Reviews

"Dancing at the Edge of the World . . . is Ursula Le Guin at her best: insightful, funny, sharp, occasionally tendentious and nearly always provocative. . . . This is an important collection of eloquent, elegant pieces by one of our most acclaimed contemporary writers." -Elizabeth Hand, Washington Post Book World"If you are tired of being able to predict what a writer will say next, if you are bored stiff with minimalism, if you want excess and risk and intelligence and pure orneriness, try Le Guin." -Mary Mackey, San Francisco Chronicle"I read Ursula Le Guin's Dancing at the Edge of the World with great delight. What a pleasure it is to roam around in her spacious, playful mind. And what a joy to read her taut, elegant prose." -Erica Jong"Essential reading for anyone who imagines herself literate and/or socially concerned or who wants to learn what it means to be such." -Library Journal

Le Guin is one of the most important American fiction writers working today. With this anthology, which collects her essays, addresses, and reviews from the last decade, she demonstrates that she is also one of the most significant. These pieces, which include Le Guin's reflections on her own work, writing in general, women, and the world, comprise a record of recent history as experienced by one actor/observer whose social critique does not exclude self-analysis and revision. Le Guin is an irreverent demystifier of the industry currently known as ``literary criticism'' and a consummate storyteller who enlightens with her perfect weave of myth and fact, fantasy and common sense. Essential reading for anyone who imagines herself literate and/or socially concerned or who wants to learn what it means to be such. Mollie Brodsky, Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.