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We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable; but then, so did the divine right of kings.

Ursula K. Le Guin, National Book Awards speech

LiteraturePhilosophy

The story behind the card

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018), the American author of the Earthsea books and The Left Hand of Darkness, said this on 19 November 2014, aged 85, as she accepted the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. She used her short speech to criticise publishers and booksellers who treated books as mere commodities, at a time when Amazon was in a public dispute with the publisher Hachette. The divine right of kings was the old belief that monarchs ruled by God's will and could not be questioned. Her next sentence made the point plain: any power made by humans can be resisted and changed by humans.

Türkçe oku
Kapitalizmde yaşıyoruz, gücünden kaçılamaz gibi görünüyor; ama bir zamanlar kralların ilahi hakkı da öyle görünüyordu.
Ursula K. Le Guin, Ulusal Kitap Ödülleri konuşması

Yerdeniz kitaplarının ve Karanlığın Sol Eli'nin Amerikalı yazarı Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018), bu sözü 19 Kasım 2014'te, 85 yaşındayken, Amerikan edebiyatına katkı madalyasını (National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters) alırken söyledi. Kısa konuşmasını, kitaba sıradan bir mal gibi davranan yayıncıları ve kitapçıları eleştirmeye ayırdı; o sırada Amazon ile yayınevi Hachette arasında herkesin gözü önünde bir kavga sürüyordu. Kralların ilahi hakkı, hükümdarların Tanrı'nın iradesiyle hüküm sürdüğü ve sorgulanamayacağı yönündeki eski inançtı. Le Guin bir sonraki cümlesinde meseleyi açıkça söyledi: İnsanların kurduğu her güce insanlar karşı koyabilir ve onu değiştirebilir.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Ursula K. Le Guin
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