The Lathe of Heaven
The scourge of Heaven ( engl. The Lathe of Heaven ) is the German -language title of a science fiction novel of the American author Ursula K. Le Guin. The author tells the adventures of George Orr said main person that can change through their dreams a reality.
The novel was awarded the 1972 Locus Award for Best Novel of the Year in 1971, translated into nine languages and twice for television filmed: The Lathe of Heaven, PBS 1980, and Lathe of Heaven, A & E, 2002.
Title
The title of the book is based on a quote from LeGuins translation of a classic text ( Tao Te Ching ) of the legendary Chinese philosopher Laozi.
Action
The novel begins with the description of oceanic perceptions of a jellyfish from which the protagonist George Orr wakes up in a reality in which he is a dependent of sleeping aids citizens in a world that in his novel "1984" by George Orwell is like.
Orr's dependence on sleeping pills before his fear is based on his reality changing dreams. In order to suppress his, as it is called in German translation, " effective dreams," Orr concerned illegally sleeping pills. This violation of the laws of reality, in which he has dreamed into it, he finds himself compelled to undergo a so-called voluntary psychotherapeutic treatment.
The psychiatrist assigned to him William Haber Orr considered first as a "normal" psychotic patients, before he realizes that Orr does not suffer from delusions, but his dreams can actually change the reality. Using a method developed by him Haber tried to influence Orr's dreams so that they change reality according to his own ideas.
Ursula K. Le Guin describes in her novel, as well-intentioned ideas and wishes of a single person - the psychiatrist William Haber - can lead to apocalyptic proportions for the rest of humanity.
Expenditure
- Ursula K. Le Guin: The Lathe of Heaven, ( first English edition ) Avon Books, 1971, ISBN 0-684-12529-3.
- Ursula K. Le Guin: The Scourge of Heaven, translated by Birgit Ress Bohusch ( German edition ) Heyne, Munich, 1974, ISBN 3-453-30250-8.
- Ursula K. Le Guin: The Scourge of Heaven, translated by Joachim Körber, Edition Phantasia Bell Home, 2006 ISBN 393789716X.