The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K Le Guin
Publisher - Gollancz
First Published – 1972
When the inhabitants of a peaceful world are conquered by the bloodthirsty yumens, their existence is irrevocably altered. Forced into servitude, the Athsheans find themselves at the mercy of their brutal masters.
Desperation causes the Athsheans, led by Selver, to retaliate against their captors, abandoning their strictures against violence. But in defending their lives, they have endangered the very foundations of their society. For every blow against the invaders is a blow to the humanity of the Athsheans. And once the killing starts, there is no turning back.
How people connect a story to a movie is sometimes fascinating. There are indeed many stories that Hollywood has done some weird things to – I Am Legend comes to mind. For me the books are always still there to be enjoyed but it is fascinating to explore the choices people think work/do not work for a two-hour movie. But sometimes a movie has nothing at all to do with a book. I was very puzzled when I was saying online I’d read Ursula K le Guin’s novella The Word For World Is Forest and two people told me this was the inspiration for James Cameron’s Avatar. I only saw that film once on DVD back in the day and recall mightily puzzled why everyone would go to see it (yet alone any sequels) but regards Le Guin’s links to Avatar I can confidently say I could only see a similarity if I was having one eye close, with my head sideways while attempting a grandstand. The World for World is Forest is undeniably excellent reading and continues neatly into a study of evil dovetailing neatly with the book previously published The Farthest Shore but also as with all good science fiction in dialogue with the time it is created in. I think it also reminds us that real life is not always subtle either as those of who in 2026 have experienced.
The New Tahiti colony is a planet that humans are now seeking to colonise. It has a previous rare resource in the form of wood (Earth’s forests are now gone) and will soon serve as a future colony for the over-populated humans. The fly in the ointment is the existing population they call Creechies – a monkey like population with green fur and a meter tall. The humans have though leaned they can be turned into workers in settlements. However, the unusually docile Creechies suddenly and unexpectedly attack one group leaving humans dead. War has begun.
The Word for World Is Forest is lean, elegant and for me demonstrating Le Guin’s power to play with structure and approach in ways I’d not seen in the earlier novels. In less than 150 pages we get three different points of view, a study in human colonisation and equally important a study in what colonisers end up leaving behind.
Impressively humanity is the bad guys here and that is very much achieved when we follow Captain Davidson. We are pre-disposed to hate him from page 1. He is lustily looking forward to the arrival of women on the colony and is thinking of sex and his basic desires. We soon see Davidson is vile to everyone and in particular the creechies. He argues with another human named Kees over their treatment and yet he is stung in surprise to see one he names Scarface who actually attacked him is now leading a rebellion that leaves many of Davidson’s men dead and the base he was in destroyed, He won’t stand for that, nor some of his superiors telling him to rein his aggression in nor the wider Hainish powers that Earth is now sucking up to. He will teach the creechies a lesson. Now it is interesting to note Le Guin in the early 21st century felt her villains in this one were a little OTT. Let’s just say by 2026 I think we’ probably say we recognise this kind of person who runs on their id, grievance and a desire to bully anyone they perceive as weaker than themselves. It is not hard to see parallels with this character and the Vietnam War raging and that is a useful reminder that the American swagger and bullying of the 2020s is not new nor is the hubris that perhaps is to follow.
Le Guin makes it clear not all humans are like Davidson and we follow another human named Lyubov who sees the crechies as an intelligent lifeform in their own right. Lyubov argues with his superiors and the Hainish about the creechies right to exist without being persecuted. He even gets to explore life for them within their own community and leanrs their language. I think an average science fiction story would have just had these two viewpoints colliding. Id versus Superego and rationality wins the day. But Lyubov while gets some people listening is not that effective. The desire for resource and land win but at least the humans know they can’t just go full on retribution or else the Hainish as a bigger power will get involved. What Le Guin does here is make us ee the alien point of view
Scarface is actually named Selver. His people are the Astheans and rather than being a simple form of life they have a rich culture, heritage and community far from human eyes. In Davidson’s chapter the language is sharp, jagged and filled with slang and anger. Lyubov’s chapters are often more procedural, scientific the watcher and his conclusions but with Selver’s chapters Le Guin allows the poetry to flow describing nature, the Asthean culture and their various ways of living from matriarchal societies to a focus on shared dreams and co-operation. Selver lost their wife to Davidoson’s cruelty and so we watch him argue that action is required to prevent more death and destruction. Le Guin makes this though a nuanced argument, not too easy and we are yet fully on side especially when it means Selver will finally face the evil Davidson. Again, you could no doubt make a movie like that, but Lyubov would more likely be the chisel jawed hero choosing a side and beating the bad guy as a true hero does to save the primitive aliens.
We do get a win at the end but again whereas some movies would just end there perhaps with a big party scene and booming soundtrack Le Guin has a more disquieting ending. We learn that once the concept of violence is released in a people even for good reasons it isn’t just turned off. The revelation that the Astheans are seeing violence within their own communities towards one another is sobering. Humans have left a mark and as to what form this will take the whole aliens we have come to admire is unknown. Again, as we are re-learning yet again in the 1st century you can’t switch a war on and off for good.
The Word for World is Forest is a read I can strongly recommend. It will pass quickly but I think still for many readers be relevant, powerful and thought-provoking. Le Guin seems fully in control of the storytelling and knows when to make a different form of argument to the very simple black and white tales we see elsewhere. Avatar could not hold a candle to it!
