In 1967, Ursula K. Le Guin was asked to write a book for readers 11-17 years old by Herman Schein of Parnassus Press. The book that she would write became known as
A Wizard of Earthsea. Published in 1968, this became the first novel in Le Guin’s Earthsea cycle. The Earthsea cycle would ultimately span six books and nearly thirty-five years of her writing career. 1968 seems to have been a banner year for the first books of fantasy series, as
A Wizard of Earthseawas one of several first volumes published, Peter S. Beagle’s
The Last Unicorn(1968) and Anne McCaffrey’s
Dragonflight(1968) being two other notable examples. This was not Le Guin’s first book-length undertaking. In fact, she had finished the third book in the Hainish cycle,
City of Illusions(1967), the year before. It…
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Citation: Shelton, Luke. "A Wizard of Earthsea". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 October 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11786, accessed 03 December 2024.]
