''Halfway Human'' (

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

) is a science fiction novel written by

Carolyn Ives Gilman Carolyn Ives Gilman (born 1954) is an American historian and author of science fiction and fantasy. She has been nominated for the Nebula Award three times, and the Hugo Award twice. Her short fiction has been published in a number of magazine ...

. It was nominated for the 1998

Tiptree Award The Otherwise Award, formerly known as the James Tiptree Jr. Award, is an American annual literary prize for works of science fiction or fantasy that expand or explore one's understanding of gender. It was initiated in February 1991 by science f ...

and placed second on the Locus Readers Poll for Best First Novel in 1999. The novel follows the life of Tedla, an asexual being from an evolutionary offshoot of humanity. It is neither male nor female and refers to itself as a “bland.” On their home planet blands are kept at a near-slave class, considered to be not human and much less important than either male or female. Blands are mentally, physically and sexually abused by their human masters, normally called guardians. Tedla is found by a social worker named Val Endrada on the planet Capella, light-years away from its home planet of Gammadis, just after trying to kill itself. The existence of the bland off-planet sets into motion a political confrontation between the powers on both planets.

Reception

The work was generally praised by critics at the time of publication and has since been called "groundbreaking." Fellow writer Lisa DuMond reviewed the book in 1998 and suggested that it would likely be included on the Hugo and Nebula ballots for that year.

Themes

Gender and sexuality

Patricia Wheeler compares Gilman's treatment of gender and sexuality, and particularly her attempt to create a character that exhibits neither male nor female characteristics, to Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin. Wheeler mentions that many criticized Le Guin for ultimately failing to create characters that did not exhibit gendered traits, and suggests that this failure could possibly be evident in Halfway Human as well, depending on how the reader chooses to imagine Tedla. Wheeler wonders "Is it possible to see it

edla Edla (10th-century - 11th century), was a Slavic Viking Age woman. She was the mother of King Emund of Sweden and Queen Astrid of Norway. Tradition says Edla was the daughter of a Lechitic Tribal chief who has ruled part of terrain between ...

as completely without gender attributes?" Wheeler remarks on Gilman's use of the juxtaposition of Capellan and Gammadian societies in her story as a way to examine how gender is treated in our society.

References

External links

* 1998 American novels 1998 science fiction novels American science fiction novels 1998 debut novels Avon (publisher) books {{1990s-sf-novel-stub