Canopus in Argos

{{Infobox book series

| name = Canopus in Argos: Archives

| books = Re: Colonised Planet 5, Shikasta
The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five
The Sirian Experiments
The Making of the Representative for Planet 8
The Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire

| author = Doris Lessing

| image = Lessing CanopusArgosArchives.jpg

| caption =

| title_orig =

| translator =

| illustrator =

| cover_artist =

| country = {{plainlist|

United States
United Kingdom

}}

| language =

| genre = Science fiction

| publisher = Alfred A. Knopf (US)
Jonathan Cape (UK)

| pub_date = 1979–1983

| english_pub_date =

| media_type = Print (hardback & paperback)

| preceded_by =

| followed_by =

}}

Canopus in Argos: Archives is a sequence of five science fiction novels by Nobel laureate author Doris Lessing, which portray a number of societies at different stages of development, over a great period of time. The focus is on accelerated evolution guided by advanced species for less advanced species and societies.

Overview

The novels all take place in the same future history, but do not form a continuous storyline. Each book covers unrelated events, with the exception of Shikasta and The Sirian Experiments, which tell the story of accelerated evolution on Earth through the eyes of Canopeans and Sirians, respectively.

Novels

Re: Colonised Planet 5, Shikasta (1979) – A secret history of Earth from the perspective of the advanced Canopus civilisation that is thinking in eons rather than centuries. The history spans from the very beginning of life into a future World War Three. It includes the trial of all Europeans for the crimes of colonialism.
The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five (1980) – Depicts the influence of unknown higher powers on interactions between a series of civilizational "zones" of varying degrees of advancement that encircle the planet Earth. One zone is representative of an overtly feminine high civilisation initially coupled by royal marriage to a militant and male civilisation. The novel culminates with the latter, male, civilisation allying with a tribal female realm again following directives from Canopus.
The Sirian Experiments (1980) – Focuses, like Shikasta, on the history of Earth, but from the perspective of visitors from Sirius rather than Canopus. The Sirians are depicted as a highly managed society, with fascist overtones, that attempts experiments on lesser civilisations while trying to mitigate the stagnation of their ruling class. The story is told from the perspective of Ambien II, one of a peer group of five who rule Sirius.
The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 (1982) – The story of the civilisation on a planet that, because of interstellar "re-alignments", is slowly facing extinction, and Canopus's relationship with them. The story is greatly influenced by Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic expedition, and is Lessing's homage to it.
The Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire (1983) – A story of Canopean agents on a less advanced planet; explores hazards of rhetoric and mirrors events in revolutionary societies such as Communist Russia.

The five books have also appeared compiled in a single volume entitled Canopus in Argos: Archives (1992, {{ISBN|0-679-74184-4}}).

Background

When Lessing began writing Shikasta she intended it to be a "single self-contained book" but, as her fictional universe developed, she found she had ideas for more than just one book, and ended up writing a series of five.

The Canopus in Argos series as a whole falls into categories of social or soft science fiction ("space fiction" in Lessing's own words{{cite book | last1 = Lessing | first1 = Doris | author-link = Doris Lessing | title = Shikasta | year = 1994 | orig-year = 1979 | publisher = Flamingo | location = London | isbn = 0-00-712776-6 |chapter= Some Remarks | page= 8}}) because of its focus on characterisation and social-cultural issues, and its lack of emphasis of the details of scientific technology. This set of writings represented a major shift of focus for Lessing, influenced by spiritual and mystical themes in Sufism, in particular by Idries Shah.{{cite web |url=http://mural.uv.es/vemivein/biography.html |title=Doris Lessing |work=Mural |access-date=15 May 2008}} She later wrote several essays on Sufism which were published in her essay collection, Time Bites (2004).{{cite web |url=https://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2007/bio-bibl.html |title=Doris Lessing: Biobibliographical Notes |work=NobelPrize.org |access-date=18 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012225914/https://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2007/bio-bibl.html |archive-date=12 October 2007 }}

Reception

The Canopus in Argos was not well received by some reviewers and readers,{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/01/10/specials/lessing-space.html?_r=1 |title=Doris Lessing on Feminism, Communism and 'Space Fiction' |work=The New York Times |first1=Lesley |last1=Hazelton |author-link=Lesley Hazleton |date=1982-07-25 |access-date=2011-03-25}} who felt that Lessing had abandoned her "rational worldview".{{cite book | last1 = Galin | first1 = Müge | title = Between East and West: Sufism in the Novels of Doris Lessing | publisher = State University of New York Press | year = 1997 | location = Albany, New York | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EbHys4CzN0YC&pg=PP1 | page = 21 | isbn = 0-7914-3383-8}} This prompted her to write in the preface to the third book, The Sirian Experiments:{{cite book | last1 = Lessing | first1 = Doris | author-link = Doris Lessing | title = The Sirian Experiments | year = 1994 | orig-year = 1980 | publisher = Flamingo | location = London | isbn = 0-00-654721-4 |chapter= Preface | page= 11}}

{{blockquote|text=I would so like it if reviewers and readers could see this series, Canopus in Argos: Archive, as a framework that enables me to tell (I hope) a beguiling tale or two; to put questions, both to myself and to others; to explore ideas and sociological possibilities.}}

Later Lessing discovered that many younger people who had read the Canopus series were not interested in her other works. They told her, "Oh, realism, I can't be bothered with that."{{cite web | last1 = Donoghue | first1 = Denis | author-link = Denis Donoghue (academic) | title = Alice, The Radical Homemaker | work = The New York Times | date = 22 September 1985 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/01/10/specials/lessing-terrorist.html | access-date = 4 July 2014}}

Adaptations

The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 and The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five have been adapted as operas by composer Philip Glass with librettos written by Lessing.{{cite web |url=http://www.chesternovello.com/Default.aspx?TabId=2431&State_2905=2&composerId_2905=540 |title=Philip Glass |work=Chester Music and Novello & Company |access-date=15 May 2008}} The Marriages... is described as the second part of an opera trilogy based on Canopus in Argos.{{cite web |title=The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five |url=https://philipglass.com/compositions/marraiges_between_zones_3-4-5/ |website=Philip Glass |access-date=17 September 2019}}

The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 (1986)
The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five (1997)

References

=Notes=

= Further reading =

{{cite journal | last1 = Dixson | first1 = Barbara | year = 1990 | title = Structural Complexity in Doris Lessing's Canopus Novels | journal = Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts | volume = 2 | issue = 3 | pages = 14–22 | publisher = International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts | location = Orlando, Florida | jstor = 43308052 }}
{{cite book

| last1 = Fahim

| first1 = Shadia S.

| title = Doris Lessing: Sufi Equilibrium and the Form of the Novel

| publisher = Palgrave Macmillan/St. Martins Press

| year = 1995

| location = Basingstoke, UK/New York, NY

| isbn = 0-312-10293-3}}