Minor Canon
Ursula Le Guin Syndicate of Initiative hat
Regular price
$23.00 USD
Regular price
Sale price
$23.00 USD
Unit price
per
Shipping calculated at checkout.
Couldn't load pickup availability
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929 – 2018) was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the Earthsea fantasy series. She was first published in 1959, and her literary career spanned nearly sixty years, producing more than twenty novels and over a hundred short stories, in addition to poetry, literary criticism, translations, and children's books.
The Syndicate of Initiative is an organization founded by the protagonist, Shevek, of Le Guin's 1974 anarchist utopian science fiction novel The Dispossessed. The book depicts how Shevek, a physicist from the utopian anarchist exile-planet Anarres, travels to the corrupt capitalist homeworld of Urras in order to pursue his theory of Simultaneity — a revolutionary understanding of time that he hopes will allow the possibility of faster-than-light travel. The book illustrates the tension between individualism and collectivism, with the parallel tension between linear and simultaneous time as a metaphor. While the anarchist society of Anarres is shown sympathetically and the capitalist, patriarchal society of Urras is treated critically, Le Guin shows how each nevertheless has its benefits and drawbacks—while Urras is by far the more unjust, Anarres has its own limitations.
The Syndicate of Initiative is Shevek's attempt, towards the conclusion of the book, at founding a cooperative group that could both critique Anarres' social philosophy from within and export it to Urras, in contrast to the isolationist policy that had dominated until then.
• 100% chino cotton twill
• Unstructured, 6-panel, low-profile
• 6 embroidered eyelets
• 3 ⅛” (7.6 cm) crown
• Adjustable strap with antique buckle
• Blank product sourced from Vietnam or Bangladesh
This product is made especially for you as soon as you place an order, which is why it takes us a bit longer to deliver it to you. Making products on demand instead of in bulk helps reduce overproduction, so thank you for making thoughtful purchasing decisions!
The Syndicate of Initiative is an organization founded by the protagonist, Shevek, of Le Guin's 1974 anarchist utopian science fiction novel The Dispossessed. The book depicts how Shevek, a physicist from the utopian anarchist exile-planet Anarres, travels to the corrupt capitalist homeworld of Urras in order to pursue his theory of Simultaneity — a revolutionary understanding of time that he hopes will allow the possibility of faster-than-light travel. The book illustrates the tension between individualism and collectivism, with the parallel tension between linear and simultaneous time as a metaphor. While the anarchist society of Anarres is shown sympathetically and the capitalist, patriarchal society of Urras is treated critically, Le Guin shows how each nevertheless has its benefits and drawbacks—while Urras is by far the more unjust, Anarres has its own limitations.
The Syndicate of Initiative is Shevek's attempt, towards the conclusion of the book, at founding a cooperative group that could both critique Anarres' social philosophy from within and export it to Urras, in contrast to the isolationist policy that had dominated until then.
• 100% chino cotton twill
• Unstructured, 6-panel, low-profile
• 6 embroidered eyelets
• 3 ⅛” (7.6 cm) crown
• Adjustable strap with antique buckle
• Blank product sourced from Vietnam or Bangladesh
This product is made especially for you as soon as you place an order, which is why it takes us a bit longer to deliver it to you. Making products on demand instead of in bulk helps reduce overproduction, so thank you for making thoughtful purchasing decisions!
