Despite my strong resonance with much of the take in OP, I partly also find “The (simple) meaning” of such a text as a concept a bit of a non-starter anyway. Independently of what all things the author exactly may have had in mind at whichever moment of the writing process, a text remains just that, a text, and then it’s instead us who get some inspiration for whichever points/meaning we think we’re now reminded or educated about. So in the most important sense, the meaning doesn’t exist, it’s only us who derive some meaning.
I’d wager many writers have exactly not strictly one very clear and narrowly defined specific point they wanted to convey, but more a fuzzy cloud of +- related thoughts, rather than a simple and clear ‘meaning’, and exactly in such situations beautiful, deeply feeling and moving texts may come about that we can then dream and ponder about at length, maybe without every finding full agreement. In that sense, Le Guin isn’t wrong to agree if we see it as a critique of utilitarianism—if the text almost by definition is simply whatever we see in the text.
[Meta: I hope it’s ok to split a comment in two as I think it’s two entirely different points]
Despite my strong resonance with much of the take in OP, I partly also find “The (simple) meaning” of such a text as a concept a bit of a non-starter anyway. Independently of what all things the author exactly may have had in mind at whichever moment of the writing process, a text remains just that, a text, and then it’s instead us who get some inspiration for whichever points/meaning we think we’re now reminded or educated about. So in the most important sense, the meaning doesn’t exist, it’s only us who derive some meaning.
I’d wager many writers have exactly not strictly one very clear and narrowly defined specific point they wanted to convey, but more a fuzzy cloud of +- related thoughts, rather than a simple and clear ‘meaning’, and exactly in such situations beautiful, deeply feeling and moving texts may come about that we can then dream and ponder about at length, maybe without every finding full agreement. In that sense, Le Guin isn’t wrong to agree if we see it as a critique of utilitarianism—if the text almost by definition is simply whatever we see in the text.
[Meta: I hope it’s ok to split a comment in two as I think it’s two entirely different points]