"The Dowry of Angyar" is a
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
short story by American writer
Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the '' Earthsea'' fantasy series. She was ...
, first published in 1964. It is the first work of the ''
Hainish Cycle
The ''Hainish Cycle'' consists of a number of science fiction novels and stories by Ursula K. Le Guin. It is set in a future history in which civilizations of human beings on planets orbiting a number of nearby stars, including Terra ("Earth"), ar ...
''. The story is set on a fictional planet of the star
Fomalhaut
Fomalhaut is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Piscis Austrinus, the "Southern Fish", and one of the brightest stars in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation Alpha Piscis Austrini, which is Latinized from ...
, and follows a highborn woman as she tries to track down a family heirloom. It was
framed by commentary from ethnologists studying the intelligent life-forms of the Fomalhaut system. The story drew from
Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...
, and explored the concept of
time dilation
In physics and relativity, time dilation is the difference in the elapsed time as measured by two clocks. It is either due to a relative velocity between them ( special relativistic "kinetic" time dilation) or to a difference in gravitational ...
. "The Dowry of Angyar" drew comments for its stylistic devices, while a review praised Le Guin's writing as "crystalline prose". It was later used as the prologue to Le Guin's 1966 novel ''
Rocannon's World
''Rocannon's World'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, her literary debut. It was published in 1966 as an Ace Double, along with Avram Davidson's ''The Kar-Chee Reign'', following the tête-bêche format. Though it i ...
''. In later publications, the story was given the title "Semley's Necklace".
Setting and framing
"The Dowry of Angyar" is the first work set in Le Guin's fictional
Hainish universe
The ''Hainish Cycle'' consists of a number of science fiction novels and stories by Ursula K. Le Guin. It is set in a future history in which civilizations of human beings on planets orbiting a number of nearby stars, including Terra ("Earth"), ar ...
. In this
alternate history
Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, altern ...
, human beings did not evolve on earth, but on Hain. The people of Hain colonized many neighboring planetary systems, including Terra (Earth) and Athshe, possibly a million years before the setting of the novels. The planets subsequently lost contact with each other, for reasons that Le Guin does not explain. Le Guin does not narrate the entire history of the Hainish universe at once, instead letting readers piece it together from various works. The novels and other fictional works set in the Hainish universe recount the efforts to re-establish a galactic civilization. Explorers take years to travel between planetary systems, although the journey is shortened for the travelers due to relativistic
time dilation
In physics and relativity, time dilation is the difference in the elapsed time as measured by two clocks. It is either due to a relative velocity between them ( special relativistic "kinetic" time dilation) or to a difference in gravitational ...
, as well as through instantaneous interstellar communication using the
ansible
An ansible is a category of fictional devices or technology capable of near-instantaneous or faster-than-light communication. It can send and receive messages to and from a corresponding device over any distance or obstacle whatsoever with no d ...
, introduced in ''The Dispossessed''. This galactic civilization is known as the "League of All Worlds".
The story is set on a planet of the star
Fomalhaut
Fomalhaut is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Piscis Austrinus, the "Southern Fish", and one of the brightest stars in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation Alpha Piscis Austrini, which is Latinized from ...
, which is depicted as harboring multiple intelligent species.
The species that the protagonist belongs to has a social structure which divides individuals into two categories: "Olgyior" and "Angyar", with the former subordinate to the latter.
There are two additional species, the
elf-like Fiia and the
dwarf-like Gdemiar. The story depicts the plan soon after "starlords", who are emissaries of the League of Worlds, have begun to land on the planet and levy taxes on its population.
The story is
framed by commentary from the League of World's
ethnologist
Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...
Rocannon and the curator of the League's museum on the fictional planet of South Georgia, as they discuss Semley's planet,
as well as a description of the intelligent species of the Fomalhaut system, and a comment on Rocannon's own story by an unknown narrator.
Plot summary
Semley, a highborn Angyar woman, is married at a young age. Despite being from a highborn family, she has less material wealth than many of the members of the household of her husband, and feels threatened by this. Not long after a daughter is born to her, she returns to her family seeking a necklace of mythical beauty that her family once possessed. Her father sends her to the Fiia, who profess no knowledge of it. She then turns to the Gdemiar, who manufactured the necklace. They tell her that they can take her to it, in a journey that "will last only one long night."
She is taken on board a spaceship to a museum of the League of Worlds, where she meets Rocannon. She asks the museum for her necklace, and they return it to her. Semley returns to her husband's house, where she finds that although she only experienced two days of travel, she has been away for nine years by the planet's calendar; the planet's year lasts 800 days, and so Semley has been away nearly 20 Earth years. Her husband is now dead, and her daughter a grown woman. In her grief, Semley abandons the necklace and runs into the wilderness.
Themes
![Torque à tampons Somme-Suippe Musée Saint-Remi 120208](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Torque_%C3%A0_tampons_Somme-Suippe_Mus%C3%A9e_Saint-Remi_120208.jpg)
In an introduction to the story written for a later
anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors.
In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...
, Le Guin said that "The Dowry of Angyar" was most characteristic of her early science fiction writing. She described it as the most romantic of her works, saying that she had steadily moved away from explicit romanticism.
She wrote "the candor and simplicity of
The Dowry of Angyar'have gradually become something harder, stronger, more complex."
Reviewer
Amy Clarke
Amy Key Clarke (21 December 1892 – 20 June 1980)Obituary, The ''Times'', 23 June 1980 was an English mystical poet and writer, and a teacher at The Cheltenham Ladies' College.
