The Farthest Shore is a fantasy novel by the American author Ursula K. Le Guin , first published by Atheneum in 1972. It is the third book in the series commonly called the Earthsea Cycle . As the next Earthsea novel, Tehanu , would not be released until 1990, The Farthest Shore is sometimes referred to as the final book in the so-called Earthsea trilogy, beginning with A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan . Decades later, The Farthest Shore follows the wizard Ged in his final adventure.
22-396: The Farthest Shore won the 1973 National Book Award in category Children's Books . Studio Ghibli 's animated film Tales from Earthsea was based primarily on this novel. An ominous, inexplicable malaise is spreading throughout Earthsea. Magic is losing its power; songs are being forgotten; people and animals are sickening or going mad. Accompanied by Arren, the young Prince of Enlad ,
44-438: A behavior pattern that was distinct from the personality of the individual when he was in the waking state compared with when he was under hypnosis. Another character had developed in the altered state of consciousness but in the same body. Freud throughout his career would appeal to such instances of dual consciousness to support his thesis of the unconscious. He considered that "We may most aptly describe them as cases of
66-425: A key character in a story who is perceived to be intentionally representative of the work's author (or creator), by oblique similarities, in terms of psychology , behavior speech, or thoughts, often used to convey the author's thoughts. The term is also sometimes, but less frequently, used to designate a hypothetical "twin" or "best friend" to a character in a story. Similarly, the term alter ego may be applied to
88-622: Is announced on the day of the final ceremony in November. The award is $ 10,000 and a bronze sculpture; other finalists get $ 1000, a medal, and a citation written by the panel. There were 230 books nominated for the 2010 award. This had risen to 333 submissions by 2024. Books for "children" were first recognized by the National Book Awards in 1969 (publication year 1968). Through 1979, a single award category existed, called either "Children's Literature" or "Children's Books." In 1980 under
110-425: Is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality . Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a different personality. Additionally, the altered states of the ego may themselves be referred to as alterations . A distinct meaning of alter ego is found in the literary analysis used when referring to fictional literature and other narrative forms, describing
132-457: The Archmage Ged leaves Roke Island to find the cause. On his boat Lookfar , they sail south to Hort Town, where they encounter a drug addled wizard called Hare. They realize that Hare and many others are under the dream-spell of a powerful wizard who promises them life after death at the cost of their magic, their identity, and all names, that is, all reality. Ged and Arren continue southwest to
154-511: The Archmage told him, he was at the time not capable of achieving). With a greater understanding of the Balance and Equilibrium that encompasses Earthsea (fundamental parts of Taoism , a philosophy Le Guin encourages in her works), and how life comes from death as much as death comes from life (death itself being a balancing force in the book), Ged is portrayed as a wiser and sager archmage. Reviewing
176-679: The National Book Foundation did not present awards for young people's literature. Two authors have won two Children's or Young People's awards twice. Isaac Bashevis Singer won the Children's Literature award in 1970 for A Day of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing up in Warsaw and shared the Fiction award in 1974 for A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories . Alter ego An alter ego ( Latin for "other I") means an alternate self , which
198-412: The centuries-old prediction of the last King of Earthsea: "He shall inherit my throne who has crossed the dark land living and come to the far shores of the day." Arren will reunite the fractious islands as the future King Lebannen (his true name). Le Guin originally offered two endings to the story. In one, after Lebannen's coronation, Ged sails alone out into the ocean and is never heard from again. In
220-474: The closing of the hole between the worlds reprises his confrontation with the Shadow in the first book, who was Ged's alter ego in a more explicit way. Ged's closing of that evil hole, at the cost of completely losing his power (and very nearly his life), can also be considered as fulfilling his wish "to undo the evil" of his own necromantic spell, which as a youth he had expressed to then-Archmage Gensher (and which, as
242-451: The dark wizard is destroying the dragons, beings who embody magic. Ged and Arren voyage past the Dragons' Run south of Selidor, encountering dragons flying about and devouring each other in a state of madness. On Selidor, Orm Embar is waiting for them, but he too has lost the power of speech. After a search, they find the wizard in a house of dragon bones at the western tip of Selidor – the end of
