What do you think?
Rate this book
Canopus in Argos #3
The Sirian Experiments
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 interlnked 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 own world from its earliest beginnings to an inevitable, tragic self-destruction.
The Sirian Experiments chronicles the origins of our planet, 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 os human progress itself growing weaker every day.
331 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
21 people are currently reading
1149 people want to read
About the author
Doris Lessing
475 books3,186 followersDoris Lessing was born into a colonial family. both of her parents were British: her father, who had been crippled in World War I, was a clerk in the Imperial Bank of Persia; her mother had been a nurse. In 1925, lured by the promise of getting rich through maize farming, the family moved to the British colony in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Like other women writers from southern African who did not graduate from high school (such as Olive Schreiner and Nadine Gordimer), Lessing made herself into a self-educated intellectual.
In 1937 she moved to Salisbury, where she worked as a telephone operator for a year. At nineteen, she married Frank Wisdom, and later had two children. A few years later, feeling trapped in a persona that she feared would destroy her, she left her family, remaining in Salisbury. Soon she was drawn to the like-minded members of the Left Book Club, a group of Communists "who read everything, and who did not think it remarkable to read." Gottfried Lessing was a central member of the group; shortly after she joined, they married and had a son.
During the postwar years, Lessing became increasingly disillusioned with the Communist movement, which she left altogether in 1954. By 1949, Lessing had moved to London with her young son. That year, she also published her first novel, The Grass Is Singing, and began her career as a professional writer.
In June 1995 she received an Honorary Degree from Harvard University. Also in 1995, she visited South Africa to see her daughter and grandchildren, and to promote her autobiography. It was her first visit since being forcibly removed in 1956 for her political views. Ironically, she is welcomed now as a writer acclaimed for the very topics for which she was banished 40 years ago.
In 2001 she was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize in Literature, one of Spain's most important distinctions, for her brilliant literary works in defense of freedom and Third World causes. She also received the David Cohen British Literature Prize.
She was on the shortlist for the first Man Booker International Prize in 2005. In 2007 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
(Extracted from the pamphlet: A Reader's Guide to The Golden Notebook & Under My Skin, HarperPerennial, 1995. Full text available on www.dorislessing.org).
In 1937 she moved to Salisbury, where she worked as a telephone operator for a year. At nineteen, she married Frank Wisdom, and later had two children. A few years later, feeling trapped in a persona that she feared would destroy her, she left her family, remaining in Salisbury. Soon she was drawn to the like-minded members of the Left Book Club, a group of Communists "who read everything, and who did not think it remarkable to read." Gottfried Lessing was a central member of the group; shortly after she joined, they married and had a son.
During the postwar years, Lessing became increasingly disillusioned with the Communist movement, which she left altogether in 1954. By 1949, Lessing had moved to London with her young son. That year, she also published her first novel, The Grass Is Singing, and began her career as a professional writer.
In June 1995 she received an Honorary Degree from Harvard University. Also in 1995, she visited South Africa to see her daughter and grandchildren, and to promote her autobiography. It was her first visit since being forcibly removed in 1956 for her political views. Ironically, she is welcomed now as a writer acclaimed for the very topics for which she was banished 40 years ago.
In 2001 she was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize in Literature, one of Spain's most important distinctions, for her brilliant literary works in defense of freedom and Third World causes. She also received the David Cohen British Literature Prize.
She was on the shortlist for the first Man Booker International Prize in 2005. In 2007 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
(Extracted from the pamphlet: A Reader's Guide to The Golden Notebook & Under My Skin, HarperPerennial, 1995. Full text available on www.dorislessing.org).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
June 2, 2022
I read this one as part of my occasional project to read as many Booker shortlisted books as possible. This is part of Lessing's Canopus in Argos sci-fi series, and I have not read the earlier parts. I don't know how much I missed, but this one seems to work pretty well as a stand-alone novel.
I approached it as a work of imagination - its central premise that the history of man on earth is largely a result of experimentation from alien civilisations from distant stars seems a little far-fetched and rather runs counter to Darwin and evolution, but I don't generally criticise sci-fi on plausibility grounds.
The two civilisations in Lessing's story are both utopian, but very different. This book's narrator is one of the five administrators that control Sirius's planetary empire, but she increasingly comes to favour the more idealistic methods of the rival civilisation from Canopus. She is effectively immortal. At the start of the book we hear that after a war between the two civilisations they have agreed to share control of the planet Sirius calls Rohinda and Canopus calls Shikasta, but is more familiar as our earth. Sirius favours experments in which populations are moved between planets as colonists, whereas Canopus believes in working with whatever indigenous species they find. A third rogue civilisation, regarded by both Sirius and Canopus as pirates, is also increasingly influential on the planet.
Doris Lessing is capable of writing in a wide variety of styles, and always has interesting ideas, and I found the book quite an enjoyable read, but I rather doubt that I will ever read the rest of the series.
I approached it as a work of imagination - its central premise that the history of man on earth is largely a result of experimentation from alien civilisations from distant stars seems a little far-fetched and rather runs counter to Darwin and evolution, but I don't generally criticise sci-fi on plausibility grounds.
The two civilisations in Lessing's story are both utopian, but very different. This book's narrator is one of the five administrators that control Sirius's planetary empire, but she increasingly comes to favour the more idealistic methods of the rival civilisation from Canopus. She is effectively immortal. At the start of the book we hear that after a war between the two civilisations they have agreed to share control of the planet Sirius calls Rohinda and Canopus calls Shikasta, but is more familiar as our earth. Sirius favours experments in which populations are moved between planets as colonists, whereas Canopus believes in working with whatever indigenous species they find. A third rogue civilisation, regarded by both Sirius and Canopus as pirates, is also increasingly influential on the planet.
