One of the major novels by its author. A classic of science fiction that transformed the genre.

“Light is the left hand of darkness, and darkness is the right hand of light. The two are one, life and death, together as lovers in kémmer, like joined hands, like the end and the way.”

“I will write my report as if telling a story, for I was taught as a child that truth is born of imagination.” Thus begins the account of Genly Ai, sent to the planet Gueden—also called Winter for its icy climate—with the purpose of contacting its inhabitants and proposing they join the league of planets known as the Ecumen. The Guedenians have a unique trait that makes them one of a kind: they are hermaphrodites and adopt one sex or the other exclusively during the mating season, called kémmer. On Winter, Ai contacts Estraven, a high-ranking official who will show him how different a society can be where sexual differentiation does not exist.

The Singular Contemporánea collection from Austral revives great 20th-century classics very different from each other: from La naranja mecánica or El perfume to Si esto es un hombre or La trilogía de Nueva York. Dystopia, historical memory, European short novels, or science fiction all in one carefully curated and recognizable library. A way to bring together essential readings in current editions.