The Word for World Is Forest

The Hainish cycle by Ursula Le Guin continues in a new part, “A Word for ‘Forest’ and ‘World’”—a set of stories from which James Cameron’s “Avatar” took its origin. On the evergreen planet Athshe, until recently there was peace and harmony. Now, a colony of Earthlings has settled there, extracting valuable resources: the forest. The Athsheans, who lag significantly behind the Earthlings in technological development, surpass them mentally: they possess a mysterious ability that allows them to control dreams and the subconscious. Thus, the Athsheans (or “whippers,” as the Earthlings mockingly call them) know neither bloodshed nor wars—they have no concept of a person’s intent to kill another. The Earth colonists do not share Athshean values and openly abuse the hospitality and generosity of the natives, seizing new and new territories with not the slightest resistance. The situation will change irreversibly after one fateful event that triggers a revolt and shakes two opposing worlds, forever distorting them.