Doris Lessing is capable of writing in a wide variety of styles, and always has interesting ideas, and I found the book quite an enjoyable read, but I rather doubt that I will ever read the rest of the series.
June 25, 2025
“We all see truths when we can see them. When we do, it is always a temptation to consider those who have not yet seen them as quite intrinsically and obdurately stupid” (12).
I recently revisited Plato’s Republic, which I’ll be teaching in a couple weeks (long story). It strikes me that one way of understanding The Sirian Experiments, volume 3 of Doris Lessing’s early-70s scifi epic Canopus in Argos, is as an overlong retelling of the allegory of the cave. What Plato calls “the shape of the good”—the highest form and source of all other forms, which cannot be understood directly but only perceived through reason—Lessing glosses as “need” or “necessity.” The novel dramatizes, rather weakly, the process by which Canopus (a galactic empire of higher consciousness) drags Sirius (their less-evolved rival empire) out of the cave, revealing Sirius’s every act and motivation as mere shadows of a higher possibility. To grasp this higher state of knowledge—and therefore of being—is, in Lessing’s universe, to be, quite literally, freed from the limitations of the body. The Canopian mind leaps across time and space, inhabits and departs bodies at will, reads and even shares other minds. It all sounds more exciting than it is.
I almost never give three star reviews. To me, three stars means mediocre, and life is too short to read mediocre books. If I pick up even a whiff of mediocrity in the first chapters, back on the shelf it goes. This is not a mediocre book. It is a brilliant failure, which I would give five stars anyway if it weren’t somehow also so inescapably dull.
There is something here. A feeling of witnessing a searching mind grapple with a set of problems almost beyond comprehension. Grapple—but ultimately fail to capture or illuminate the higher knowledge it’s so clearly after. I highlighted numerous striking observations, but those observations do not arise organically out of the story. They simply appear, almost at random, rubber ducks of brilliance bobbing in a sloshing bath of tepid nonsense. What’s more, though Lessing’s project is explicitly anti-racist and anti-imperial, she nonetheless calls upon racial thinking in deeply uncomfortable ways. And Lessing does all this in a tone relentlessly and intentionally bureaucratic, as if she had decided that the one thing wrong with the (far superior) first two novels of the Canopus in Argos cycle was that they had dared be too interesting.
I recently revisited Plato’s Republic, which I’ll be teaching in a couple weeks (long story). It strikes me that one way of understanding The Sirian Experiments, volume 3 of Doris Lessing’s early-70s scifi epic Canopus in Argos, is as an overlong retelling of the allegory of the cave. What Plato calls “the shape of the good”—the highest form and source of all other forms, which cannot be understood directly but only perceived through reason—Lessing glosses as “need” or “necessity.” The novel dramatizes, rather weakly, the process by which Canopus (a galactic empire of higher consciousness) drags Sirius (their less-evolved rival empire) out of the cave, revealing Sirius’s every act and motivation as mere shadows of a higher possibility. To grasp this higher state of knowledge—and therefore of being—is, in Lessing’s universe, to be, quite literally, freed from the limitations of the body. The Canopian mind leaps across time and space, inhabits and departs bodies at will, reads and even shares other minds. It all sounds more exciting than it is.
I almost never give three star reviews. To me, three stars means mediocre, and life is too short to read mediocre books. If I pick up even a whiff of mediocrity in the first chapters, back on the shelf it goes. This is not a mediocre book. It is a brilliant failure, which I would give five stars anyway if it weren’t somehow also so inescapably dull.
There is something here. A feeling of witnessing a searching mind grapple with a set of problems almost beyond comprehension. Grapple—but ultimately fail to capture or illuminate the higher knowledge it’s so clearly after. I highlighted numerous striking observations, but those observations do not arise organically out of the story. They simply appear, almost at random, rubber ducks of brilliance bobbing in a sloshing bath of tepid nonsense. What’s more, though Lessing’s project is explicitly anti-racist and anti-imperial, she nonetheless calls upon racial thinking in deeply uncomfortable ways. And Lessing does all this in a tone relentlessly and intentionally bureaucratic, as if she had decided that the one thing wrong with the (far superior) first two novels of the Canopus in Argos cycle was that they had dared be too interesting.
December 3, 2008
The third in Lessing's Canopus in Argos series, and after the relatively smaller scale of the second book we're back on a galactic scale, watching as Sirian bureaucrats try to guide the evolution of civilisation on Earth over vast periods of time. Once again Lessing is concerned with superior intelligences trying to maintain their patience, humility and perspective in the face of barbarity. As the cover blurb warns, the narrator is rather "dry", but that's not to say she's aloof or unsympathetic - her dilemmas and her personal evolution are involving, and the implications of her awakening and the conflict into which it brings her with her colleagues are far-reaching.
Despite being inter-connected, I'd say that you don't have to have read the previous books in the series in order to enjoy this one.
Despite being inter-connected, I'd say that you don't have to have read the previous books in the series in order to enjoy this one.
July 15, 2012
Just reread this after years and it was even better than my (rather faded!) memory of it. Lessing is one of my favourite writers and in my view was and is so beyond her time that even now this book is probably still just one step ahead of current evolution. It was fascinating to see how much of what was predicted for the "imaginary" Shikasta has actually come to pass in recent years. But what I really felt on this read was the deep flow of Canopus, with its heart based approach of flow and interconnection patiently waiting for the egoic and suspicious Sirius to catch up. Lovely, profound, moving, disturbing and totally captivating. I'm looking forward to rereading the rest of the series.
March 17, 2014
spectacular book. lessing has an amazing way of thinking, and reading this book is like listening to her think. it's fiction, it's a memoir, its about space, but it is not in any conventional sense a novel and that seems to put some people off. but i've read it twice now (over a 10-year interval) and been stunned both times by what it does to me as I read.
