#genly ai

[ringneckedpheasant]

[strangers in a strange land, wanderers in a vast and unknowable universe]

#primary visual inspo for this was a glow in the dark glittery unicorn puzzle I was obsessed w as a child #tlhod #the left hand of darkness #ursula k. le guin #genly ai #therem harth rem ir estraven #marcusart

[asparklethatisblue]

Eyelashes frozen shut, thawed with a kiss.

A while back @aurpiment made a comment about Genly and Estraven based on The Kiss, as a concept. And? Fellas, I had to

#the left hand of darkness #genly ai #therem harth rem ir estraven #my art #fellas is it gay to travel 80 days across the ice with your not yet friend and then kissing his eyelid? #well? is it? #I’m really pleased with this actually even tho I wish I could make it look more painterly

[hermitmoss]

Illustrations by David Lupton from the Folio Society edition of The Left Hand of Darkness.

#tlhod #ursula k le guin #uklg #the left hand of darkness #genly ai #therem harth rem ir estraven #*

[agoddamneddelight]

Genly and Estraven and their journey across the Gobrin ice

I also made a book poster for tlhod with this drawing under the cut :)

#they are constantly rotating in my brain lately #the left hand of darkness #genly ai #therem harth rem ir estraven #tlhod #ursula k. le guin #i made estraven a bit too feminine #sorry my friend #my art

[estravens-tits]

- The Left Hand of Darkness out of context

#the left hand of darkness #tlhod #ursula k. le guin #genly ai #therem harth rem ir estraven #lhod #left hand of darkness #ursula le guin

[bisclavaret]

old-er drawing when i'd just finished reading the left hand of darkness for the first time

#the left hand of darkness #genly ai #estraven #therem harth rem ir estraven #ursula k. le guin #tlhod #my art

[estravenlover]

genly ai pov chapters during the ice crossing: estraven is a conundrum. estraven is the most infuriating man I’ve ever met. etrasven is so womanly. I can’t pin him down. what the hell does he mean by that. he’s so soft looking. he did this for me. who is he. he’s looking at me with his womanly stare again. he is pissing me off. he’s so earnest I’m scared. I need my best friend.

estraven pov chapters during the ice crossing: *logistics* “dear journal, here at the top ten things i noticed about mr. ai today” *licks genly’s eyeballs until his lashes unstick then makes them dinner* “he is like a baby and doesn’t take care of himself right I need to do it but he is also so strong so much stronger than me” *gently rubs out frostbite from genly’s face* “dear diary, here are my further contemplations on me mr. ai’s psyche” *logitics* “we cannot touch” *logistics* “genry, please trust me I’d do anything for you to trust me teach me telepathy so I cannot lie to you” *ruminations on the state and the nature of life*

#left hand of darkness #therem harth rem ir estraven #estraven #genly ai #ursula le guin #teehee!!! #okay but this book is Not about this #it’s just also got this #these chapters took me out

[theygotlost]

finished tlhod 😐👍

#the left hand of darkness #tlhod #ursula k. le guin #genly ai #therem estraven #mine

[piratew0lf]

Some sketches of Estraven from The Left Hand of Darkness!

#artists on tumblr #traditional drawing #traditional art #traditional painting #gouache #the left hand of darkness #therem harth rem ir estraven #estraven #genly ai #genly #ursula k. le guin #fanart #book fanart

[wobubling]

Genly Ai & Therem Harth rem ir Estraven

#the left hand of darkness #genly ai #therem harth rem ir estraven #estraven #my art #wanted to try drawing them..

[sevinite]

some genlys referenced from various pics of joey bada$$

#the left hand of darkness #tlhod #genly ai #idk what i want his hair to look like i jus kno hes locced up 🤞🏽 #my art

[rustchild]

controversial opinion about incredibly niche subjects, but i actually like the use of the universal ‘he’ in the narration of Left Hand of Darkness. I like it for the same reason that everyone hates it, and Ursula Le Guin herself regretted it: because it doesn’t fit.

The book is ostensibly written and translated by Genly, or by the observers that came to Gethen before him, and the central struggle of Genly’s story is his inability to give up the gendered frameworks he’s used to in the face of a situation where they don’t apply at all. Having that baked into the language indicates just how deep that struggle runs. In order for him to understand Gethen, to connect to Estraven--hell, to understand himself--he needs to give up on this idea of gender that is so fundamental to his cultural background that it’s baked into his language, and that’s just as much of a barrier to true connection as Estraven’s memories of Arek are to their use of mindspeech. Having that reflected in the text itself, and showing Genly struggle with it as he writes, is actually a super effective way to not only show this tension, but also draw further attention to the limits of Le Guin’s English-speaking audience.

#lhod #the left hand of darkness #genly ai #i just think it's more effective for building tension and character voice #than it would have been if genly was using a third-gender pronoun the whole time #singular they... maybe #but a genly who is able to adapt a new pronoun from the get go is a different genly than the one we see in the text #the only counter argument i would buy is that genly's writing in retrospective #and by the end of the book has finally (too late) come to understand the limitations of gender #but idk #i like genly because he's a guy who creates problems #not on his own but as a reflection of the culture he comes from #and i think that the fact that there's an inherent contradiction to how the text is presented to us #is a good problem actually #mine #for the three people out there who will care about this

[shes-my-kind-of-boy]

It’s so funny in Estraven’s journal they’re like “agh Genly Ai was being so obtuse and frustrating and it made me so mad that I said something unspeakably rude to him” meanwhile Genly’s like “wow that’s the first time Estraven’s ever given straightforward and sincere advice”

#the left hand of darkness #genly ai #therem harth rem ir estraven

[agoddamneddelight]

my design for my beloved Estraven :,)

#tlhod #ursula k. le guin #the left hand of darkness #therem harth rem ir estraven #genly ai #they are my specialest little guy (gender neutral) #i have so many emotions abt them idk what to do 😃 #i’m rereading this it’ll help right #that won’t make it worse right #also um if u saw me accidentally post this at?? 4 am my time sorry heh oops #my art

[estravens-tits]

My favorite moment

#the left hand of darkness #tlhod #ursula k. le guin #genly ai #therem harth rem ir estraven #lhod #left hand of darkness #ursula le guin

[quietflorilegium]

“A profound love between two people involves, after all, the power and chance of doing profound hurt.”

Genly Ai, Ursula K. Le Guin, "The Left Hand of Darkness"

#ursula k. le guin #ursula le guin #the left hand of darkness #left hand of darkness #genly ai #genly #therem harth rem ir estraven #estraven #love #human connection #bonding #they can get inside you and mess you up #hainish cycle