Talk:The Left Hand of Darkness

"Science fiction as thought experiment" listed at Redirects for discussion
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Influence of Theodora
There are certainly some references to the mother's influence. I have added a citation to one journal. It states "It is no surprise that Le Guin’s work should be influenced by anthropology. Le Guin’s mother, Theodora Kroeber, pursued graduate studies in anthropology, participated in an archaeological dig in Peru’s Nazca Valley, co-authored a journal article on methodologies in cultural anthropology (Clements, Schenck, and Brown, 1926), published a collection of retellings of California Native American legends in 1959 (Kroeber, 2005), and later married the anthropologist Alfred Louis (A.L.) Kroeber, one of the most influential American cultural anthropologists of the first half of the 20th century." and "The influence of her parents’ involvement with anthropology on Le Guin’s upbringing, education, and intellectual development was therefore profound.". There are assuredly other citations available. MarcGarver (talk) 13:56, 11 September 2023 (UTC)


 * I certainly don't object to the notion that Theodora K. influenced her daughter. But where Alfred K.'s influence is universally described as anthropological, Theodora's career, and influence, were far more varied and complex. When discussing Le Guin's use of anthropologist protagonists, the vast majority of sources I've read (and if you'll pardon the brag, this is a topic on which I have read a lot of sources) describe the influence of Alfred, and per WP:DUE that's the description I had written in. "Le Guin's father and mother were anthropologists" glosses over a lot of this nuance. I've tried to rework this somewhat, but I'm not very happy with that bald statement based on a single source: and even that source does not equate the two. Vanamonde (Talk) 16:10, 11 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Seems reasonable (and I prefer your edit). It seems probable she grew up in a home where both parents were influential (hardly unreasonable) but as you say the source generally albeit not exclusively credit the father's influence. So that's the way it should be weighted. MarcGarver (talk) 16:49, 11 September 2023 (UTC)