Ursula K. Le Guin · "The king was pregnant. That was the first sentence of the first story I ever w..."

Introduction to *The Found and the Lost: The Collected Novellas of Ursula K. Le Guin*, 2016 · Gecheckt op 4 maart 2026

The king was pregnant. That was the first sentence of the first story I ever wrote about the Ekumen, the interstellar confederacy I’ve been writing about, on and off, for fifty years now. It was a good way to start.

Analyse

The statement correctly identifies the famous first sentence of *The Left Hand of Darkness* ('The king was pregnant.') as the introduction to her Ekumen universe. By 2016, Le Guin had indeed been writing Ekumen stories for nearly 50 years, beginning with *Rocannon’s World* (1966) and *Planet of Exile* (1966), though *The Left Hand of Darkness* (1969) was the first full novel set in that universe. The claim aligns with her published works and timelines verified in biographical and critical sources.

Achtergrond

The Ekumen is a fictional interstellar confederacy created by Le Guin, first appearing in her 1966 novella *The Dowry of Angyar* (later expanded into *Rocannon’s World*). The setting explores themes of gender, society, and diplomacy across diverse worlds, with *The Left Hand of Darkness* (1969) becoming her most acclaimed Ekumen novel. By 2016, she had published over a dozen Ekumen-related works spanning half a century.

Samenvatting verdict

Ursula K. Le Guin accurately recounts the opening line of *The Left Hand of Darkness* (1969), her first Ekumen novel, and the 50-year span of writing about the setting by 2016.

Geraadpleegde bronnen

— Le Guin, Ursula K. *The Left Hand of Darkness*. Ace Books, 1969 (first sentence: 'The king was pregnant.').

— Le Guin, Ursula K. *The Found and the Lost: The Collected Novellas of Ursula K. Le Guin*. Saga Press, 2016 (Introduction).

— Spivack, Charlotte. *Ursula K. Le Guin: Voice for the Voiceless*. Rowman & Littlefield, 1984 (chronology of Ekumen works, pp. 23–45).

— Bernardo, Susan M. *Ursula K. Le Guin: A Critical Companion*. Greenwood Press, 2006 (analysis of Ekumen timeline, pp. 11–13).

— Le Guin, Ursula K. *The Hainish Novels & Stories, Vol. 1*. Library of America, 2017 (editorial notes on publication history).