April 8, 2017
Στο τρίτο βιβλίο της sci-fi πενταλογίας της, Canopus in Argos, η Ντόρις Λέσινγκ (πρόκειται για την κουλ κυριούλα που έμαθε στα 88 της ότι πήρε το Νόμπελ Λογοτεχνίας γυρνώντας από τα ψώνια στη λαϊκή -ψάξτε το βίντεο), βάζει πλώρη για έναν πραγματικά μεγαλεπήβολο στόχο· να παρουσιάσει -ελαφρώς παραλλαγμένη- την ιστορία της Γης από την οπτική γωνία δύο μεγάλων γαλαξιακών αυτοκρατοριών, του Σείριου και του Κανώπου, οι οποίες χρησιμοποιούν πλανήτες, μεταξύ αυτών και τη Γη, ως τεράστια εργαστήρια βιολογικών και κοινωνικών πειραμάτων, χρησιμοποιώντας ως πειραματόζωα, "ζώα" τα ονομάζουν, ανθρώπους ή ανθρωποειδή, προκειμένου να εκμεταλλευτούν στο έπακρο τις δυνατότητές τους.
Πιο συγκεκριμένα, η αφήγηση γίνεται από τη σκοπιά μιας υψηλόβαθμης αξιωματούχου της Σειριακής αυτοκρατορίας, αυτοκρατορίας λιγότερο ισχυρής από αυτή του Κανώπου, παρότι οι κάτοικοί της δεν το παραδέχονται. Μέσα από τα μάτια της Άμπιεν ΙΙ βλέπουμε χιλιάδες χρόνια αστρικής και γήινης εξέλιξης (οι Σείριοι και οι Κάνωποι ζουν πλέον όσο θέλουν) και παρακολουθούμε τις προσπάθειές της να απαντήσει στο υπαρξιακό ερώτημα του "γιατί τα κάνουμε όλα αυτά;", αρχικά διεξάγοντας διάφορα πειράματα επί Γης και έπειτα, αντιλαμβανόμενη την ανωτερότητα του Κανώπου, προσπαθώντας να καταλάβει τον τρόπο που λειτουργεί αυτός. Η αναφορά της Άμπιεν ΙΙ είναι άψογα γραμμένη με το στεγνό ύφος μιας γραφειοκράτισσας, πράγμα που, παρότι δείχνει την ικανότητα της συγγραφέως, δεν το κάνει και πολύ ελκυστικό για τον αναγνώστη.
Το πραγματικά ενδιαφέρον στοιχείο του βιβλίου είναι πάντως η αλλαγή προοπτικής, καθώς βλέπουμε τη Γη όχι ως το κέντρο του κόσμου, αλλά ως έναν περιφερειακό και μάλλον ασήμαντο πλανήτη, και τους κατοίκους της, εμάς, όχι ως το τελειότερο δημιούργημα της φύσης, αλλά ως το αποτέλεσμα πειραματισμών, τύχης και γαλαξιακών ιμπεριαλιστικών ανταγωνισμών. Η Άμπιεν ΙΙ, και μέσα από αυτή η ίδια η συγγραφέας, αντιλαμβάνεται όλο και περισσότερο τις αναλογίες ανάμεσα στη συμπεριφορά των ισχυρών και των εκμεταλλευτών των ανθρώπινων πολιτισμών και στη συμπεριφορά της δικής της, υποτίθεται ανώτερης ηθικά, αυτοκρατορίας.
Η Λέσινγκ με αυτό το βιβλίο, όπως και με τα υπόλοιπα της πενταλογίας, γραμμένα από τα τέλη της δεκαετίας του '70 ως τις αρχές της δεκαετίας του '80, φαίνεται ότι επιδιώκει να κρούσει τον κώδωνα του κινδύνου για αυτά που αντιλαμβανόταν η ίδια ως σημάδια ότι η ανθρωπότητα έχει πάρει έναν εντελώς λανθασμένο δρόμο· εξουσιομανία, λατρεία του χρήματος, μόλυνση του περιβάλλοντος, (νεο-)αποικιοκρατία κτλ. Για να το πετύχει λοιπόν αυτό, συνειδητοποιεί ότι πρέπει να αναγκάσει τον αναγνώστη να δει τη Γη από ψηλά, αλλά δεν της αρκεί να ανέβει σε ένα αεροπλάνο, όπως ο Κώστας Χατζής. Αντίθετα, επιλέγει να τη δει ως μια μικρή μπλε κουκκίδα, όπως έλεγε την ίδια περίπου περίοδο ο Carl Sagan.
Πιο συγκεκριμένα, η αφήγηση γίνεται από τη σκοπιά μιας υψηλόβαθμης αξιωματούχου της Σειριακής αυτοκρατορίας, αυτοκρατορίας λιγότερο ισχυρής από αυτή του Κανώπου, παρότι οι κάτοικοί της δεν το παραδέχονται. Μέσα από τα μάτια της Άμπιεν ΙΙ βλέπουμε χιλιάδες χρόνια αστρικής και γήινης εξέλιξης (οι Σείριοι και οι Κάνωποι ζουν πλέον όσο θέλουν) και παρακολουθούμε τις προσπάθειές της να απαντήσει στο υπαρξιακό ερώτημα του "γιατί τα κάνουμε όλα αυτά;", αρχικά διεξάγοντας διάφορα πειράματα επί Γης και έπειτα, αντιλαμβανόμενη την ανωτερότητα του Κανώπου, προσπαθώντας να καταλάβει τον τρόπο που λειτουργεί αυτός. Η αναφορά της Άμπιεν ΙΙ είναι άψογα γραμμένη με το στεγνό ύφος μιας γραφειοκράτισσας, πράγμα που, παρότι δείχνει την ικανότητα της συγγραφέως, δεν το κάνει και πολύ ελκυστικό για τον αναγνώστη.
