Le Guin Part 3: The Reader’s Labyrinth

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Literary Nomads

Steve Chisnell

61 episodes

6 days ago

Join me, Steve Chisnell, as we find and lose meaning across modern and classic tales, through ancient and distant verse, atop everything in our many cultures which might be read. For teachers, students, and lovers of reading, we will discover new paths to understanding!

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Le Guin Part 3: The Reader’s Labyrinth

Literary Nomads

41 minutes 32 seconds

2 months ago

Le Guin Part 3: The Reader’s Labyrinth

29 Aug 2025
Episode 6.11 - Le Guin Part 3: The Reader's Labyrinth
Sure, the Omelas dilemma is tough, but at least we have our narrator as ally, right? Right? Perhaps the real horror in Omelas has less to do with the child at its center.

We also discuss how the relationship between culture and the individual, narrator rhetoric, broader allegories, reader psychology, and the alienation effect.

Our Main Text:

* Ursula K. Le Guin: "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas": https://archive.org/download/the-ones-who-walk-away-from-omelas-ursula-k-leguin/The%20Ones%20Who%20Walk%20Away%20from%20Omelas%20-%20Ursula%20K%20LeGuin.pdf

Complete Resources: https://waywordsstudio.com/project/le-guin-omelas/

CHAPTERS

00:00 Into a Land UnLike Our Own
05:34 Opening Theme
06:14 The Narrator's Rhetorical Toolkit
20:04 Choices and Subversions
29:32 And So We Walk Away?
36:29 How Do I Teach This Nightmare?
40:16 Closing Credits

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New to Literary Nomads? Check out episode 5.00 to find out what we're all about: https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/waywords_podcast/an-introduction-and-irony/

Transcript: https://waywordsstudio.com/general/transcript/6-11-le-guin-part-3

Have a Question? Literary Nomads Mailbag: https://forms.gle/WKGp1YWrazNZ3TLt8

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Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas.

Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses.

Website: https://waywordsstudio.com

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CREDITS:

Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)