Заключителните две части на един от най–добрите фентъзи цикли.
ПРИКАЗКИ ОТ ЗЕМЛЕМОРИЯ
Пет нови истории от придобилия световна слава фантастичен свят на Ле Гуин. Приказките от тази книга изследват или разширяват света, създаден в първите четири романа за Землемория. Всяка от тях представлява разказ сам за себе си. - “Откривателят”, новела, разполагаща се във времето неколко-стотин години преди “Магьосникът от Землемория”, описва един тъмен и тревожен Архипелаг и разкрива как е възникнала Школата на Роук. - “Костите на Земята” представя облика на магьосниците, учители на първия учител на Гед и как човешкото смирение, ако е достатъчно голямо, може да надделее над един земетръс. - “Тъмна роза и диамант” е великопелна история за младежка любов, показваща как понякога магьосниците могат да тръгнат по различен път. - “На Високото блато”, от краткото, но изпълнено със събития време, преживяно от Гед като Върховен маг на Землемория, разказва за властолюбието - и за властта на любовта. - “Водно конче” показва как една жена, изпълнена с достатъчно решимост може да строши стъкления купол на мъжкото магьосничество. Действието в нея се развива скоро след последния роман за Землемория и също така предлага мост - драконов мост - към следващия роман за Землемория
ДРУГИЯТ ВЯТЪР
Един магьосник, един кърпач на гърнета, един крал, един дракон и едно изгорено момиче се изправят пред властта на смъртта. Заклинателят Елша се бои от съня. Сънува страната на смъртта, жена си, която е умряла млада и копнее да се върне при него толкова силно, че го е целунала през ниската каменна стена, разделяща нашия свят от Сухата земя, където тревата е повяхнала, звездите са неподвижни и любимите същества се разминават, без да се познаят. Нощем мъртвите теглят Елша към себе си. Чрез него те могат да се освободят и да нахлуят в Землемория.
Ursula K. Le Guin published twenty-two novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. She lived in Portland, Oregon.
She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.
The six 'Earthsea' books, although not published as such, can be treated as two separate trilogies - the second trilogy (Tehanu, Tales from Earthsea, The Other Wind) rewrites the first trilogy, more or less book by book. The first trilogy is an unquestioned masterpiece. The second trilogy, on its own, is a lesser work, but a fine and brave achievement, a rare example of fantasy growing up. It is strikingly successful considering the risks that it takes.
'Tehanu' rewrites 'A Wizard of Earthsea': it is a wizardly origin story, but where Ged's story is one of male privilege, Tehanu is an abused outsider, and remains so. The book is resolutely 'unmagical', reflecting the hard and unmagical lives of its characters.
'Tales from Earthsea', like 'Tombs of Atuan', steps back from the main story and gives a wider perspective on its world. The stories are a mixed bag, often very good, a real treat for readers of the earlier books. One thing that I regret is the unnecessary 'extra material' contained in the introduction. Enjoyable as it is, it seems to be a nod to the kind of indulgent fantasy that the Earthsea books otherwise transcend. A world like Earthsea should unfold entirely from within.
'The Other Wind' takes on the extraordinary 'The Farthest Shore', which is surely the most powerful and unsettling of all works of fantasy. 'The Other Wind' is a kind of elaboration on the theme "Death thou shalt die", from an atheistic perspective. Any attempt to meddle with the beautiful but almost unbearable bleakness of 'The Farthest Shore' is surely doomed to failure. Le Guin succeeds, just. It is a very static book, basically a series of dialogues in a variety of settings. But it works. It is a fitting end to a truly great sequence of books.
Жадувах да се завърна тук. И ето ме! Отново съм насред Архипелага, отново съм в Землемория! Откакто завърших великия квартет на Урсула Ле Гуин в пълното издание на „Бард” нямах търпение да завърша цикъла и с втория том. И ето, че и на него му дойде ред. Представяме ви „Приказки от Землемория. Другият вятър”! Пет нови истории и цял един роман от фанстастичната поредица на Ле Гуин (с общ обем от 450 страници!) се появяват за първи път на български език в колекцията „Велики майстори на фентъзи и фантастика”. Прочетете ревюто на "Книжни Криле":
Druhý svazek tohot monstrózního kompletu, který obsahuje nejspíš úplně všechny příběhy ze Zeměmoří, které kdy vyšly. Velice oceňuji zpracování a výtvarnou stránku knihy, ilustrace i obálka jsou vážně nádherné. Tento svazek obsahuje již dříve samostatně vydané Příběhy ze Zeměmoří a Jiný vítr. Kromě nich tu najdeme kratší povídky Slovo, jež odpoutává, Moc jmen, Dcera Odrenu a Zář ohně. Dále je zde pojednání Popis Zeměmoří, krásná předmluva, doslov a přepis autorčiny přednášky Zeměmoří novýma očima. Z toho je jasně patrné, že jde (v kombinaci s prvním svazkem) o vydání skutečně uceleného Zeměmoří se vším všudy. Co se týče Příběhů ze Zeměmoří, tak jak to už u souhrnu kratších povídek a novel bývá, měly rozdílnou kvalitu. Bavil mě Hledač, který byl svižný, akční a dával krásný náhled do historie. Fajn byla i Dračinka, která utvořila pěkný most mezi prvním a druhým svazkem kompletu. Nicméně třeba Černá Růže a Diamant naprosto ničím nezaujala. Román Jiný vítr jsem zde četl poprvé a musím ho zařadit mezi top Zememořské knihy. Možná je z nich i vůbec nejlepší. Moc pěkná komplexní zápletka podaná typicky minimalistickým způsobem. I postavy tady byly sympatické a progredovaly. Naprostý top. Další samostatné povídky je pro mě těžké hodnotit kvůli velmi krátkému rozsahu. Většina z nich mě ničím příliš nezaujala, nemastné, neslané a celkově nic moc. Má poslední výtka směřuje k až příliš nápadné snaze autorky zaobírat se genderovými otázkami. Ne, že by mi tohle téma vadilo samo o sobě, ale myslím, že šlo zakomponovat s větším citem a méně násilně. Celkově dávám po nějakém tom zprůměrování 4*, na plné hodnocení bylo přeci jen příliš mnoho povídek jen průměrných, přestože žádná nebyla vyloženě špatná. Každopádně už kvůli Jinému větru, který je nejdelší a jasně nejlepší a skvělému vizuálu mohu i tento svazek plně doporučit.
Hledač 5* Černá Růže a Diamant 3* Kosti země 4* Na vysokých blatech 4* Dračinka 4*
И това издание е сборник - в него са поместили пет кратки новели (приказки), едно описание на света на Землемория и последния роман от цикъла - "Другият вятър". Именно той ме разочарова и затова вече не съжалявам, че се разделям засега с Ле Гуин. Разказът на моменти бе твърде забързан и схематичен, на други пък безсмислено протяжен. Често сменяше това чия гледна точка/вътрешния свят на кой от героите проследява, което също допринесе за усещането за нещо рециклирано, схематично. В този тип повествовение сякаш стига само да набележиш някакви основни положения и ситуации, да маркираш характерови особености на познати герои, разчитайки на това, че читателите вече ги обичат и са "в" историята. Определено й липсваше фокусът и лекотата от първите три книги. Същевременно основната тема за отношението между живота и смъртта, между хората и драконите бе засегната по леко изтъркан начин и преповтарящ мотиви от предходните книги, без да ги доразвива особено. На места базисните дилеми бяха поставени и решени по твърде опростен начин - далеч от комплексността и отказа на "или/или", които откриваме в някои от приказките (напр. "Черна роза и диамант"). Издразни ме и засилващото се в поредицата романтизиране на централизираната власт, на реда и "вродения" авторитет, което в крайна сметка ме кара да мисля, че Землемория все пак не е моята поредица. Приказките бяха приятни - най-много ми хареса "Драгънфлай" и бих я ползвала в семинари върху пол и хибридност/ чудовищност, например.. Частта от сборника "Описание на Землемория" ми беше по-скоро излишна и скучна, много набързо я прехвърлих.
It is no secret I'm a huge fan of UKL. I've read a lot of her novels, but by no means all of them. I'm tryiny to spread them out, to savor them.
The Earthsea Trilogy/Quadrilogy were among the first of her novel that I read. I was excited when this new book in the same world came out. I was not disappointed. Especially The Other Wind is a superb continuation and conclusion to a beautiful series.
Edelleen olen sitä mieltä että ensimmäinen sarjan kirja oli paras. Loput ovatkin sitten jokseenkin epämääräisiä eivätkä yletä siihen samaan luokkaan. Näistä 5. ja 6. kirjasta tuo kuudes, Toinen tuuli, oli parempi ja päätti kirjasarjan loistavalla, kiintoisalla tavalla.
