Vaster Than Empires – Le Guin

20 June 2025

Episode 6.02 – “Vaster Than Empires” – Le Guin

What does it mean to embrace “Other”? And how might we understand carpe diem if we truly had “world enough and time?” Le Guin shows us in her famous science fiction short story.

New 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/

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Reading Ahead, Journey 6:

• Ursula K. Le Guin: “Vaster Than Empires and More Slow”:  https://eyeofmidas.com/scifi/LeGuin_VasterThanEmpires.pdf
• 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.pdf

Complete Resources: https://waywordsstudio.com/project/le-guin-omelas/

CHAPTERS

00:00     Pastoral Splendour
04:29     Opening Theme
05:03     Living Fast and Slow
12:05     The Story: “Vaster Than Empire and More Slow”
18:13     Le Guin and Marvell
28:50     Veggie Minds and The Other
40:58     Green Silences
47:42    Closing Theme and Credits

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Transcript:  https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/transcript-6-02-vaster-than-empires-le-guin/

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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.

Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses.

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CREDITS:

Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)

Chapter headings by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski

USING THIS WORK:

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.

MLA CITATION:

Chisnell, Steve. “Vaster Than Empires – Le Guin” Literary Nomads. Waywords Studio, 20 June 2025, https://waywordsstudio.com/project/le-guin-omelas/.