Το πραγματικά ενδιαφέρον στοιχείο του βιβλίου είναι πάντως η αλλαγή προοπτικής, καθώς βλέπουμε τη Γη όχι ως το κέντρο του κόσμου, αλλά ως έναν περιφερειακό και μάλλον ασήμαντο πλανήτη, και τους κατοίκους της, εμάς, όχι ως το τελειότερο δημιούργημα της φύσης, αλλά ως το αποτέλεσμα πειραματισμών, τύχης και γαλαξιακών ιμπεριαλιστικών ανταγωνισμών. Η Άμπιεν ΙΙ, και μέσα από αυτή η ίδια η συγγραφέας, αντιλαμβάνεται όλο και περισσότερο τις αναλογίες ανάμεσα στη συμπεριφορά των ισχυρών και των εκμεταλλευτών των ανθρώπινων πολιτισμών και στη συμπεριφορά της δικής της, υποτίθεται ανώτερης ηθικά, αυτοκρατορίας.
Η Λέσινγκ με αυτό το βιβλίο, όπως και με τα υπόλοιπα της πενταλογίας, γραμμένα από τα τέλη της δεκαετίας του '70 ως τις αρχές της δεκαετίας του '80, φαίνεται ότι επιδιώκει να κρούσει τον κώδωνα του κινδύνου για αυτά που αντιλαμβανόταν η ίδια ως σημάδια ότι η ανθρωπότητα έχει πάρει έναν εντελώς λανθασμένο δρόμο· εξουσιομανία, λατρεία του χρήματος, μόλυνση του περιβάλλοντος, (νεο-)αποικιοκρατία κτλ. Για να το πετύχει λοιπόν αυτό, συνειδητοποιεί ότι πρέπει να αναγκάσει τον αναγνώστη να δει τη Γη από ψηλά, αλλά δεν της αρκεί να ανέβει σε ένα αεροπλάνο, όπως ο Κώστας Χατζής. Αντίθετα, επιλέγει να τη δει ως μια μικρή μπλε κουκκίδα, όπως έλεγε την ίδια περίπου περίοδο ο Carl Sagan.
February 29, 2020
The Kindle version suddenly ended at 60%, which is a good place to end.Otherwise this book would have been too long. It took me a long time to read this. I read Kindle in the mornings, sometimes I don't have time to read long. Any way, 3,5 stars. A bit more dry than the first two in the series. But interesting. The view and report of an alien bureaucrat over the evolution of Earth - with the distorting effect of the negative planet Shammat. Mostly it was a description of the bureaucrat in a psychological conflicts of power with the 'reincarnation' of the Shammat representative, and in strange communication with the more developed Klorathy alien. Lessing shows how difficult relating to others is when levels of maturity differ among the participants.This made me think about Firefly sci-fi series where there the Reavers, berserk gone humans terrorize the space, here the Shammat. Who knows if earth has been visited, controlled, or is under some influences from far far away.This kind of books open your mind. It is a slow paced story.
June 2, 2021
No idea why but this series always leave me feeling hopeful about the world. Maybe it is just the illusion of everything falling under its own weight at the end, or the clear way Lessing describes people and the state of the world. Through science fiction, she makes you feel as if it is still possible to look reality in the face.
November 25, 2019
Brilliant. Even after reading it, there's so much I don't understand. This is a series that requires, nay, demands meditation.
April 17, 2021
Another great allegory
Ambien II is one of the senior administrators of the vast Syrian Empire. She cannot understand why there is so much failure and disaster, pain and suffering, in their obviously benign attempts to raise up primitive planets to the requisite level of civilisation. And of course rule over them. Including the distant Earth. But What are they doing wrong?
She really cannot understand the Canopans. Obviously superior in so many ways as she increasingly comes to acknowledge, but aloof, mysterious and quite Odd. They and their motives make no sense. Why don’t they fix everything?
This is not ‘science fiction’ as it is currently understood. Her later work was labelled as science fiction in a derogatory sense by her opponents and detractors. All obviously pompous and ignorant buffoons. It is an extended allegory on social, political and psychological problems and limitations. And asks plaintively why those who know can’t fix things. It’s all so broken. They either can’t or they don’t want to ... it makes no sense. Unless of course they simply don’t exist.
The Shikasta series is more than just tinged with ‘esotericism’.
The author was heavily influenced by the ideas and teachings of the mystic Gurdjieff. Strange energies barely glimpsed at which are so easily misaligned and broken. Important truths forgotten, and sometimes just barely recalled .. but only temporarily. Something we must know, but ... can never quite remember. who am I really? Who’s asking?
Packed with ideas and all a little bit weird but in a good way. Provocative and evocative.
Ambien II is one of the senior administrators of the vast Syrian Empire. She cannot understand why there is so much failure and disaster, pain and suffering, in their obviously benign attempts to raise up primitive planets to the requisite level of civilisation. And of course rule over them. Including the distant Earth. But What are they doing wrong?
She really cannot understand the Canopans. Obviously superior in so many ways as she increasingly comes to acknowledge, but aloof, mysterious and quite Odd. They and their motives make no sense. Why don’t they fix everything?
This is not ‘science fiction’ as it is currently understood. Her later work was labelled as science fiction in a derogatory sense by her opponents and detractors. All obviously pompous and ignorant buffoons. It is an extended allegory on social, political and psychological problems and limitations. And asks plaintively why those who know can’t fix things. It’s all so broken. They either can’t or they don’t want to ... it makes no sense. Unless of course they simply don’t exist.
The Shikasta series is more than just tinged with ‘esotericism’.