Jos ei niin välitä novelleista, niin toki kirjan Kertomuksia Maamereltä voi jättää lukematta, mutta vaikka en itse järin niistä piittaa niin kuitenkin huomasin pitäväni kyseisestä novellikokoelmasta.
I read and reviewed the two books making up this collection separately, so this is basically just for my own records. The collection rating is an average of the individual ratings. I gave Tales From Earthsea five stars, because it was just amazingly good. Le Guin's prose there was so smooth, and so very polished, without a single wasted word. (She's really a marvel of economy compared to a lot of fantasy writers!) Then, too, that short story collection was very much themed about exploring the intersection of magic and gender, which is something that appeals tremendously to me. The Other Wind wasn't quite as good in my opinion, and I gave it four stars. As much as I love Le Guin's prose, the stripped-back nature of it can sometimes dampen my emotional response: the wall and the liberation of the dead didn't quite hit me as hard as it could have. Then again, no-one has managed that particular story element like Philip Pullman, so The Other Wind suffers just a little by comparison.
I suspect this was designed more for the hardcore Earthsea fans (I read A Wizard of Earthsea ages ago and don't recall much about it). The first two chapters of Tales especially went over my head. I almost gave up on this book, but the next chapter, Otter, was enjoyable and I slowly became drawn into the world of Earthsea. Really enjoyed The Other Wind, though. It has many great characters, a spooky tone and a good mystery going on. A man with a gift for mending about anything broken has unsettling dreams of the world of the dead, and he goes on a journey to find out why. The reason winds up impacting the entire world.
I’ll be honest and say, though I love the setting of Earthsea and Le Guin’s writing, this compendium of short stories was largely uninteresting. The Wizard of Earthsea and the tales of Sparrowhawk will forever be in my top list of favorite fantasy novels. And, perhaps that’s a reason why this tome of takes was a let down. It wasn’t Ged as the protagonist in any of the stories. Ah well, no author is perfect and not every book is going to be a winner.
These tales are more unified than they appear or are presented.
The earlier tales set key reference points for later - but the connections are left tacit. The reader is like a student of Earthsea's history - something Le Guin discusses in her Foreword.
We learn some surprising new things about Earthsea, and were left, like in The Other Wind, in a place of surprising hope for the future.
Mluvíme-li o fantasy příbězích, které doslova uhranuly čtenáře na mnoho generací, nesmíme vynechat Zeměmoří. Americká autorka Ursula Kroeber Le Guinová (†89) s ním čtenáře seznámila poprvé v roce 1964 v povídkách. První román z jejího světa vyšel o čtyři roky později. U nás se pak všemi příběhy v souhrnném vydání můžeme těšit právě nyní.
Než se pustíme do Zeměmoří, připomeňme si výrazy jako magnum opus, který slovník vysvětluje coby vrcholné dílo. K málokteré knize se váže natolik právem, jako k těm od Ursuly K. Le Guinové. Souhrnné dvousvazkové vydání Velká kniha Zeměmoří je hmatatelným důkazem jejího jedinečného talentu při vytváření spletitých a podmanivých světů. Sbírka je mistrovským literárním dílem, které zaručuje naprostý čtenářský zážitek. A máte-li doma milovníka fantasy, jen složitě pro něj budete hledat výjimečnější vánoční dárek než nová vydání knih od nakladatelství Argo. Bohatá představivost, filozofická hloubka a vytříbená próza Le Guinové se snoubí v nadčasový a okouzlující epos, který fascinuje celé generace.
Jak uvádí Argo: „Knihy jsou obohacené o více než dvacet překrásných ilustrací Mikuláše Podprockého, jež doplňují klasické dílo úžasné představivosti velmistryně žánru Ursuly Kroeber Le Guinové.“ Zeměmořské romány patří mezi nejoceňovanější a nejoblíbenější díla moderní literatury. Dostalo se jim prestižních ocenění včetně americké Národní knižní ceny, Ceny Johna Newberyho, Nebuly a mnoha dalších, což jen upevnilo zvláštní místo, jež zaujímají v srdcích i myslích nespočtu čtenářů. Vůbec poprvé vycházejí všechny ve dvou mohutných svazcích, v nichž mimo jiné najdete několik povídek, z nichž některé vycházejí v českém překladu vůbec poprvé.
