Back لعالم د روكانون ARY El món de Rocannon Catalan Rocannonův svět Czech Rocannons Welt German El mundo de Rocannon Spanish دنیای روکانون Persian Rocannonin maailma Finnish Le Monde de Rocannon French Il mondo di Rocannon Italian Rocannon Dutch
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 Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | Ursula K. Le Guin |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Gerald McConnell |
| Language | English |
| Series | Hainish Cycle |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Published | 1966 (Ace Books) |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 117 |
| ISBN | 0-8240-1424-3 |
| OCLC | 9159033 |
| 813/.5/4 | |
| LC Class | PZ4.L518 Ro4 PS3562.E42 |
| Followed by | Planet of Exile (1966) |
Rocannon's World is a science fiction novel by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, her literary debut. Published in 1966, it appeared as an Ace Double,[clarification needed][not verified in body][a] with an opening entitled "Semley's Necklace" that first appeared as the stand-alone story, "The Dowry of Angyar", in Amazing Stories in September 1964. The novel is one of several of Le Guin's works taking place in the same universe and with relationships of characters and history, works that have been termed the Hainish Cycle (a term rejected by the author herself).[1][2] Its story presents many elements of heroic fantasy.[not verified in body]
The novel's protagonist, "League of All Worlds" ethnographer Gaveral Rocannon, returns to planet Fomalhaut II after its quarantine to lead a further advanced survey of its "higher intelligence life forms" (hilfs). As the novel opens, a rebel faction of the League violently attacks his ship, taking the lives of all of his colleagues—and, in presaging invasion, endangers the future of the planet's sentient species. Rocannon engages with these, including the tall, feudal, aristocratic Angyar, and two shorter likewise intelligent species, the troglodyte technologists and makers, the Gdemiar, and the a-technological, colonially telepathic Fiia,[3] to battle both harsh planetary elements and other sentients, to accomplish a quest—to beckon the distant League to thwart the invasion.
In developing the story, Le Guin introduces the term "ansible" as a key technology (and plot element), one that allows instantaneous communication across vast distances, a term that went on to much wider used in science fiction, including by novelist Orson Scott Card and others.[4]
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- ^ Le Guin, Ursula K. (2007). "Answers to a Questionnaire (FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions)". ursulakleguin.com. Archived from the original on 2016-02-16. Retrieved 2013-05-24.
- ^ Le Guin, Ursula K. (2007). "FAQ: In what order should I read the Ekumen, Earthsea, and Catwings books?". ursulakleguin.com. Archived from the original on 2018-01-28. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
- ^ See the opening quote of the book, from the fictional "Abridged Handy Pocket Guide to Intelligent Life-forms", Le Guin, Rocannon's World, op. cit.
- ^ Quinion, Michael. "Ansible". World Wide Words. Retrieved 2011-07-10.