The Left Hand of Darkness

Since we've been dedicating some time to "The Left Hand of Darkness" in our class sections, I think it's only fitting that we have an online discussion board for anyone who wants to further explore the novel here.

I'd like to start the discussion by posting a few links that might be helpful when reading the book:
The Wikipedia entry
A map of the planet Gethen
An online book review from Slashdot.com
A short biography and interview with Le Guin on The SF Site
A glossary of terms from Le Guin World, a website dedicated to the author

In our next class discussion, bring in a list of any "alien" words that appear in the book and we can define them together.

*A correction: In the first class incorrectly stated that "shifgrethor" refers to a personal struggle to save face. This is actually a definition for the phrase "playing shifgrethor". The word "shifgrethor," when used alone in the book, refers to "social prestige" or "prestige-rank". In the novel it is explained that the term means "to cast a long shadow" in the Karhidish tongue.