The Word for World is Forest

A nice entry point into Le Guin's work, and the Hanish Cycle in general. The Word for World is Forest is a short and punchy polemic allegory for the Vietnam War. The book follows the attempted colonization and exploitation of the planet Athshe, a world dominated by water that is dotted by islands of thick jungle, which are home to slightly adapted, short, and hairy humans. A more familiar form of human settles on Athshe in order to log it for the now precious timber, and comes into conflict with the formerly peaceful natives who spend much of their time in a dream-reality.

This is a dark, combative, and sometimes graphic work that deals with colonization, rape of both humans and the environment, drug use, racism, and militarism. It wears a lot of these opinions on it's sleeves, but none more so than Le Guin's anti-war sentiments. There's also a lot of time spent on the power of ideas, and how once ideas are introduced into a culture, there's no removing them from the consciousness of individuals. This leads to an ending that is both positive because of the Athshians triumph, and a foreboding towards an undescribed and potentially violent future.

I couldn't help but draw a lot of parallels back to Kill Everything that Moves by Nick Turse. Captain Don Davidson fits into the mold of American GI's in Vietnam described there so well, as well as the powers that surround him. He is black hole of ethics that sees the natives as rats rather than people, is convinced that everyone is against him, and yet is also compelled to continue his practices by a government that simultaneously preaches passivity but expects results nonetheless. There's a delusional mania that he grows into that makes for a hideously fascinating character. Raj Lyubov, the archeologist that aids Selver, is not quite as well drawn, but is interesting in his moral grayness, providing help to the Athshians while not becoming a stereotypical white or western savior to a people that are clearly capable of helping themselves.

The Word for World is Forest has several passages of prose that are deeply moving and beautifully written. Davidson's nighttime capture is memorable and dark, and the numerous passages of morality discussion between the Athshians and the other humans are powerful. Overall the writing is of high quality, though not excessively noteworthy.

I often find myself criticizing books, especially contemporary works of SF, for being overly long and bloated. This is one of the rare instances where the opposite is true. Here I wanted so much more, though I can appreciate that Le Guin was able to fit so much into a svelte 170 pages. The Word for World is Forest just isn't long enough to feasibly develop into the richer work that she was clearly capable of at the time. Having said that, it's still an excellent novella that makes me consider Le Guin highly.