As children's literature
Initial recognition for the book was from children's-book critics, among whom it garnered acclaim.[10][34] A Wizard of Earthsea received an even more positive response in the United Kingdom when it was released there in 1971, which, according to White, reflected the greater admiration of British critics for children's fantasy.[35] In her 1975 annotated collection Fantasy for Children, British critic Naomi Lewis described it in the following terms: "[It is not] the easiest book for casual browsing, but readers who take the step will find themselves in one of the most important works of fantasy of our time."[10] Similarly, literary scholar Margaret Esmonde wrote in 1981 that "Le Guin has ... enriched children's literature with what may be its finest high fantasy",[10] while a review in The Guardian by author and journalist Amanda Craig said it was "The most thrilling, wise and beautiful children's novel ever, [written] in prose as taut and clean as a ship's sail."[5]
In discussing the book for a gathering of children's librarians, Eleanor Cameron praised the world building in the story, saying "it is as if [Le Guin] herself has lived on the archipelago."[36] Author David Mitchell called the titular character Ged a "superb creation", and argued that he was a more relatable wizard than those featured in prominent works of fantasy at the time. According to him, characters such as Gandalf were "variants on the archetype of Merlin, a Caucasian scholarly aristocrat amongst sorcerers" with little room to grow, whereas Ged developed as a character through his story.[27] Mitchell also praised the other characters in the story, who he said seemed to have a "fully thought-out inner life" despite being fleeting presences.[27] The 1995 Encyclopedia of Science Fiction said that the Earthsea books had been considered the finest science fiction books for children in the post-World War II period.[37]
As fantasy
Commentators have noted that the Earthsea novels in general received less critical attention because they were considered children's books. Le Guin herself took exception to this treatment of children's literature, describing it as "adult chauvinist piggery".[10] In 1976, literary scholar George Slusser criticized the "silly publication classification designating the original series as 'children's literature'".[38] Barbara Bucknall stated that "Le Guin was not writing for young children when she wrote these fantasies, nor yet for adults. She was writing for 'older kids.' But in fact she can be read, like Tolkien, by ten-year-olds and by adults. These stories are ageless because they deal with problems that confront us at any age."[38] Only in later years did A Wizard of Earthsea receive attention from a more general audience.[10] Literary scholar Tom Shippey was among the first to treat A Wizard of Earthsea as serious literature, assuming in his analysis of the volume that it belonged alongside works by C. S. Lewis and Fyodor Dostoevsky, among others.[39] Margaret Atwood said that she saw the book as "a fantasy book for adults",[3] and added that the book could be categorized as either young adult fiction or as fantasy, but since it dealt with themes such as "life and mortality and who are we as human beings", it could be read and enjoyed by anybody older than twelve.[3] The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction echoed this view, saying the series's appeal went "far beyond" the young adults for whom it was written.[37] It went on to praise the book as "austere but vivid", and said the series was more thoughtful than the Narnia books by C. S. Lewis.[40]
In his 1980 history of fantasy, Brian Attebery called the Earthsea trilogy "the most challenging and richest American fantasy to date".[41] Slusser described the Earthsea cycle as a "work of high style and imagination",[4] and the original trilogy of books a product of "genuine epic vision".[42] In 1974, critic Robert Scholes compared Le Guin's work favorably to that of C. S. Lewis, saying, "Where C. S. Lewis worked out a specifically Christian set of values, Ursula LeGuin works not with a theology but with an ecology, a cosmology, a reverence for the universe as a self-regulating structure."[10] He added that Le Guin's three Earthsea novels were themselves a sufficient legacy for anybody to leave.[10] In 2014, David Pringle called it "a beautiful story—poetic, thrilling, and profound".[43]
Accolades
A Wizard of Earthsea won or contributed to several notable awards for Le Guin. It won the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award in 1969,[10][44] and was one of the last winners of the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award ten years later.[45] In 1984 it won the Złota Sepulka or the "Golden Sepulka" in Poland.[46][47] In 2000 Le Guin was given the Margaret A. Edwards Award by the American Library Association for young adult literature. The award cited six of her works, including the first four Earthsea volumes, The Left Hand of Darkness, and The Beginning Place.[48] A 1987 poll in Locus ranked A Wizard of Earthsea third among "All-Time Best Fantasy Novels", while in 2014 Pringle listed it at number 39 in his list of the 100 best novels in modern fantasy.[49]
Influence
The book has been seen as widely influential within the genre of fantasy. Margaret Atwood has called A Wizard of Earthsea one of the "wellsprings" of fantasy literature.[3] The book has been compared to major works of high fantasy such as J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings[5][50] and L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The notion that names can exert power is also present in Hayao Miyazaki's 2001 film Spirited Away; critics have suggested that that idea originated with Le Guin's Earthsea series.[51] Novelist David Mitchell, author of books such as Cloud Atlas, described A Wizard of Earthsea as having a strong influence on him, and said that he felt a desire to "wield words with the same power as Ursula Le Guin".[52]
Modern writers have credited A Wizard of Earthsea for introducing the idea of a "wizard school", which would later be made famous by the Harry Potter series of books,[5] and with popularizing the trope of a boy wizard, also present in Harry Potter.[53] Reviewers have also commented that the basic premise of A Wizard of Earthsea, that of a talented boy going to a wizard's school and making an enemy with whom he has a close connection, is also the premise of Harry Potter.[53] Ged also receives a scar from the shadow, which hurts whenever the shadow is near him, just as Harry Potter's scar from Voldemort. Commenting on the similarity, Le Guin said that she did not feel that J. K. Rowling "ripped her off", but that Rowling's books received too much praise for supposed originality, and that Rowling "could have been more gracious about her predecessors. My incredulity was at the critics who found the first book wonderfully original. She has many virtues, but originality isn't one of them. That hurt."[54]
