''Orsinian Tales'' is a collection of eleven short stories by American writer

Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin ( ; Kroeber; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the ''Earthsea'' fantas ...

, most of them set in the imaginary Eastern European country of Orsinia.

Themes

The stories share few links except those derived from the use of a common geographical setting; the only link between characters appears in the stories ''Brothers and Sisters'' and ''A Week in the Country'', both of which deal with members of the Fabbre family (whose history is continued in the later story ''Unlocking the Air''). Common to all the stories, however, are emotionally moving personal events—often, though not always, romantic—set against the backdrop of much larger political events such as wars and revolutions. Continually reasserted are the right of the individual—sometimes alone, but often in conjunction with others—to his or her own thoughts and emotions, not dictated by society, or convention, or the State.

Continuations

Additional stories in the cycle include the novel '' Malafrena'' (1979), set in the Orsinia of the 1820s; the Borges-like story "Two Delays on the Northern Line" containing two tangentially linked episodes of uncertain date; and "Unlocking the Air" The last-named story extends Orsinian history to the time of the downfall of Communism in Orsinia – and the rest of Eastern Europe – in the winter of 1989.

Orsinia

The stories are set in a

fictional country A fictional country is a country that is made up for Fiction, fictional stories, and does not exist in real life, or one that people believe in without proof. Fictional lands appear most commonly as settings or subjects of myth, myths, literature, ...

somewhere in Central Europe, at different times in the period 1150–1989 (though only two take place before the 20th century). This country, "Orsinia", appears in Le Guin's earliest writings, and was invented by le Guin when she was a young adult learning her craft as a writer. The names ''Orsinia'' and ''Ursula'' are both derived from Latin ''ursus'' "bear" (''ursula'' = diminutive of ''ursa'' "female bear"; ''ursinus'' = "bear-like"). Le Guin once said that since Orsinia was her own country it should bear her name. The history of Orsinia follows, in general, that of other countries of

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

, particularly those formerly part of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

. Formerly an independent kingdom ("The Lady of Moge"), by the 19th century it was a dependency of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

('' Malafrena''). It was involved in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

("Conversations at Night"), and was thereafter independent for a while. Its fate in World War II is not mentioned, but in 1946 or 1947 it became a satellite state in the East bloc. A revolt was attempted in 1956 ("The Road East"), but was crushed and followed by reprisals ("A Week in the Country"), and Orsinia remained a repressive police state for several decades. In November 1989, following a series of non-violent protests, the government fell, to be replaced by a transitional régime promising free elections ("Unlocking the Air"). Le Guin did not publish any Orsinian stories dealing with its history since. The Orsinian stories borrow episodes from, and sometimes explicitly refer to, the history of the

Czech lands The Czech lands or the Bohemian lands (, ) is a historical-geographical term which denotes the three historical regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia out of which Czechoslovakia, and later the Czech Republic and Slovakia, were formed. ...

, as well as

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and other countries of Central Europe It is not however, a mere fictionalization of any real country, but rather one imagined with its own unique characteristics and history, distilled from le Guin's personal interpretation and reaction to historical events.

*"The Fountains" *"The Barrow" (1976, ''

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy and science-fiction magazine, first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence E. Spivak, Lawrence Spiv ...

'', October 1976) *"Ile Forest" *"Conversations At Night" *"The Road East" *"Brothers and Sisters" (1976, ''The Little Magazine'', Vol. 10, Nos. 1 & 2) *"A Week in the Country" (1976, ''The Little Magazine'', Vol. 9, No. 4) *"An die Musik" (1961, ''The Western Humanities Review'', Vol XV, No. 3) *"The House" *"The Lady of Moge" *"Imaginary Countries" (1973, The Harvard ''Advocate'')

Footnotes

References

Bibliography