- Malafrena
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Malafrena 
Cover of first edition (hardcover)Author(s) Ursula K. Le Guin Cover artist Michael Mariano Country United States Language English Genre(s) Fantasy literature Publisher Berkley Publishing Corporation Publication date 1979 Media type Print (Hardcover and Paperback) Pages 369 (First edition) ISBN 0399124101 (First edition, hardcover) OCLC Number 4805125 Dewey Decimal 813/.5/4 LC Classification PZ4.L518 Mal 1979 PS3562.E42 Malafrena is a 1979 novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. Although she is best known for science fiction and fantasy, the only unusual element of this novel is that it takes place in the imaginary Central European country of Orsinia, which is also the setting of her collection Orsinian Tales.
In many ways, Malafrena reads like a nineteenth-century novel, with its many detailed characters, its political-movement and love-story subplots, its lack of the supernatural, and its settings that range from the mansions of the aristocracy to slums and a prison. Malafrena is written for an adult audience, as opposed to children and young adults, the target audience of most of Le Guin's works in the 1979-1994 time frame.[1]
Contents
Plot summary
The story takes place from 1825 to 1830, when Orsinia is ruled by the Austrian Empire. The hero is Itale Sorde, the son of the owner of an estate on a lake called Malafrena in a valley of the same name. Itale leaves the estate, against his father's will, to engage in nationalistic and revolutionary politics in the capital.
Key characters
Itale Sorde: The protagonist of the story.
Luisa: A female character.
Literary significance and criticism
Mike Cadden notes that Malafrena has not received as much critical attention as many of Le Guin's other works, primarily because the characters in the story do not connect well with one another.[2] An imperceptible, omniscient author is used to tell the story, and Le Guin herself acknowledges one of the strongest influences on her Orsinian works is Russian literature.[3]
Translations
References
- Notes
- ^ Cadden, Mike. Ursula K. Le Guin Beyond Genre: Fiction for Children and Adults, (New York, NY: Routledge, 2005) page 114.
- ^ Cadden, Mike. Ursula K. Le Guin Beyond Genre: Fiction for Children and Adults, (New York, NY: Routledge, 2005) page 30.
- ^ Cadden, Mike. Ursula K. Le Guin Beyond Genre: Fiction for Children and Adults, (New York, NY: Routledge, 2005) page 153.
- Bibliography
- Cadden, Mike (2005). Ursula K. Le Guin Beyond Genre: Fiction for Children and Adults (1st ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0415995272.
Works by Ursula K. Le Guin – (bibliography) Earthsea "The Word of Unbinding" (1964) · "The Finder" (2001) · "Darkrose and Diamond" (1999) · "The Rule of Names" (1964) · "The Bones of the Earth" (2001) · A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) · The Tombs of Atuan (1971) · "On the High Marsh" (2001) · The Farthest Shore (1972) · Tehanu (1990) · "Earthsea Revisioned" (1993) · "Dragonfly" (1997) · Tales from Earthsea (2001) · The Other Wind (2001)Hainish Cycle "Dowry of the Angyar" (1964) · Rocannon's World (1966) · Planet of Exile (1966) · City of Illusions (1967) · The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) · "Winter's King" (1969) · "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow" (1971) · The Dispossessed (1974) · "The Day Before the Revolution" (1974) · The Word for World is Forest (1976) · "The Shobies' Story" (1990) · "Dancing to Ganam" (1993) · "Another Story or A Fisherman of the Inland Sea" (1994) · "The Matter of Seggri" (1994) · "Unchosen Love" (1994) · "Solitude" (1994) · Four Ways to Forgiveness (1995) · "Coming of Age in Karhide" (1995) • "Mountain Ways" (1996) · "Old Music and the Slave Women" (1999) · The Telling (2000)Other fiction
(novels bold)The Lathe of Heaven (1971) · The Wind's Twelve Quarters (1975) · Orsinian Tales (1976) · The Eye of the Heron (1978) · Malafrena (1979) · The Beginning Place (1980) · The Compass Rose (1982) · Always Coming Home (1985) · Buffalo Gals, and Other Animal Presences (1987) · Searoad (1991) · A Fisherman of the Inland Sea (1994) · Unlocking the Air and Other Stories (1996) · The Birthday of the World (2002) · Changing Planes (2003) · Lavinia (2008)Nonfiction The Language of the Night (1979) · Dancing at the Edge of the World (1982) · Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching (1997) · Steering the Craft (1998) · The Wave in the Mind (2004)Categories:- 1979 novels
- Novels by Ursula K. Le Guin
- 1820s in fiction
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