Abstract
Scholars understand Ursula K. Le Guin's 1972 The Word for World is Forest as a critique of settler-colonial history, but no academic interest has been given to how this novel also comments on the American religious imagination. This article reveals that Le Guin's allegory to Vietnam replicates the 'devil in the forest' trope to expose how a religiously inspired good/evil dichotomy shaped xenophobic attitudes toward the Vietnamese during the 1970s. By tracing the depictions of Native Americans through American fiction and Captivity Narratives, this article further demonstrates how Le Guin’s novel deploys similar tropes to expose and critique their influence in modern conflict.
Volume
1
Issue
1
Copyright
©2025 Andrew DeBella
Recommended Citation
DeBella, Andrew
(2025)
"The Devil in the Forest: How Le Guin Subverts a Tired Trope,"
UKL: The Journal of Ursula K. Le Guin Studies: Vol. 1, Article 4.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ukl/vol1/iss1/4
Included in
American Literature Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons
