The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 (Canopus in Argos) - Hardcover

Lessing, Doris

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0224020080 ISBN 13: 9780224020084

Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd, 1982

Synopsis

Planet 8, a prosperous world with intelligent, vital inhabitants, is transformed by an Ice Age, a change that causes a critical variation in lifestyle and a drastic reappraisal of the meaning and value of life

About this title

From the Back Cover

'The Making of the Representative for Planet 8' is the fourth volume in Doris Lessing's celebrated space fiction series, 'Canopus in Argos: Archives'. In this interlinked quintet of novels, she creates a new, extraordinary cosmos where the fate of the Earth is influenced by the rivalries and interactions of three powerful galactic empires, Canopus, Sirius and their enemy, Puttiora. Blending myth, fable and allegory, Doris Lessing's astonishing visionary creation both reflects and redefines the history of our own world from its earliest beginnings to an inevitable, tragic self-destruction.

'The Making of the Representative for Planet 8' tells the story of the inhabitants of a remote outpost of the Canopean empire. Harmonious, serene and blessed with a tropical climate, the planet's future is threatened by an incipient Ice Age. As the first snowflakes begin to fall and the struggle for survival begins, Doeg, a trusted representative reporting to the leaders of Canopus, begins to record the downfall of his race.

'The Making of the Representative for Planet 8' has been made into an opera by Philip Glass.

"Doris Lessing's descriptions of the landscape are superb: the accounts of the coldness are spectacular. It is hard not to see in this ice age and in the hopes held out and then betrayed, a metaphor of our own times."
HILARY BAILEY, 'Guardian'

"The extraordinary way in which Planet 8 is transmogrified from a happy world bathed in sunshine to the site of the New Ice Age came over as if set down in a Bible. The building of the huge black wall, the crime and fighting as glaciers and snow spread, all combine in sweep and detail to form an unforgettable picture."
MARTYN GOFF, 'Daily Telegraph'

About the Author

Doris Lessing was one of the most important writers of the second half of the 20th-century and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature 2007. Her novels include The Grass is Singing, The Golden Notebook and The Good Terrorist. In 2001, Lessing was awarded the David Cohen Prize for a lifetime's achievement in British literature. In 2008, The Times ranked her fifth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". She died in 2013.

Edition details

• Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd
• Publication date: 1982
• ISBN 10: 0224020080
• ISBN 13: 9780224020084
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 148