Everything About Orsinia

Ursula K. Le Guin is a classic of modern science fiction and a star of world literature, laureate of numerous prestigious awards (including a nine-time winner of the Hugo and a six-time Nebula winner), author of the Earthsea series and the Hainish Cycle. One of the pillars of so-called soft, humanitarian science fiction, Le Guin paid great attention to issues of sociology and psychology, intercultural conflicts, and anthropology. And perhaps her most personal, deeply conceived project was the cycle of works about the Central European country of Orsinia, with its mountainous capital and ancient forests, fateful passions and centuries-old mythology; you won’t find Orsinia on the map, but the world created by the imagination of the classic is incredibly real — with every inch, every episode of the fictional, yet so familiar story. The book “Everything About Orsinia,” compiled by Le Guin shortly before her death, includes the novel “Malafrena,” the collection “Stories about Orsinia,” and a number of additional materials — folk songs of the province of Montaina, later stories, and a detailed preface. Some texts are published in Russian for the first time or in new translations, while others are in a new edition.