Direction of the Road: A Story

By Ursula K. Le Guin

From a National Book award winner, a speculative short story exploring the human impact on the environment from the perspective of a tree.
 
The recipient of numerous literary prizes, including the National Book Award, the Kafka Award, and the Pushcart Prize, Ursula K. Le Guin is renowned for her spare, elegant prose, rich characterization, and diverse worlds. “Direction of the Road” is a short story originally published in the collection The Wind's Twelve Quarters. Inspired by a tree in the real world, Le Guin imbues the tree with consciousness, providing a philosophical commentary on the fraught relationship between humanity and nature.
 
“Ursula Le Guin is more than just a writer of adult fantasy and science fiction . . . she is a philosopher; an explorer in the landscapes of the mind.” —Cincinnati Enquirer

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Feb 14, 2017
• ISBN: 9780062470829

Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (1929-2018) was a celebrated author whose body of work includes twenty-three novels, twelve volumes of short stories, eleven volumes of poetry, thirteen children’s books, five essay collections, and four works of translation. The breadth and imagination of her work earned her six Nebula Awards, seven Hugo Awards, and SFWA’s Grand Master, along with the PEN/Malamud and many other awards. In 2014 she was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and in 2016 she joined the short list of authors to be published in their lifetimes by the Library of America.

Book preview

CONTENTS

Direction of the Road

About the Author

Praise

Also by Ursula K. Le Guin

Back Ads

Copyright

About the Publisher

DIRECTION OF THE ROAD

The tree stands just south of the McMinnville bypass on Oregon State Highway 18. It lost a major limb last year, but still looks grand. We drive past it several times a year, and it has never failed to uphold Relativity with dignity and the skill of long practice.

They did not use to be so demanding. They never hurried us into anything more than a gallop, and that was rare; most of the time it was just a jigjog foot-pace. And when one of them was on his own feet, it was a real pleasure to approach him. There was time to accomplish the entire act with style. There he’d be, working his legs and