Changing PlanesChanging Planes
Title rated 3.75 out of 5 stars, based on 48 ratings(48 ratings)
Book, 2003
Current format, Book, 2003, 1st ed, Available .Book, 2003
Current format, Book, 2003, 1st ed, Available . Offered in 0 more formatsThe misery of waiting for a connecting flight at an airport (sitting for hours "on a blue plastic chair with metal tubes for legs bolted to the floor") leads to the discovery of a way to visit other planes. Note: we are changing not airplanes here but planes of existence. Le Guin's humorous premise frames a series of travel accounts by the tourist-narrator who has mastered Sitka Dulip's Method. The fanciful descriptions of bizarre societies and cultures sometimes mirror--and satirize-our own, sometimes open puzzling doors into the alien.
In these delightful, wry short stories, Le Guin combines Gulliver's Travels, Borge's fictions, and Saint-Exupery'sThe Little Prince to treat war, tyranny, the middle class, folly, Disney, mortality and immortality, dreams, art, technology, and the meaning--and the mystery--of being human.
Missing a flight, waiting in an airport, listening to garbled announcements - who doesn't hate that misery?
But Sita Dulip from Cincinnati finds a method of bypassing the crowds at the desks, the long lines at the toilets, the nasty lunch, the whimpering children and punitive parents, the bookless bookstores, and the blue plastic chairs bolted to the floor.
A mere kind of twist and a slipping bend, easier to do than to describe, takes her not to Denver but to Strupsirts, a picturesque region of waterspouts and volcanoes, or to Djeyo where she can stay for two nights in a small hotel with a balcony overlooking the amber Sea of Somue. This new discovery - changing planes - enables Sita to visit bizarre societies and cultures that sometimes mirror our own and sometimes open doors into the alien.
"Then came a child trotting to school with his little backpack. He trotted on all fours, neatly, his hands in leather mitts or boots that protected them from the pavement; he was pale, with small eyes, and a snout, but he was adorable."
--from Changing Planes
The misery of waiting for a connecting flight at an airport leads to the accidental discovery of alighting on other planes--not airplanes but planes of existence. Ursula Le Guin's deadpan premise frames a series of travel accounts by the tourist-narrator who describes bizarre societies and cultures that sometimes mirror our own, and sometimes open puzzling doors into the alien.
Winner of the PEN/Malamud for Short Stories
"Then came a child trotting to school with his little backpack. He trotted on all fours, neatly, his hands in leather mitts or boots that protected them from the pavement; he was pale, with small eyes, and a snout, but he was adorable."
--from Changing Planes
The misery of waiting for a connecting flight at an airport leads to the accidental discovery of alighting on other planes--not airplanes but planes of existence. Ursula Le Guin's deadpan premise frames a series of travel accounts by the tourist-narrator who describes bizarre societies and cultures that sometimes mirror our own, and sometimes open puzzling doors into the alien.
Winner of the PEN/Malamud for Short Stories
A new collection of short fiction by the National Book Award-winning author of Tales from Earthsea offers an imaginative odyssey through mysterious other worlds, as the tourist-narrator stumbles upon other planes of existence while enduring a boring wait for a connecting flight at an airport. 35,000 first printing.
A collection of short fiction offers an odyssey through mysterious other worlds, as the tourist-narrator stumbles upon other planes of existence while enduring a boring wait for a connecting flight at an airport.
In these delightful, wry short stories, Le Guin combines Gulliver's Travels, Borge's fictions, and Saint-Exupery'sThe Little Prince to treat war, tyranny, the middle class, folly, Disney, mortality and immortality, dreams, art, technology, and the meaning--and the mystery--of being human.
Missing a flight, waiting in an airport, listening to garbled announcements - who doesn't hate that misery?
But Sita Dulip from Cincinnati finds a method of bypassing the crowds at the desks, the long lines at the toilets, the nasty lunch, the whimpering children and punitive parents, the bookless bookstores, and the blue plastic chairs bolted to the floor.
A mere kind of twist and a slipping bend, easier to do than to describe, takes her not to Denver but to Strupsirts, a picturesque region of waterspouts and volcanoes, or to Djeyo where she can stay for two nights in a small hotel with a balcony overlooking the amber Sea of Somue. This new discovery - changing planes - enables Sita to visit bizarre societies and cultures that sometimes mirror our own and sometimes open doors into the alien.
"Then came a child trotting to school with his little backpack. He trotted on all fours, neatly, his hands in leather mitts or boots that protected them from the pavement; he was pale, with small eyes, and a snout, but he was adorable."
--from Changing Planes
The misery of waiting for a connecting flight at an airport leads to the accidental discovery of alighting on other planes--not airplanes but planes of existence. Ursula Le Guin's deadpan premise frames a series of travel accounts by the tourist-narrator who describes bizarre societies and cultures that sometimes mirror our own, and sometimes open puzzling doors into the alien.
Winner of the PEN/Malamud for Short Stories
"Then came a child trotting to school with his little backpack. He trotted on all fours, neatly, his hands in leather mitts or boots that protected them from the pavement; he was pale, with small eyes, and a snout, but he was adorable."
--from Changing Planes
The misery of waiting for a connecting flight at an airport leads to the accidental discovery of alighting on other planes--not airplanes but planes of existence. Ursula Le Guin's deadpan premise frames a series of travel accounts by the tourist-narrator who describes bizarre societies and cultures that sometimes mirror our own, and sometimes open puzzling doors into the alien.
Winner of the PEN/Malamud for Short Stories
A new collection of short fiction by the National Book Award-winning author of Tales from Earthsea offers an imaginative odyssey through mysterious other worlds, as the tourist-narrator stumbles upon other planes of existence while enduring a boring wait for a connecting flight at an airport. 35,000 first printing.
A collection of short fiction offers an odyssey through mysterious other worlds, as the tourist-narrator stumbles upon other planes of existence while enduring a boring wait for a connecting flight at an airport.
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- Orlando : Harcourt, c2003.
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