The Sirian Experiments: The Report by Ambien II, of the Five - 1st Edition/1st Printing

Lessing, Doris

ISBN 10: 0224018914 / ISBN 13: 9780224018913

Published by Jonathan Cape, London, 1981

About this Item

First edition/first printing in Fine condition in alike dust-wrapper with publisher's price-sticker of £6.95. Signed and inscribed by Lessing in April 1981 to Ingmar [Bjorksten] - a Swedish writer who has been connected to the Nobel Prize committee - 26 years before Lessing received the award. An attractive and scarce association copy; In her Canopus in Argos series, Nobel laureate Lessing creates a "space" fiction universe to metaphorically explore spiritual, cultural and social issues. Volume III returns to the planet Shikasta of Vol. I, this time telling the story of human history and evolution from the Sirian perspective, a more bureaucratic and less advanced civilization. Booker Prize shortlisted in 1981; Canopus in Argos: Archives; Vol. 3; 8vo ; [xii], 288, [4] pages; Note: Last two leaves blank ; Signed by Author.

Seller Inventory # 19744

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Sirian Experiments: The Report by Ambien II, of the Five - 1st Edition/1st Printing
• Publisher: Jonathan Cape, London
• Publication Date: 1981
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0224018914
• ISBN 13: 9780224018913
• Binding: Cloth
• Edition: First Edition; First Printing.
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Fiction::Novels
  • Awarded Authors::Nobel Prize
  • First Editions
  • Fiction::Science Fiction
  • Signed First Editions
  • By Year Of Issue::1980s
  • Exhibitions::ILAB Olympia Fair London 2015

About this title

Synopsis

Physical description; 288p. ; 23cm. Subject; Fiction in English — 1945- — Texts

From the Back Cover

Shortlisted for the 1981 Booker Prize, 'The Sirian Experiments' is the third 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 Sirian Experiments' chronicles the origins of our planet, as the three galactic empires fight for control of the human race. The novel charts the gradual moral awakening of its narrator, Ambien II, a 'dry, dutiful, efficient' female Sirian administrator. Witnessing the wanton colonisation of land and people, Ambien begins to question her involvement in such insidious experimentation, her faith in the possibility of human progress itself growing weaker every day.

"The story Ambien tells is a panorama of the possibilities of civilisation and barbarism, ranging from a matriarchal version of Atlantis to the Aztec cult of human sacrifice. Doris Lessing's interests are strictly terrestrial and the figures from outer space are there to serve as tellers of an earthly tale, providing a new, sometimes startling, perspective on earthly affairs and a largeness of vision beyond the horizon of the conventional novel."
ROBERT ALTER, 'New York Times'

"One of our greatest contemporary writers...Doris Lessing had invented a new cosmology to look at the world in a new way: she is attempting to tackle nothing less than all human life on Earth."
FINANCIAL TIMES