To cite this text: DoŶaldsoŶ, EileeŶ. ϮϬϭϯ. AccessiŶg the Other WiŶd: feŵiŶiŶe tiŵe iŶ Ursula Le GuiŶs Earthsea series, in English Academy Review: Southern African Journal of English Studies, 30:1, 39-51. Accessing the ‘Other Wind’: feminine time in Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea series _____________________________________________________________________________ Eileen Donaldson Department of English Studies University of South Africa donale@unisa.ac.za It is widely accepted that feminist speculative fiction (SF) provides an imaginative space for the exploration of ideas first proposed in feminist theory. This article demonstrates that the changing attitude to feminine time explored in feminist polemic from the second wave to the contemporary feminist poststructuralist approach can be traced in Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea series, which was written over four decades. Le Guin’s approach shifts from a second wave repudiation of feminine time in The Tombs of Atuan to a postmodern embracing of feminine time as becoming in the later novels, Tehanu and The Other Wind. A close reading of these texts shows that Le Guin’s images, and the action that flows throughout the series, contribute a unique vision of becoming to the contemporary feminist investigation of time. Key words: becoming; Earthsea series; feminine time; feminist speculative fiction; Ursula K. Le Guin; patrilinear time; Taoism Some feminist speculative fiction (SF) theorists argue that feminist SF is as much a ‘body of knowledge’, functioning as an ‘apparatus for the production of feminist culture’, as is feminist theory (Merrick 2009, 2; Haraway 1991, 162–163; King 1994, xv–xvi). They contend that it may be studied as an extension of the political vision offered by feminist theory because it reflects and encourages imaginative speculation about feminist concerns. The SF of Ursula K. Le Guin is well-known for doing just this. In this article I offer a close-reading of her Earthsea series that investigates the manner in which these novels reflect the progression of a specific debate in feminist theory: that of women’s relationship to time, particularly the temporal mode referred to as ‘feminine time’. I begin with an analysis of The Tombs of Atuan, first published in 1972, briefly outlining the dominant feminist attitudes to feminine time during this period, the Second Wave (circa 1960-1980), and then discussing Le Guin’s response to these attitudes as reflected in the novel. I then offer an analysis of the last two books in the series, Tehanu (1992) and The Other Wind (2002), in which I argue that Le Guin’s approach to time in these two novels reflects the poststructural developments that dominated the debate during the Third Wave (circa 1980 to the present). Therefore, although Le Guin’s fantasy is less overtly polemical than feminist theory may be, as King, Merrick and Haraway suggest, it is possible to consider it both an interesting adjunct to feminist theory, and an effective vehicle for the dissemination of feminist culture. I focus my reading on these three novels because, of the five that make up the series, these focus on the struggles of female protagonists against the masculinist cultures of Earthsea and, as I show, the relationship of women to feminine time. Although time paradoxes, time travel and time loops have been well-explored in SF criticism, there remains something of a gap where women’s relationship to time lies. This reading of Le Guin’s Earthsea series is an attempt to begin redressing that gap. While some contemporary theorists argue that umbrella terms such as the First Wave, Second Wave and so on are problematic because they suggest an illusory feminist unity (Archer Mann and Huffman 2005, 58), the application of these terms persists; I use them here because they provide a useful shorthand when referring to the feminisms of specific historical periods. Very briefly, the First Wave refers to the time of the suffragettes at the beginning of the twentieth century and is marked by a Liberal feminist agenda to acquire material equality for women. The Second Wave is commonly accepted as extending from the 1960s to the early 1980s. In very simplistic terms, the dominant feminisms of this period could be