Early life and education
Clarke was born at 121 Elgin Crescent, ...
wrote that the story might have been inspired by "
Brísingamen
In Norse mythology, ''Brísingamen'' (or ''Brísinga men'') is the torc or necklace of the goddess Freyja. The name is an Old Norse compound ''brísinga-men'' whose second element is ''men'' "(ornamental) neck-ring (of precious metal), torc". The ...
", a
Norse myth
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...
about the necklace of the goddess
Freyja
In Norse paganism, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chario ...
. She stated that the nocturnal Gdemiar in Le Guin's story were the analogs of the dwarves in the Norse myth, while the diurnal Fiaa were similar to the elves. Scholar Donna White also argued that ''The Dowry of Angyar'' was a retelling of the myth of Freyja's necklace. A commentary in ''
Science Fiction Studies
''Science Fiction Studies'' (''SFS'') is an academic journal founded in 1973 by R. D. Mullen. The journal is published three times per year at DePauw University. As the name implies, the journal publishes articles and book reviews on science fic ...
'' stated that the story mixed Norse mythology with the notion of
time dilation
In physics and relativity, time dilation is the difference in the elapsed time as measured by two clocks. It is either due to a relative velocity between them ( special relativistic "kinetic" time dilation) or to a difference in gravitational ...
from
Einsteinian relativistic physics.
According to scholar Kim Kirkpatrick, Semley's story is told through Rocannon, making Semley more of a passive object. Additionally, Semley as a character is shown as not being self-aware in the way Rocannon is, and especially unaware of the consequences of her action in travelling on the spaceship.
Scholar
Richard Erlich wrote that the protagonist of the story gets the object of her quest at the end, but at a high price. Therefore, Erlich states that the story teaches a message of caution, a message that is found elsewhere in folklore.
The ''Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' described the story as exploring the subjective nature of time in the folkloric concept of
Faerie
Fairyland (''Faerie'', Scottish ''Elfame'', c.f. Old Norse ''Álfheimr'') in English and Scottish folklore is the fabulous land or abode of fairies or ''fays''. Old French (Early Modern English ) referred to an illusion or enchantment, the land ...
, and providing a "
Technofantasy justification" for it. Semley's journey lasts a single night or two, but cruelly she discovers too late that time dilation has resulted in many years having elapsed at home.
Publication and reception
"The Dowry of Angyar" was written in 1963, and published in the science fiction magazine ''
Amazing Stories
''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances i ...
'' in 1964. It was incorporated as the prologue (titled "Prologue: The Necklace") into the 1966 novel ''
Rocannon's World
''Rocannon's World'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, her literary debut. It was published in 1966 as an Ace Double, along with Avram Davidson's ''The Kar-Chee Reign'', following the tête-bêche format. Though it i ...
'', which was Le Guin's first novel.
It was later reprinted as the first story in the 1975 collection ''
The Wind's Twelve Quarters
''The Wind's Twelve Quarters'' is a collection of short stories by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, named after a line from A. E. Housman's '' A Shropshire Lad'' and first published by Harper & Row in 1975. Described by Le Guin as a retrospectiv ...
''.
In later printings the story was titled "Semley's Necklace". It was anthologized in the 1992 collection ''
The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories
''The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories'' is a book of science fiction stories edited by Tom Shippey
Thomas Alan Shippey (born 9 September 1943) is a British medievalist, a retired scholar of Middle and Old English literature as well ...
''.
An obituary for Le Guin in the web publication ''
The Conversation
''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford, Teri Garr, and Rober ...
'' described the story as the "finest of its kind" in the genre of fantasy, and went on to say that its "crystalline prose
asequal to Semley’s tragic fate".
A review of ''
The Wind's Twelve Quarters
''The Wind's Twelve Quarters'' is a collection of short stories by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, named after a line from A. E. Housman's '' A Shropshire Lad'' and first published by Harper & Row in 1975. Described by Le Guin as a retrospectiv ...
'' in a teachers' journal referred to the story as a "valuable reading experience".
The style and structure of the story were commented upon by several reviewers. Kirkpatrick found that "The Dowry of Angyar" used stylistic devices frequently used later by Le Guin. These included as directly addressing the reader in a manner that engaged the audience in creating the story, and involving the central character in an identity-related guessing game. Kirkpatrick stated that although the story is seemingly focused on Semley, in some respects Rocannon is the main character. As a scientist, he studies and questions Semley, thus both depicting and objectifying her as an alien "other" and likening his own perspective to that of the audience, whose curiosity about Semley's story he shares.
A 2015 literary commentary suggested that within the story Le Guin used two styles that alternated. The framing story, set in a museum of the Ekumen, used scientific and technical language, in keeping with the character of Rocannon, a style typical of conventional science fiction. Semley's journey, on the other hand, was told with a "poetic shaping of language" that the author found more typical of fantasy, or "science fantasy". The commentary described this combination as a "very interesting compositional operation".
References
Sources
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External links
*
The Dowry of Angyar at the
Internet Speculative Fiction Database
The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB) is a database of bibliographic information on genres considered speculative fiction, including science fiction and related genres such as fantasy, alternate history, and horror fiction. The ISFDB ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dowry of Angyar, The
1964 short stories
Hainish Cycle
Science fiction short stories
Short stories by Ursula K. Le Guin
Works originally published in Amazing Stories
Spaceflight in fiction