responsibility, literature, and travel. We read her deeply considered views on abortion, menopause, motherhood, family planning; censorship, criticism, myth in contemporary life, women writers, the reciprocity of prose and poetry, the language of power; the advantages and pleasures of travel by Amtrak; heroism in Scott and Amundsen; the ideas of Doris Lessing and Italo Calvino; and how science fiction addresses the issue of nuclear war.” —Publishers Weekly