Ursula K. Le Guin, Interplanetary Anthropologist
By Anand Pandian Sometime early in the year 1980, Ursula K. Le Guin receives a fan letter. And yet the letter isn’t actually addressed to Le Guin, but instead to “Faxe,” a minor character in one of her most beloved books, The Left Hand of Darkness, first published in 1969. Inked with fine calligraphy onto several cream-colored sheets, the missive runs as follows— Dear Faxe, When I first read The Left Hand of Darkness some eight or nine years {+}