The author was heavily influenced by the ideas and teachings of the mystic Gurdjieff. Strange energies barely glimpsed at which are so easily misaligned and broken. Important truths forgotten, and sometimes just barely recalled .. but only temporarily. Something we must know, but ... can never quite remember. who am I really? Who’s asking?
Packed with ideas and all a little bit weird but in a good way. Provocative and evocative.
December 2, 2014
I couldn't bring myself to start this review. In the meantime I have read books four and five of the Canopus cycle as well. Therefore, I can ultimately state that The Sirian Experiments is among the three good books from this series, the other two being book 1 and book 5.
The Sirian Experiments take up what book 1 began. While Marriages (book 2) left the macro interplanetary / -cultural level, we are now back to an eagle's perspective. Only this time, we see the universe not from the all-knowing Canopian view but from the more biased Sirian view which as a matter of fact is akin to a human view with its susceptibility to errors, lies, politics and trends.
In the afterword to book 4, Lessing confirms this change of perspectives as a central topic. The actual inspiration was the doomed South Pole expedition of Scott. Preconceptions and attitudes of the participants played a big role in its failure. English society at that time was divided in classes with clear hierarchies. Expectations to upper-class members represented an antiquated codex of honor and service to society. Abandoning the expedition or even single biological experiments wasn't an option, leading to exhaustion and finally the death of participants.
The Sirians are similar. Their treatment of Shikasta is subject to leading political trends, not necessity. The story known 'objectively' from book 1 is retold 'subjectively' making this the most interesting book from the whole series although it's necessary to start with Shikasta. My recommendation is to completely skip book 2.
The Sirian Experiments take up what book 1 began. While Marriages (book 2) left the macro interplanetary / -cultural level, we are now back to an eagle's perspective. Only this time, we see the universe not from the all-knowing Canopian view but from the more biased Sirian view which as a matter of fact is akin to a human view with its susceptibility to errors, lies, politics and trends.
In the afterword to book 4, Lessing confirms this change of perspectives as a central topic. The actual inspiration was the doomed South Pole expedition of Scott. Preconceptions and attitudes of the participants played a big role in its failure. English society at that time was divided in classes with clear hierarchies. Expectations to upper-class members represented an antiquated codex of honor and service to society. Abandoning the expedition or even single biological experiments wasn't an option, leading to exhaustion and finally the death of participants.
The Sirians are similar. Their treatment of Shikasta is subject to leading political trends, not necessity. The story known 'objectively' from book 1 is retold 'subjectively' making this the most interesting book from the whole series although it's necessary to start with Shikasta. My recommendation is to completely skip book 2.
August 2, 2011
The concept of Lessing's series of soft science fiction novels is promising. It may be read as a series of accounts of surreptitious extraterrestrial interventions upon ourselves as the subjects of their competing attentions or it may be read as representing more or less covert Soviet and American competition over the allegiances and development of other states. The overriding concern, however, is moral, Lessing seeming to be more concerned with the character development of her protagonists in these struggles.
Personally, I feel she failed in her intent. The science fictional settings all require description and explication. Her descriptions, inadequate in my opinion, detract from her ethical explorations. She is inadequate to her ambitious task which might have been better elaborated as a series of spy novels.
Personally, I feel she failed in her intent. The science fictional settings all require description and explication. Her descriptions, inadequate in my opinion, detract from her ethical explorations. She is inadequate to her ambitious task which might have been better elaborated as a series of spy novels.
June 14, 2020
Strange, very strange. I don't get it. What is the point? Very confusing. I did finish though.
July 30, 2017
"Se ho imparato così tanto su ciò che non mi sarei mai aspettata di imparare, quanto ancora posso sperare di apprendere e di capire, posto che ne abbia la pazienza, e non mi conceda di fare domande inutili?" Dire che ho amato questo libro non sarebbe giusto, ma mi ha coinvolto molto. Penso che sia l'altra faccia della medaglia di Shikasta, narrativamente è più scorrevole, con un'impostazione classica, e il contesto fantascientifico è più accentuato, eppure se non avessi letto Shikasta, con tutte la sua lentezza e difficoltà, probabilmente non avrei potuto apprezzare questo libro. I libri di questa serie sono gli unici che io abbia letto di Doris Lessing, ma mi stupisce sempre la lucidità con cui usa ciò che è alieno per parlare degli esseri umani. Il titolo italiano "Una donna armata" non rende affatto giustizia al tema affrontato, Esperimenti siriani è sicuramente più aderente, anche se capisco che nella situazione storico-politica attuale può portare a fraintendimenti. L'esperimento di Sirius forse sarebbe stato un compromesso migliore. Perché letteralmente è di questo che si tratta. Un alto membro dell'impero di Sirius, una donna, racconta in prima persona la sua esperienza con Shikasta (ossia la Terra nella finzione narrativa) nel corso dei millenni, narrando parallelamente la sua crescita personale come individuo e come testimone della sua intera civiltà, sotto l'influenza di Canopus. La Lessing affronta spesso il tema della mente collettiva, di come ogni individuo, ogni essere vivente, pianta, animale, faccia parte di un rapporto reciproco di forze e influenze molto più grande. Si parla del tema sociale della crescita tecnologica che può portare a un'espansione culturale, ma anche a una profonda inquietudine psicologica e morale, a una perdita dello scopo della propria esistenza. È quello che su Sirus viene chiamato male esistenziale, a cui si cerca di rispondere con altro progresso, inglobando altri mondi, cercando fuori di sè la