Episode 6.08 – Gardens of Imagination – Narrative Utopias
Let’s niche down into a small sub-genre of fantasy and explore our desire for it, the classic utopia. As Le Guin’s work is utopia, understanding the genre’s tradition, functions, and roles for readers is our final essential piece prior to taking on the story directly.
Some key texts discussed in this episode:
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, 1880Lois Lowry, The Giver, 1993Thomas More, Utopia, 1516Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward, 1888William Morris, News from Nowhere, 1891Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland, 1915H. G. Wells, Men Like Gods, 1923Aldous Huxley, Island, 1962B. F. Skinner, Walden II, 1948Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” 1972Marge Piercy, Woman On the Edge of Time, 1976Categories of Utopia We Discuss:
Sincere UtopiaThoughtful PuzzleThorny UtopiaFalse UtopiaDystopiaNew to Literary Nomads? Check out episode 5.00 to find out what we’re all about: https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/waywords_podcast/an-introduction-and-irony/
Reading Ahead, Journey 6:
Ursula K. Le Guin: “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”: https://archive.org/download/the-ones-who-walk-away-from-omelas-ursula-k-leguin/The%20Ones%20Who%20Walk%20Away%20from%20Omelas%20-%20Ursula%20K%20LeGuin.pdfComplete Resources: https://waywordsstudio.com/project/le-guin-omelas/
05:07 Opening Theme
05:40 Utopia and Dystopia as Fantasy
18:41 The Utopia Tradition
26:26 Utopia as Thought Experiment
31:45 From Otium Gardens to Action
Transcript: https://waywordsstudio.com/general/transcript/6-08-gardens-of-imagination
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Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas.
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Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)
Chapter headings by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution.
Chisnell, Steve. “Gardens of Imagination: Narrative Utopias,” Literary Nomads. Waywords Studio, 8 August 2025, https://waywordsstudio.com/project/le-guin-omelas/.