Changing Planes
Encyclopedia
Changing Planes is a 2003 collection of short stories by Ursula K. Le Guin
. Each chapter describes a different world and the society that inhabits it; these societies share similarities with Earth's culture
s in some respects, but may be notably dissimilar in other respects. Many of the chapters are brief vignettes
or ethnographic profiles of the societies they describe.
Changing Planes won the Locus Award
for best collection in 2004.
of the collection, described in the first story, "Sita Dulip's Method", is based on a pun that ties the book together: that the low-level discomfort of forced occupation of an airport
while changing planes can, in fact, cause one to change from one "plane" of reality to another. Because of the different flow of time in other planes, one can spend a week visiting another plane and return in time to make a connecting flight.
One scholar notes that the stories explore an underlying, unifying theme around the "inherent difficulties in translations and understanding other cultures."
The style of the collection has been compared to the literary style of Jonathan Swift
and Jorge Luis Borges
.
Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin is an American author. She has written novels, poetry, children's books, essays, and short stories, notably in fantasy and science fiction...
. Each chapter describes a different world and the society that inhabits it; these societies share similarities with Earth's culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
s in some respects, but may be notably dissimilar in other respects. Many of the chapters are brief vignettes
Vignette (literature)
In theatrical script writing, sketch stories, and poetry, a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting and sometimes an object...
or ethnographic profiles of the societies they describe.
Changing Planes won the Locus Award
Locus Award
The Locus Award is a literary award established in 1971 and presented to winners of Locus magazine's annual readers' poll. Currently, the Locus Awards are presented at an annual banquet...
for best collection in 2004.
Conception and analysis
The conceitConceit
In literature, a conceit is an extended metaphor with a complex logic that governs a poetic passage or entire poem. By juxtaposing, usurping and manipulating images and ideas in surprising ways, a conceit invites the reader into a more sophisticated understanding of an object of comparison...
of the collection, described in the first story, "Sita Dulip's Method", is based on a pun that ties the book together: that the low-level discomfort of forced occupation of an airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
while changing planes can, in fact, cause one to change from one "plane" of reality to another. Because of the different flow of time in other planes, one can spend a week visiting another plane and return in time to make a connecting flight.
One scholar notes that the stories explore an underlying, unifying theme around the "inherent difficulties in translations and understanding other cultures."
The style of the collection has been compared to the literary style of Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
and Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
.
Contents
- "Sita Dulip's Method"
- Introduction to the premise of the volume.
- "Porridge on Islac"
- About a society which has taken genetic engineering to extremes. This story features a woman whose genomeGenomeIn modern molecular biology and genetics, the genome is the entirety of an organism's hereditary information. It is encoded either in DNA or, for many types of virus, in RNA. The genome includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA/RNA....
is partly corn.- "The Silence of the Asonu"
- About a people who do not speak as adults and the visitors from Earth who seek meaning in their silence and their rare utterances.
- "Feeling at Home with the Hennebet"
- About a people whose society is based on a concept of "living multiple lives", which is never completely explained.
- "The Ire of the Veksi"
- About a culture of people who are angry most of the time, and its ramifications, such as sulking, war, distrust.
- "Seasons of the Ansarac"
- About a planet with very long years (26 Earth years) within each of which its people migrate to and from the mountains in the north; based on the migration patterns of ospreyOspreyThe Osprey , sometimes known as the sea hawk or fish eagle, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and across the wings...
s.- "Social Dreaming of the Frin"
- About a society where dreams are shared telepathically and the unconscious is the collective unconscious.
- "The Royals of Hegn"
- About a country where almost everyone is royalty, and the one family of commoners is treated as celebrities.
- "Woeful Tales from Mahigul"
- Includes four tales: "Dawodow the Innumerable", about a narcissistic and tyrannical emperor who both loved and hated himself; "The Cleansing of Obtry", about a region marked by religious conflict; "The Black Dog", that tells the story of a mysterious black dog that drove two tribes into mayhem; and "The War for the Alon", about two city-states that destroyed themselves over a small piece of land each claimed by divine right.
- "Great Joy"
- About a plane that has been turned into a collection of holiday-themed resorts by an Earth-based corporation.
- "Wake Island"
- About a population of people genetically engineered not to need sleep, who never fully achieve consciousness.
- "The Nna Mmoy Language"
- About the complexities of language in a world where every living thing unnecessary to human life has been removed. These people have replaced biodiversityBiodiversityBiodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
with language.- "The Building"
- About a global society which is organized around the endless construction of a building. These nomads invest tremendous resources creating an uninhabited, labyrinthine castle.
- "The Fliers of Gy"
- About a plane of feathered people, a few of whom develop wings and yet such happening is considered a misfortune, and the wings a handicap.
- "The Island of the Immortals"
- About a visit to an island that is said to be inhabited by immortals.
- "Confusions of Uñi"
- About a plane where reality seems to shift unpredictably.