soluzione ai propri mali. "Avevamo sempre pensato, nel portare i nostri sviluppi tecnologici a uno stadio tanto avanzato, di avere la situazione sotto controllo, di esercitare una scelta". A questa idea si contrappone in parte l'idea di Canopus, secondo cui ogni progresso tecnologico è vano se esso non si svolge in equilibrio con le forze della natura e della Galassia. È impossibile progredire se non si è disposti a cambiare, e ad ascoltare per prima cosa. Questo pensiero mi ha colpito molto, per la sua semplice evidenza. Non si può vedere quello che non si è ancora pronti a vedere, per quanto possa essere chiaro e palese per qualcun altro. La Lessing parla anche di cambiamento sociale. Ogni cosa è in continuo mutamento in linea con i cambiamenti delle forze che governano l'Universo ("Panta rei.."), ed è inutile lottare contro di esso. Non è meglio allora cercare di capire la situazione e piantare oggi i semi di un miglioramento futuro? All'interno di un insieme, basta che un solo individuo inizi a riflettere su come poter vivere in equilibrio con quanto lo circondano, affinché, come delle piccole onde nell'acqua, il cambiamento inizi a prodursi in tutto il sistema. La parola chiave di "Shikasta" era, secondo me, autocritica; quella per "Esperimenti siriani" potrebbe essere consapevolezza. Una volta capiti i nostri errori possiamo sempre imparare da loro, sembra voler dire questo arco narrativo. Nel libro si parla sempre di specie inferiori e specie superiori, di schiavi che sono intellettualmente e culturalmente migliori dei loro padroni e padroni che dopo poco diventano a loro volta schiavi di altri popoli. Che diritto ha una persona di sentirsi superiore a un'altra e sfruttarla? Qual è il confine tra scienza e tortura? La storia ci insegna che ogni cultura attraversa delle fasi di sviluppo, e che spesso siamo pronti a criticare negli altri cose che la nostra gente ha fatto a sua volta nei tempi passati. È una critica molto aspra al modo di vedere la storia della parte dell'Occidente. La riflessione di Ambien II, la protagonista, nei confronti di Sirius, rispecchia quella della Lessing sul genere umano. "Ritengo probabile che la nostra visione di noi stessi, come specie su questo pianeta, sia inaccurata, e colpirà per la sua inadeguatezza quanti verranno dopo di noi proprio come noi siamo colpiti dalla visione che del mondo hanno, tanto per dire, gli abitanti della Nuova Guinea. È probabile che la nostra visione di noi stessi come specie sia sbagliata. È probabile che sappiamo molto poco di ciò che sta accadendo. Ed è probabile che gran parte di ciò che sta accadendo non venga riferita ai cittadini comuni
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 7, 2019
O, give me Canopean forbearance to cope with a novel as tedious as this.
It's not that it lacks ambition - and on a galactic scale. Who else would try to encompass the entire history of the planet and of mankind?
The whole story concerns the manipulation of earth and countless other planets, and of their many species of inhabitants, by super-intelligent aliens. Rather like Erich von Däniken a decade earlier but without the marketing, or Douglas Adams a few years later without the humour.
Yet how is it, in a tale covering a time-scale from the forging of continents and the extinction of the dinosaurs, through the destruction of Atlantic, the coming of Inca and Mongol empires, world wars, colonialism, and incongruously the sinking of the Titanic and the coming of Saga holidays for the aged, that I got the feeling that nothing had happened?
Perhaps, firstly, it is that Lessing reverses the writers' maxim 'Show, don't tell' by commenting on the action rather than immersing the reader in them.
“They showed a disposition to worship us,” she writes. What did they do? “I shall not attempt to describe …."
Descriptions such as they are tend to be of the shape of buildings, and the extent of hairiness or stockiness of build of the various creatures encountered. Dialogue too is minimal, and of the "Fair Sirian, you do not understand" tenor.
One might forgive this were it not for the banality of the philosophy. Ambien II, our so-described narrator, admits to the general trait to confuse diplomacy and duplicity, the tendency of authority to invent false threats to distract the population, and of elites to enjoy unjustified privileges. Quelle surprise.
She herself has a Damascene conversion and comes to doubt the virtue of Sirian experiments on the helpless by witnessing victims boiled alive and becoming subjects of surgical experiments to reattach body parts randomly - a penis on the face for example. Yes, good grief, we can all agree, surely this is wrong!
We must learn to live in balance with nature, this Mengele turned environmentalist learns from her Canopean guide. Hurrah for that, although she seems less optimistic for the intentions of the rest of us.
Earth, or Rohanda as she calls it, is "a planet full of brutes who could be relied upon for only one thing – to kill each other on one pretext or another at the first opportunity."
Well, it’s a point of view, but it’s not going to be a very productive one in terms of creating a true picture of life in all its complexities.
Don't judge a book by its cover. Yet in this case, to give an idea of its inflated silliness, it's worth quoting the full title, which is: 'Canopus in Argos: Archives, The Sirian experiments. The report by Ambien II, of The Five'. Pompous and over-long, outside and in.
It's not that it lacks ambition - and on a galactic scale. Who else would try to encompass the entire history of the planet and of mankind?
The whole story concerns the manipulation of earth and countless other planets, and of their many species of inhabitants, by super-intelligent aliens. Rather like Erich von Däniken a decade earlier but without the marketing, or Douglas Adams a few years later without the humour.
Yet how is it, in a tale covering a time-scale from the forging of continents and the extinction of the dinosaurs, through the destruction of Atlantic, the coming of Inca and Mongol empires, world wars, colonialism, and incongruously the sinking of the Titanic and the coming of Saga holidays for the aged, that I got the feeling that nothing had happened?
Perhaps, firstly, it is that Lessing reverses the writers' maxim 'Show, don't tell' by commenting on the action rather than immersing the reader in them.
“They showed a disposition to worship us,” she writes. What did they do? “I shall not attempt to describe …."
