Le Guin criticism examined, showing how her reputation as a leading American writer has developed. Ursula K. Le Guin began to provoke attention in the late 1960s with the publication of A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) and The Left Hand of Darkness (1969). The former, a young adult fantasy, established Le Guin as America's foremost contemporary fantasist, a reputation which continues to this day. Both books started Le Guin on the road to being one...