Nad řádky kompletu se stanete svědky schopnosti Le Guinové vdechnout neopakovatelným způsobem svým postavám život. Od hlavního hrdiny až po vedlejší postavy, s nimiž se setkáte v průběhu celé série, je každý jednotlivec propracován, má své vlastní chyby i přednosti, jimiž vás okouzlí. Vtáhnou vás do svých osudů a stanou se vašimi parťáky na cestě úchvatným příběhem plným nevídané krásy a složitosti. Kromě osudů postav Le Guinová s lehkostí, a přitom dokonalostí buduje svět poskládaný z řady kultur. Zkoumá rovnováhu mezi magií a přírodou, světlem a temnotou a také jinem a jangem v povahách lidí. Zeměmoří je takřka živou bytostí utvářející osudy svých obyvatel.
Autorka na pozadí příběhu klade otázky moci, identity a vzájemné propojenosti všeho a skrze boje a úspěchy postav oslovuje čtenáře, nenásilně jej navádí k zamyšlení nad lidským údělem, morálkou a důsledky vlastních rozhodnutí. Každá jediná věta dokonale přeložená triem Irena Přibylová, Petr Kotrle a Olga Machačová je pečlivě propracovaná. Je klíčem do světa Zeměmoří, jež je radost zažít! I pokud nejste fanoušky fantasy, ale rádi nalézáte výjimečné kousky ve vesmíru literatury, Zeměmoří se do vašeho srdce zapíše navždy.
Started 2012/03/18 Done with "Tales From Earthsea"
2014/02/23 I read "Tales From Earthsea" somewhere around 2012. So far I had not gotten around to reading "The Other Wind". It might seem strange, seeing as I actually have this book. I suspect this is my way of postponing my farewell to the dearly beloved series. I'm quite familiar with this peculiarity of mine,yes.
2014/12/02 Yes, I'm done. Finally. And it took me what? two years only? Bah! Humbug.
СОБСТВЕННО ОТЗЫВ
Итак, книгу приобрела где-то в далеком 2012 году и сразу взахлеб прочитала собственно "Сказания Земноморья", оставив "Иные Ветра" на потом. "Потом" превратилось в "очень и очень не скоро", что (как я для себя уяснила относительно недавно) для меня характерно при прочтении прекрасных книг. Ибо я подсознательно стараюсь оттянуть момент прощания с полюбившимся мне миром. И вот весь цикл прочитан. Теперь по порядку.
Все истории замечательны, но больше всего понравилась история "Искатель" про то, как появилась Школа на острове Рок.
"Краткое описание Земноморья" интересно к прочтению и весьма познавательно.
А вот книга "На Иных Ветрах" вызвала неоднозначную реакцию. С одной стороны - отлично написана, все сюжетные линии серии нашли развязку, мимолетно предоставлено кучу информации... А вот восторга - нету. Возможно потому, что я не почувствовала завершенности. Так словно не хватает последней главы или эпилога.
Really liked a lot of these stories! I felta bit puzzled after the fourth book, but almost all of my questions were answered in these ones. I always enjoy when authors write about the laws of magic and magical places, which is why I enjoyed The Other Wind. The ending was so exciting that I had to read it in one sitting, even if it meant that I stayed up until 2 am. The book also gave me a few nightmares, which is always a good sign... heh.
Tales from Earthsea is a collection of short stories which illuminates different eras of Earthsea's history from hundreds of years before the time of Ged (Wizard of Earthsea) until after he is no longer the Archmage. The Other Wind is a short novel which examines the way the ancient unity of life that was broken is finally mended by dragons and a village sorcerer.
A welcome and valuable addition to the Earthsea mythos. What can one say about Le Guin s writing? Beautiful, lyrical, evocative, magical. And and this is what sets her apart always thoroughly moral, ethical and right-minded without ever being boring, sanctimonious or preachy.
Maybe, after a re-read, I'll find some points of critique. But right now, I'm just in love with the world of Earthsea and the way we get to know it a little bit more each time in stories that cross time and space.
Приказките не ми допаднаха особено, но „Другият Вятър“ е достен завършек на историята за Гед. Успя да ме върне в прекрасния свят на мъжка магия, женско вещерство и дракони. Дракони, разбира се.
I feel like Le Guin wrote this whole book just for the ending, just for the last chapter. I found it awkward at times and uninteresting, but the ending was good, the ending tied it all together.