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#1732869771512264-471: The island of Lorbanery, once famous for its dyed silk, but the magic of dyeing has been lost and the local people are listless and hostile. Fleeing the stifling despair, Ged and Arren keep on southwest to the furthest islands of the Reaches. Arren is drawn under the influence of the dark wizard, and when Ged is injured by hostile islanders, Arren cannot rouse himself to help. As Ged's life ebbs, and they drift into
286-558: The masters of Roke, to the man who addresses dragons with confidence on Selidor, and who will eventually become the first King in centuries and unify the world of Earthsea. Ged has also matured. He is no longer the impetuous boy who had himself opened a crack between the worlds in A Wizard of Earthsea , or the supremely confident young man who sailed the Dragon's Run and went alone into The Tombs of Atuan . Not glory, but necessity alone guides his actions now. Ged will no longer wield magic for
308-399: The new name The American Book Awards (TABA), the number of literary award categories jumped to 28, including two for Children's Books: hardcover and paperback. In the following three years there were three, five, and five Children's Book award categories—thus fifteen in four years—before the program was revamped with only three annual awards and none for children's books. From 1984 to 1995,
330-726: The novel for a genre audience, Lester del Rey reported that it was "fantasy with a logic of execution that is usually found only in science fiction ... rich in ideas, color and inventions". National Book Award for Young People%27s Literature The National Book Award for Young People's Literature is one of five annual National Book Awards , which are given by the National Book Foundation (NBF) to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers". The judging panel are five "writers who are known to be doing great work in their genre or field". The category Young People's Literature
352-475: The open ocean, where they are saved by the Raft People, nomads who live on great rafts beyond any land. The spreading evil has not yet reached them, and they nurse Ged and Arren back to health. At the midwinter festival, the sickness arrives, and the singers are struck dumb, unable to remember the songs. The dragon Orm Embar arrives on the wind, and begs Ged to sail to Selidor, the westernmost of all islands, where
374-465: The other, Ged returns to the forest of his home island of Gont. In 1990, seventeen years after the publication of The Farthest Shore , Le Guin opted for the second ending when she continued the story in Tehanu . Like both previous books in the trilogy, The Farthest Shore is a bildungsroman . The story is told mostly from the point of view of Arren, who develops from the boy who stands overawed in front of
396-411: The role or persona taken on by an actor or by other types of performers. Cicero coined the term as part of his philosophical construct in 1st-century Rome , but he described it as "a second self, a trusted friend". The existence of "another self" was first fully recognized in the 18th century, when Anton Mesmer and his followers used hypnosis to separate the alter ego. These experiments showed
418-434: The thrill of power or fame or self-righteousness, and tells the impetuous Arren: "do nothing because it seems good to do so; do only that which you must do and which you cannot do in any other way." In a sense, Cob is Ged's alter ego – a Ged who did not turn back from the dangerous road of summoning the dead, which tempted Ged in his youth, but continued to its ultimate conclusion. Thus, Ged's final confrontation with Cob and
440-570: The undead Cob cannot be killed, and he crawls back to the Dry Land of the dead, pursued by Ged and Arren. In the Dry Land, Ged manages to defeat Cob and closes the breach in the world, but it requires the sacrifice of all his magic power. They travel even further, crawling over the Mountains of Pain back to the living world, where the eldest dragon Kalessin is waiting. He flies them to Roke, leaving Ged on his childhood home of Gont Island. Arren has fulfilled
462-417: The world. Ged recognises the wizard as Cob, a dark mage whom he defeated many years before. After his defeat, Cob became expert in the dark arts of necromancy , desperate to escape death and live forever. In doing so, he has opened a breach between worlds which is sucking away all life. As Cob paralyzes Ged with the staff of a long-dead mage, Orm Embar impales himself on it, crushing Cob in a final effort. But
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#1732869771512484-604: Was established in 1996. From 1969 to 1983, prior to the Foundation, there were some "Children's" categories. The award recognizes one book written by a US citizen and published in the US from December 1 of the previous year to November 30 in the award year. The National Book Foundation accepts nominations from publishers until June 15, requires mailing nominated books to the panelists by August 1, and announces five finalists in October. The winner
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