{"product_id":"the-birthday-of-the-world-and-other-stories-9780066212531","title":"The Birthday of the World: And Other Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003eLe Guin is a writer of enormous intelligence and wit  a master storyteller with the humor and force of a Twain. . . . The Birthday of the World is prime new Le Guin. Like a tour of other countries  these splendid and necessary stories will send you back home with new eyes. Boston Globe Ursula K. Le Guin has enthralled readers with her imagination  clarity  and moral vision. The recipient of numerous literary prizes  including the National Book Award  the Kafka Award  and five Hugo and five Nebula Awards  this renowned writer has  in each story and novel  created a provocative  ever-evolving universe filled with diverse worlds and rich characters reminiscent of our earthly selves. In The Birthday of the World  she returns to these worlds in eight brilliant short works  including a never-before-published novella  each of which probes the essence of humanity. Here are stories that explore complex social interactions and troublesome issues of gender and sex; that define and defy notions of personal relationships and of society itself; that examine loyalty  survival  and introversion; that bring to light the vicissitudes of slavery and the meaning of transformation  religion  and history. The first six tales in this spectacular volume are set in the authors signature world of the Ekumen  \"my pseudo-coherent universe with holes in the elbows \" as Le Guin describes ita world made familiar in her award-winning novel The Left Hand of Darkness. The seventh  title story was hailed by Publishers Weekly as \"remarkable . . . a standout.\" The final offering in the collection  Paradises Lost  is a mesmerizing novella of space exploration and the pursuit of happiness. In her foreword  Le Guin writes  \"to create differenceto establish strangenessthen to let the fiery arc of human emotion leap and close the gap: this acrobatics of the imagination fascinates and satisfies me as no other.\" In The Birthday of the World  this gifted literary acrobat exhibits a dazzling array of skills that will fascinate and satisfy us all.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45647087304757,"sku":"ByrdShop_0066212537","price":25.42,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780066212531.jpg?v=1781688455","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-birthday-of-the-world-and-other-stories-9780066212531","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}