Title: Lathe of Heaven
Author: Ursula Le Guin
Date of First Publication: March and May 1971
Place of Publication: Amazing Science Fiction
Type: Novel
Characters: No Character
Themes: MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER; RACE/POLITICS; SYMPATHETIC MONSTER; WOMEN WRITING MONSTERS; POSTHUMAN; BYRONIC HERO
Critical Summary: In Lathe of Heaven, George Orr gets picked up by medics and taken into custody for abusing his medication. He is sent to sleep specialist Dr. William Haber where Orr explains that he has been abusing pills to avoid dreaming. Orr admits that he believes his dreams have the power to change reality. As a test of Orr’s sanity, Haber hooks him up to his “Augmentor” and puts Orr in to REM sleep. During this dream, Haber witnesses the painting on his wall change from Mount Hood to a horse. Although Haber pretends to not believe Orr at first, he continues to experiment with the power of his dreams by changing his painting back to Mount Hood and effecting the weather. As the sessions continue, the changes Haber presses on to the world through Orr’s dreams continue to get more severe and Orr begins to believe he is being taken advantage of. In search of help, Orr speaks with lawyer Heather Lelache where there seems to be a connection between the two immediately. Lelache accompanies Orr on his next session where Haber experiments with fixing the world’s overpopulation problem. Haber’s experiment works right in front of Lelache and billions are gone. After Haber’s experiment, the guilt and inner turmoil of Orr grows exponentially. At his next session, Haber attempts to solve the problem by suggesting Orr dream of world peace, which results in aliens landing on the moon. While alone with Lelache, Orr is hypnotized and dreams the aliens are no longer on the moon. When Orr wakes up, they are now on Earth. In attempt of a friendly welcome, the aliens begin dropping bombs, believing this is our way of being friendly. It is eventually discovered the aliens are not hostile. While trying to fix the alien landing, Orr ends up turning everyone grey and Lelache disappears. With the help of an alien, George is able to dream Lelache back into existence. Living happily together, Orr and Lelache decide to go to Haber for a final appointment where Orr surrenders his powers over to Haber. With this new power, Haber hooks himself up to the Augmentor and begins changing reality. Trying to regain control over his life, Orr turns off Haber’s machine and things soon get back to a new kind of normal. Orr finds himself single again, working for the aliens when Lelache walks in to his store, suggesting the story between the two goes beyond the length of the novel.
Using a feminist and Taoist approach to a classic mad scientist story, Le Guin allows her readers a more in depth understanding of the mad scientist character (Haber) and his creature (Orr) as well. Insight on the motivation behind Haber is abundant; however, Le Guin primarily focuses on exploring how the one being experimented on and “othered” feels. By delving into the thoughts and feelings of Orr throughout his sessions, Le Guin is able to create a more sympathetic and modern version of Shelley’s “Creature” giving him complex decisions and moral dilemmas and allowing her readers to see him work through them. In doing so, Orr slowly changes from assumed mad man to a complex tortured and beautiful soul. Le Guin’s novel also touches lightly on the topic of Race/Politics relating to Shelley’s Frankenstein when Orr dreams everyone as being the same shade of grey and still feeling like his problems are only getting worse. Le Guin’s novel sheds a more modern light on the possible thoughts and feelings of a mad scientists “Creation” as well as the motivation behind someone such as Haber.
Administrative Notes: Alli Merrill, CSUF; Dr. David Sandner, CSUF (editing)