A Community of Common Destiny with the"Unity with the Tao":On Eastern Mysticism in Ursula Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness
The Left Hand of Darkness was published in 1969,when the world was witnessing the cold war between the U.S.and the U.S.S.R.In the novel,Ursula Le Guin highly praises the Eastern mysticism,i.e.,the thought of"unity with the Tao",as an antidote to the Western duality thought behind the cold war.However,Le Guin also misreads and deviates from the Eastern mysticism to a certain extent,as the novel implicitly endorses Western mysticism,so that the duality could not be really broken,nor could the"unity with the Tao"be achieved.A critical reading of Le Guin's novel will clarify how"unity with the Tao"can bring an end to the duality thought and thus help promote the construction of a community of common destiny.The exposition of Le Guin's misreading of Taoist mysticism can also help us to see the trap of duality in disguise of unity.
Eastern mysticismTaoist mysticismdualityunity with the onecommunity of common destinyThe Left Hand of Darkness
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