Descriptions such as they are tend to be of the shape of buildings, and the extent of hairiness or stockiness of build of the various creatures encountered. Dialogue too is minimal, and of the "Fair Sirian, you do not understand" tenor.
One might forgive this were it not for the banality of the philosophy. Ambien II, our so-described narrator, admits to the general trait to confuse diplomacy and duplicity, the tendency of authority to invent false threats to distract the population, and of elites to enjoy unjustified privileges. Quelle surprise.
She herself has a Damascene conversion and comes to doubt the virtue of Sirian experiments on the helpless by witnessing victims boiled alive and becoming subjects of surgical experiments to reattach body parts randomly - a penis on the face for example. Yes, good grief, we can all agree, surely this is wrong!
We must learn to live in balance with nature, this Mengele turned environmentalist learns from her Canopean guide. Hurrah for that, although she seems less optimistic for the intentions of the rest of us.
Earth, or Rohanda as she calls it, is "a planet full of brutes who could be relied upon for only one thing – to kill each other on one pretext or another at the first opportunity."
Well, it’s a point of view, but it’s not going to be a very productive one in terms of creating a true picture of life in all its complexities.
Don't judge a book by its cover. Yet in this case, to give an idea of its inflated silliness, it's worth quoting the full title, which is: 'Canopus in Argos: Archives, The Sirian experiments. The report by Ambien II, of The Five'. Pompous and over-long, outside and in.
August 23, 2022
Doris Lessing's science fiction novels are not simple adventures in space full of astonishing gadgets. They are much much more. There are more depth and more thinking behind the stories which can be seen just as stories about foreign stars and galaxies - if the reader doesn't bother to think deeper himself/herself.
Also this novel was loaded with metaphors and analogies which were easy to see even though the time span was thousands or even millions of years and the names of the planets and inhabitant races were different from our map of the universe.
In essence this was a story about planet Earth and human beings - even in many phases of their development. Planet Rohanda/Shikasta was obviously the Earth and Sirius could be understood as the Future Earth - where and when we think we have evolved a lot and become the masters of the universe; and are still not unable to understand the the truth.
Shammat was a clear analogy to current mankind: a brutal, selfish, proud, envious species which thinks they have a god given right to utilize, kill, torture and enslave all others.
These same features were present in Sirius although in a bit more refined form. Being far ahead of homo sapiens they were yet unable to see how unfair and uncivilized they still were with their "human" experiments. The Star Child of 2001 Space Odyssey was unborn.
Considering Doris Lessing wrote this novel in 1980's one can astonish and admire how well she could foretell the situation on Earth.
It is also quite alarming that looking back we have learned nothing or very very little. We remain to be the same old nasty cruel animals. We just are not fit to be one of the top races in universe. Not for a long time or ever.
Totally an advisable novel to read. As is the whole Canopus in Argos series. I've read just this one and the novel "Colonised Planet 5, Shikasta". Both were excellent; not always easy.
Siriuksen kokeet
Otava 1983
Also this novel was loaded with metaphors and analogies which were easy to see even though the time span was thousands or even millions of years and the names of the planets and inhabitant races were different from our map of the universe.
In essence this was a story about planet Earth and human beings - even in many phases of their development. Planet Rohanda/Shikasta was obviously the Earth and Sirius could be understood as the Future Earth - where and when we think we have evolved a lot and become the masters of the universe; and are still not unable to understand the the truth.
Shammat was a clear analogy to current mankind: a brutal, selfish, proud, envious species which thinks they have a god given right to utilize, kill, torture and enslave all others.
These same features were present in Sirius although in a bit more refined form. Being far ahead of homo sapiens they were yet unable to see how unfair and uncivilized they still were with their "human" experiments. The Star Child of 2001 Space Odyssey was unborn.
Considering Doris Lessing wrote this novel in 1980's one can astonish and admire how well she could foretell the situation on Earth.
It is also quite alarming that looking back we have learned nothing or very very little. We remain to be the same old nasty cruel animals. We just are not fit to be one of the top races in universe. Not for a long time or ever.
Totally an advisable novel to read. As is the whole Canopus in Argos series. I've read just this one and the novel "Colonised Planet 5, Shikasta". Both were excellent; not always easy.
Siriuksen kokeet
Otava 1983
September 27, 2025
This is a very thoughtful, careful SF that drives an almost academical knife in the heart of colonialism--not from the pithy point of view of those who suffer from it, but from the viewpoint of an almost immortal ADMINISTRATOR of an empire who, at almost all times, thinks it's doing RIGHT.
Yikes.
The casual way the Sirian galactic empire performs all kinds of experiments, including large-scale social ones, on indigenous populations is at once a condemnation of how Africa was treated and a sneaky mirror to all of us who seek refuge in academics.
But more importantly, if you've been reading the Canopus in Argos series, it provides probably the best look at Canopus out of all three. It's certainly fascinating and scary all at once. And epic in scale, of course. We watch AGES of the Earth progress. Like it's nothing.
Fascinating book. A much deeper look at ourselves through an SF lens than most traditional SF stories. I call this a hardcore idea novel. Recommended.
Personal note:
If anyone reading my reviews is be interested in reading my SF (Very hard SF, mind you), I'm open to requests.
Just direct message me in goodreads or email me on my site. I'd love to get some eyes on my novels.
Arctunn.com
Yikes.
The casual way the Sirian galactic empire performs all kinds of experiments, including large-scale social ones, on indigenous populations is at once a condemnation of how Africa was treated and a sneaky mirror to all of us who seek refuge in academics.
But more importantly, if you've been reading the Canopus in Argos series, it provides probably the best look at Canopus out of all three. It's certainly fascinating and scary all at once. And epic in scale, of course. We watch AGES of the Earth progress. Like it's nothing.
Fascinating book. A much deeper look at ourselves through an SF lens than most traditional SF stories. I call this a hardcore idea novel. Recommended.
