Dancing the Tao

Dancing the Tao: Le Guin and Moral Development takes an original approach to Ursula K. Le Guin’s work – speculative fiction, poetry and children’s literature – by considering her Taoist upbringing and then looking through the lens of moral development theorists such as Carol Gilligan and Mary Field Belenky, and psychologists such as Lenore Terr and Jennifer J. Freyd. It is the most comprehensive approach to Le Guin’s moral thinking to date. A particular emphasis is put on Le Guin’s depiction of physical and sexual child abuse and its long term aftereffects such as post traumatic stress disorder. The focus throughout the book is on how morality develops through self-awareness and voice, how moral decisions are made and how Le Guin challenges readers to reconsider their own moral thinking. This book covers all of Le Guin’s major works such as The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed, the Earthsea Series, Always Coming Home, The Telling and Lavinia, and it also looks in depth at work that is rarely discussed such as Le Guin’s early work, her poetry, and her picture books.