Personal note:
If anyone reading my reviews is be interested in reading my SF (Very hard SF, mind you), I'm open to requests.
Just direct message me in goodreads or email me on my site. I'd love to get some eyes on my novels.
Arctunn.com
February 2, 2025
One could, inspired by a famous Lessing quote, investigate how many intelligent women prefer spending endless amounts of time with small children over the incessant droning of Ambien II. She is one of the Five senior administrators of the Sirian Colonial Service, who, though this is not generally known, actually run an Empire spanning several planets. Their functioning is somewhat peculiar, as governing bodies go: “The meetings of those who know each as well as we do have no need of rules and an order. Often enough we have sat silent together until agreement has been reached, and separated without a word being said.” (p.296)
In spite of an occasional interesting thought, this strange and alien perspective pervades most of the bland narrative, depicting events and characters as if they are made out of cardboard. Would such a detachment from reality perhaps be linked to a predisposition to mystical and spiritual tendencies, which had already influenced Lessing by the time she wrote this work? In the absence of any knowledge about an empirical basis for such a hypothesis, best not to pursue it. It might be as fruitless as a Sirian experiment.
In spite of an occasional interesting thought, this strange and alien perspective pervades most of the bland narrative, depicting events and characters as if they are made out of cardboard. Would such a detachment from reality perhaps be linked to a predisposition to mystical and spiritual tendencies, which had already influenced Lessing by the time she wrote this work? In the absence of any knowledge about an empirical basis for such a hypothesis, best not to pursue it. It might be as fruitless as a Sirian experiment.
June 7, 2018
Lessing's vision here is no less powerful than the previous books in the Argos In Canopus series, but with Experiments, her delivery falls off the mark. Much as I wanted to like this book, there were large stretches that were a drag, and others that felt seriously dated and outright camp. But Lessing's beating humanist heart keeps the thing afloat, and instances of that classic Lessing Lumination we come here for are to be found interspersed throughout. The esoteric "inner space" consciousness-bending mindset the series as a whole is trying to feel out (and which is something that I feel is much needed in our current distracted and dislocated times) will blow minds for the uninitiated, much in the way that Philip K. Dick is want to do, and Experiments has been compared to his mind-melting VALIS. And much like VALIS, once that existential cat is out of the bag, it's a tight squeeze to cram it back in. This one's a 2.5-er for me.
October 14, 2025
3.5 stars. An interesting science fiction novel that begins with Sirian narrator, Ambien II, an efficient bureaucrat and scientist undertaking experiments for the betterment of Sirians and greater understanding of Canopus. The experiments include the kidnapping of thousands of ‘Lombis’ from Planet 24 for training as slaves, simulating the Canopean rapid evolution experiments, and attempting to wipe out the existential laziness of Sirians. Ambien II undertakes a good versus evil duel and starts doubting her Sirian principles. Ambien II begins to question her involvement in the colonisation of land and people. Ambien II begins denouncing her own Sirian government and finds herself under planet arrest.
This book is the third book of Doris Lessing’s Canopus in Argos series. It can be read as a standalone.
This book was shortlisted for the 1981 Booker Prize.
This book is the third book of Doris Lessing’s Canopus in Argos series. It can be read as a standalone.
This book was shortlisted for the 1981 Booker Prize.
November 28, 2018
Şikeste'nin açtığı "öznel dünya tarihi" yolunda, ama bu kez daha derinlere ve özel durum ve kentlere uzanan bir anlatı. Antik Orta Amerika halklarından Kayıp Atlantis'e ve Uzakdoğu kentlerine kadar birçok eksik miti kendince dolduran Doris, otorite ve iktidar algısını, fikirlerin bir kuşaktan diğerine nasıl da değişebildiğini ve insanın zulmünün sınırsızlığını dillendiriyor.
Çok güzel.
Çok güzel.
February 1, 2021
“[...] each person everywhere sees itself, as a unique and extraordinary individual, and never suspects to what an extent it is a tiny unit that can exist only as a part of a whole.”
Doris Lessing
The Sirian Experiment (Canopus in Argos #3), 1981
★★★★★
Migliore dei due volumi precedenti: Shikasta e The Marriages Between Zone Three, Four And Five.
Peggiore del suo capolavoro tascabile The Fifth Child.
Uguale a osservare la storia dell’evoluzione umana sulla terra come fosse una partita a Risiko, o meglio, The Sims
Doris Lessing
The Sirian Experiment (Canopus in Argos #3), 1981
★★★★★
Migliore dei due volumi precedenti: Shikasta e The Marriages Between Zone Three, Four And Five.
Peggiore del suo capolavoro tascabile The Fifth Child.
Uguale a osservare la storia dell’evoluzione umana sulla terra come fosse una partita a Risiko, o meglio, The Sims
November 13, 2025
Much like the first book in this series, I found it hard to follow at times & actually not very interesting at times but there were points where the story grabbed me & I appreciate the scope of effort in writing this, the largest of the 5 books, & the creation of the world inside the books. But I guess it's just not the kind of read I'm into.
August 12, 2017
Fuck that was boring. I must have read half of it, what a waste of fucking time.
May 29, 2019
AMAZING!
August 29, 2020
Each book in the series gets more interesting.
September 25, 2020
Great ideas but the execution isn't for me. Dnf. I may try again though.
July 9, 2021
Fascinating series of books. More social fiction than science fiction, each volume takes a different perspective on planetary evolution and interaction. A bit of a jigsaw puzzle of a read.
Read
December 9, 2021Took me awhile to find the right mindset, which is fitting I suppose
January 6, 2022
Bureaucracy is evil and extends into the space and Lessing depicts it with a detachment that feels safe yet accurate.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews