136 Chapter Six

OUTER SPACE FANTASY II: THE SIRIAN EXPERIMENTS, THE MAKING OF THE REPRESENTATIVE FOR PLANET 8 AND THE SENTIMENTAL AGENTS OF THE VOLYEN EMPIRE

Nettled by expressions of dissatisfaction after the publication of Shikasta and Marriages, Leasing explains her purpose once again in a preface to the third in this series, The Sirian Experiments (1981) . In sum, Lessing invites readers to see the series "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" (1981:12). Lessing, certainly does this in the next three of the series—The Sirian Experiments (1981), The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 (1983) ,_and The Sentimental Agents of the Volven Empire (1983).

THE SIRIAN EXPERIMENTS

The reviewers find ii\any faults with Lessing's The Sirian

Experiments. For instance, Edwin Morgan says that the book "is

not as well written as it might be. Misplaced particles abound.

Singulars and plurals are confounded, sentences are made verbless

quite unnecessarily and there is too much reliance on those magic

dots..." (TLS, 1981:431). They find her ideas "too near the 137 surface, too little assimilated" (Wilce, 1981:24) but do not explain which ideas they mean, and hastily conclude that the book is "not good or good Lessing. Fanatics only " (Niccol, 1981:72). However, Robert Alter's review is a perceptive and interesting one. He considers the Canopus in Arqos series to belong to what Northrop Frye called an "anatomy"; that is, "a combination of fantasy and morality" (NYTBR, 1981:1) which "presents a vision of the world in terms of a single intellectual pattern" (NYTBR, 1981:24). But he does not fully expand this idea; nor does he realize that "morality" for Lessing has different dimensions. He draws parallels between this series and Gulliver's Travels and shows how both expose "the pettiness, the savagery, the brutality of our supposedly civilized lives"

(NYTBR. 1981:24). Alter rightly considers the figures from outer space to serve as tellers of an earthly tale which is to say, to provide a new sometimes startling perspective on earthly affairs seeing, in their sweep across the geological eons from the first beginning to the possible ends (1981:24).

Except that this time the perspective has changed—it is that of the Sirian colonizers. The Sirian Experiments covers much the same ground as

Shikasta—the history of the earth from prehistoric times to the twentieth century. But The Sirian Experiments highlights different 138 episodes; for example, the growth of the pre-Columban cultures and the invasions of the growth of the Mongols and the Tartars. The two galactic empires, Canopus and , have colonized the earth with various species and are constantly watching and intervening in this colonial development. Ambien II (one of the five Oligarchs of Sirius) finds herself much concerned with the relations between the two empires. What happens on earth is used as a testing ground for her own evolving attitudes; her growing doubts about the manipulation of species, and at the same time, her growing admiration for the trustworthiness and benevolence of Canopus. They are beings as superior to Sirius, as Sirius is to the various species it transports, dumps, cajoles and commands from planet to planet. Ambien II finds herself increasingly alienated from her fellow Sirians and at the end of the book finds herself exiled on Planet 13 of the Sirian empire.

Compared to the two earlier books in this series. The Sirian Experiments is more specifically science fiction in that it offers staple science fiction fare. We get descriptions of various colonized .ts. For example, there is planet II which has two moons. One was a "reddish disc" and another a "smaller bilious green disc" (1981:123). The inhabitants are of two types—giants who are black or rich chocolate brown, and the

insect people who were not very short... but seemed so, because they were so extremely thin and light in build, and of 139 a silvery-grey colour that made one believe them transparent when they were not. They had no hair on their tall domed heads. Each hand...had ten very long fingers, nailless, giving the impression of tentacles always in movement. They had three eyes, quite round, bright green, with vertical black pupils. There was a pattern of nostrils—simple holes—in the centre of their flat faces, three or four or even more. No nose, no mouth at all (1981:125).

These creatures are telepathic and live on air. We are reminded of the strange creatures we meet in Star Trek, Flash Gordon, and Superman. The flora is also unfamiliar. For instance. Planet 3 has "animal plants" which reached out to eat insects, animals anybody who happens to pass by. Another reason for the distinctively science fiction tone of this novel is the fact that Lessing does not deal exclusively with earth's history. And even when she does deal with earth's history, the facts are transformed. For example, it is historically verifiable that the Central American empires of the Aztecs and Incas were closed totalitarian regimes which believed in human sacrifice but there is no knowledge of a city named Grakcontrapatl.

Nor does the human predicament feature so much here as it did in

Shikasta. Humanity is distanced in The Sirian Experiments and we see man behaving in the way he does because of the manipulations of Canopus, Sirius or Shammat. But this does not mean that Lessing palliates the blame for the way human beings behave. What she is trying to do is to offer suggestions, conjectures, as to why we do 140 so. As she clearly says in the preface to this books, she does

"not believe that there is a planet called Shammat full of low grade pirates, and that it sucks substance from this poor planet of ours; nor that we are the scene of conflict between those great empires, Canopus and Sirius" (1981:10). Lorna Sage rightly comments that;

These statements show her trying to put her fictions into a new focus. She wanted them to be disposable, emblematic and analogical, so that they convey imaginative moves (from the personal to the collective, from the rational to the intuitive) without getting too entangled in particular histories. Readers who suspect her of believing in diabolic space pirates are responding to something that is there in her tone; propaganda for 'wonder' for emigration into mental space (1983:83).

Lessing does not offer us any escape from the contingent world in her fantasy. Her portrayal of the Sirian colonial attitude is close to that of real life colonizers. The galactic empires display many human tendencies and characteristics. As Gillian

Wilce points out, Lessing is making "the familiar, unfamiliar"

(1981:24). In her fantasy almost more than in her earlier realistic fiction, Lessing allows the "author and reader to wonder

anew about the conditions of human life" (1981:24).

The Sirian Empire, for instance, is a close parallel of the

advanced Western countries of this world. The largest of all the

empires, its "technological development had reached a peak" 141

(1981:27). But this achievement also brought about its problems, the major one being the fact that "there was nothing for billions upon billions of individuals to do" (1981:27). These hapless individuals offered by their triumphantly successful leaders

"plenty of leisure, freedom from want, from fear, from effort, showed every symptom of mass psychosis, ranging from random and purposeless violence to apparently causeless epidemics and widespread neurosis" (1981:27). The solution offered to this problem is also very familiar and human. The Sirian administration

evolved the idea of "invented usefulness" (1981:27). Innumerable people on Sirian colonized planets left their leisure and regressed

to a long distant past, with families working sometimes on quite

small plots of land and aiming at self sufficiency. But of course,

they used technical advances when this suited them. Such a

solution could only be indulged in by the rich and so was named

derisively and with unconcealed resentment "pastimes of the rich"

(1981:28). And as Ambien II herself points out "these movements

had all the characteristics of the ^religions' that afflicted

Rohanda in its period of decline and degeneration. To Hive

simply', ^to get back to nature seemed to nearly everyone the

solution to all our new problems" (1981:29). Both Sirians and

human beings know, however, that this is just a pathetic regression

and not a lasting solution.

The root of the Sirian problems was its "existential doubts- 142

-who should use what and how much and when and what for" (1981:81) .

At first/ the Sirian administrations decided to decrease their

population. At the end of 50,000 Sirian years they were left with

nearly empty planets but in fact, nothing had changed. As Ambien

II says, "We still did not know how to look at ourselves"

(1981:82). What governed the existence of Sirians was work or the

* lack of it. This realization resulted in depressions, and

psychological maladjustments of all kinds. This was especially

true of women, who even went to the extent of agreeing to take part

in breeding experiments to satisfy their urge for motherhood.

Another problem central to the development of the Sirian

Empire was that as soon as they had colonized a new planet, in a

short time "these savages" (1981:35) would demand all the

advantages that Sirians on the home planet enjoyed. But they

continued colonizing because they "needed a reservoir or bank of

populations whom they could use for ordinary, heavy,

undifferentiated work" (1981:120). This was because there were

Sirians, not only on the home planet but in the colonized planets

too, who believed that since they had evolved beyond certain

levels, it was impossible for them to be asked to do some kinds of

work. These attitudes mirror the attitudes of the white colonizers

in Asia, Australia and America. Like all colonists, the Sirians

saw themselves as doing the natives of any planet a favour by their

colonization. "To be part of the Sirian whole is to be part of 143 progress, development..." (1981:272). The "White Man's Burden" seems to be part of the Sirian make up—"It is the duty of the more evolved planets, like the great daughter of Sirius, to guide and control" (1981:272). The natives were supposed to feel grateful for being exposed to a "better and more developed" culture. But sometimes the natives did not even know what was happening because they were simply captured and air-lifted to another planet, as was the case with the Lombis of Planet 3. They were first taken to

Planet 23 to build huge green houses which were to be used for growing food for Planet 26. It was an unpleasant task because of the climatic conditions in Planet 23. The Lombis who had never worn clothes before were made to wear a kind of space suit and to work. When the task was over the Lombis were finally taken to

Shikasta. The Lombis did not have any direct contact with the

Sirians and were not taught anything that would help them evolve to a higher level. This was because the Sirians needed species at this level, to do the work that the more advanced and effete

Sirians could not do.

But even the species who were exposed to Sirian culture did not gain very much. Instead they too showed signs of being afflicted with problems that were common among the Sirians. Sirian colonization did not change anything in the native's make-up, whereas the Canopean colonization did. Ambien II herself admits this. "The Canopean experiment had changed the native stock. 144

Fundamentally. This was the point" (1981:70) . And yet the Sirians are surprised by the natives' "ingratitude". They exploit them for selfish reasons but make it seem an ethical mission undertaken purely for the natives' benefit. We are reminded of the similar

claim that the British made: "the advance of the Union Jack means protection for the weaker races, justice for the oppressed, liberty

for the down trodden" (Langer, 1956:84).

Paradoxically enough, the Sirians did not know why they kept

colonizing. However, they keep on at it and planets are colonized

and then abandoned as seen fit. After the failure of the Lock at

Shikasta, for instance, Sirius does not bother about the welfare

of the species they have introduced into Shikasta but just

abandoned them. The areas which are under their jurisdiction, are

later overrun by civilizations that exploit and oppress others.

It is only when Canopus brings this to their attention that they

acknowledge their responsibility. This was because they never

thought that their "responsibilities should also be altruistic"

(1981:246). Ambien II visits Lellanos (one of the cities in

isolated Southern Continent I) and tries to stop some of the

inhuman practices—grafting of penises on the face, the slow

boiling of family groups in large cauldrons--but wryly admits that

similar experiments had been conducted by Sirians earlier.

But in spite of all this one finds it hard to equate Sirius

with evil. We are exasperated by Ambien's bland and literal 145 mentality as she scurries through the millennia, witnessing disasters and inhumanities and ponderously coming to the conclusion that there may be more than one way of looking at things but not for long. Ambien II slowly learns the importance of living according to "need" as the Canopeans do. The point is one that Lessing arrives at again and again: the beginning of an answer to existential doubt is to realize that you are part of a continuous symbiotic chain, not a separate, managerial, inviolable 'I'. Through Ambien there is hope that the whole of the Sirian empire too will learn. "It is not possible for an individual to think differently from the whole, he or she is part of" (1981:272). Therefore her conventional colleagues are themselves already inwardly rejecting the official line. "They had watched me involved with Canopus, had wondered had speculated--and their inner most selves had been touched", says Ambien II (1981:300) . It might be a slow change but it will take place. This is mainly due to the Sirians' uneasy relationship with Canopus. Long before the colonization of Shikasta, there had been a war between Canopus and Sirius. The Canopeans won the war but had returned all that it had conquered from the Sirians and had offered a truce so that the Sirians would not be humiliated. But the Sirians never gave the Canopus any credit for this magnanimity. On the contrary, they did everything to expunge from their history books and memories, any hint that the Canopeans had even won that 146 war. The Sirians made use of all that the Canopeans had to offer and learnt a great deal from them including "Forced Evolution" of planets. However, the Sirians never really understood what the Canopeans stood for and was always

resentful and suspicious of them. As conditions deteriorate in

Shikasta because of the falling away of the Lock, the Sirians find

it even harder to understand how the Canopeans can continue working

in Shikasta and even go so far as to tolerate Shammat. The Sirians

found

Canopus sentimental. Sometimes to the point of folly. What else can we call attitudes that are often uneconomic, counter productive, wasteful of administrative effort? (1981:19)

They despised the Canopeans for not acquiring more colonies. They

are jealous of the changes wrought on the natives of Shikasta with

the help of the giants, and Ambien II even goes so far as to kidnap

some of them. But the natives do not evolve any further under the

Sirians, a fact which makes them even more angry. The Sirians feel

this way because they judge the Canopeans by their standards.

Ambien II slowly realizes this by associating with them, and when

she herself is ready to accept the truth. Nor do the Canopeans

force her to realize this because the Canopeans do not operate this

way. For example, Klorathy lives with a tribe in Shikasta until

the people of the tribe are ready to ask questions. He takes part

in their activities but did not make "any attempt to communicate 147 what he thought until he was asked a direct question—or until

something was said that was in fact a question though it was masked

as a comment" (1981:113). It is significant to note that Klorathy

and all the Canopean agents take on the physical shape or body of

the particular culture they visit. This helps to make the natives

feel comfortable with them. here does not have any

religious overtones. The Canopeans use a particular body for some

time and when it is inefficient throw it aside and "step into a new

one without fuss, sentimentality or regret" (1981:250). It would

be closer to connect these actions of the Canopeans to the Sufi

teachers: the point about wandering Sufi teachers being that they

take on the colouring of whatever culture they find themselves in,

though their aim is to awaken a consciousness free of time and

place.

But the Canopeans are not perfect either. Penelope Lively

points out that "Canopus high minded as they are to get up to some

fairly dubious undertakings themselves" (1981:57). Ambien II, in

fact, can herself be regarded as a Canopean "plant" used to lift

the self satisfied and self deluded Sirian empire to a better

degree of awareness

At times, Canopean agents also succumb to Shammat. Nasar,

for example, fails in his duties at Shikasta and is surprisingly

brought back to his senses by Ambien II. Despite the Canopeans

superiority to the Sirian, it need the Sirian's help for offsetting 148 some events in earth's history. For instance, the Canopean requests the Sirian to help transport some of the Lellonians away to Shammat, because they cannot afford it on their budget.

Canopus did not invent these laws. Have you not observed for yourself that if one disengages oneself from a process arbitrarily, then all kinds of connections and links and growth are broken-and that you yourself suffer for it? (1981:240).

The Canopeans do not look down on others because they know about the "Necessity". They are willing to teach others how to live according to the "Necessity". Canopean agents take endless trouble over Ambien and rescue her from various scrapes. For instance, Ambien II is about to be sacrificed in Grakcontrapatl but is rescued by Rhodia (a Canopean agent). Nor do the Canopeans abuse their powers. They tolerate Shammat's presence on Shikasta and its moon within limits. Neither do they despise Shammat in the way that the Sirians do.

Though Shammat had been mentioned earlier in Shikasta. it is only in The Sirian Experiments that we meet the Shammatans properly. Shammat, we are told, is one of the planets in the

Puttiorian empire and "was spoken of as some dreadful sunbaked rock used by Puttiora as a criminal settlement. At any rate, they were pirates, adventurers, desperadoes" (1981:70), When we first meet them, Ambien II describes the Shammatans as having "head hair,

localized body hair, teeth at primary level, well adopted hands. 149 feet used only for locomotion. They were therefore above most of the species...but far behind the Rohandan native species as evolved by Canopus (1981:70,71) and are not afraid of Sirius. They pester

Ambien II to give them some of the Sirian females who were

"breeding first quality colonizers" (1981:71). Ambien II refused them but discovered later that these females had been visited by the Shammatans. Their progeny had a "sickeningly lewd and obscene look" (1981:86) and were motivated by an avid cunning that was in everything that they did.

Though the Sirians dubbed the Shammatans as "the barbarous, the criminal; the horrible' (1981:72), the Shammatans had a better

idea of what the Canopeans were than the Sirians did. Ambien II

realizes this later and admits that "we, Sirius, the civilized, the

highly developed have not found out" (1981:72). It is amusing to

note that the Shammatans consider the Sirians their "fellow

criminals" in that they both steal from the Canopeans, a fact which

is resented by the Sirians, though it is true. After the Lock

fails, the Shammatans have a field day at Shikasta feeding on the

hatred and confusion and adding to it. In fact, it seemed as if

"the planet was now under the domination, for all apparent

purposes, of Shammat" (1981:29). But this is "with the permission

or at least tolerance of Canopus, who could stop it tomorrow"

(1981:299). The Shammatans slowly grows in power and soon

dominates the entire Puttioran empire. Puttiorans become part of 150 the Shammatan force on earth and are described as being "of middle

Rohandan height..Skin of a greying colour, almost green...eyes were opaque, oblong without brows...no hair...mouth was straight, almost to the ears and only a slit" (1981:135). Ambien II finds these creatures repulsive and is surprised that Nasar succumbs to their influence. But she is not above them either; her next visit to

Shikasta shows us that.

Lellanos, a beautiful city that had been built with Canopean help, is beginning to degenerate, when Ambien II visits it. She is amazed and angry at Rhodia's apparent callousness and indifference, to this fact. Rhodia tries to explain—

We are subject to the Necessity, Sirius, always and everywhere. Are you thinking, as you sit there sulking and angry and bitter at what you see as the waste of it all, that you may change the Necessity itself? By your little cries and complaints?... The high time of Lellanos is done with, Sirius (1981:229) but she does not understand. Rhodia is killed by a mob a little while later, and Ambien II wallowing in regret, pity and

frustration is an easy prey to Tafta's suggestions. She found herself unable to stand up to him because he,

Tafta, this enemy of Sirius, had somehow become the voice of my most inner feelings... As he wandered, with me, through Lellanos, inwardly grieving for its imminent overthrow (1981:235).

She agrees to become the head of the government with Tafta's 151 help. However, the sibilant whisper "Sirius, Sirius, Be careful"

(1981:236) makes her realize her folly. She finds it "hard to believe...how easy it had been after all, for Shammat to believe and win me over, and with such slight powers at his disposal!"

(1981:240). She resets this and feels that if she had been

"tempted by something really wicked...a total and thorough going beastliness, I might have found some point in that! But to have succumbed to Tafta was humiliating" (1981:244) . She does not seem to realize that the beginnings of an immersion in evil starts with something easy, paltry, seemingly unimportant.

By the end of the book, the Shammatans have evolved to be "men of God", a term used for the exemplars of the local religions.

First on one side, and then on the other,the men announced God's

support for whatever policy of mass destruction was being

implemented (1981:309,310). We also catch a glimpse of one of the

Shammatans as senior technician of one of the continents: "He was

a world figure, as an apologist for technology" (1981:321). When

asked questions about the damage being done by technology he used

the social mechanism of the Shikastans, that is, their fear of

being "out of step" (1981:322) to make the questioner seem foolish

and stupid. He does it so well that Shikastans have become

impervious to the truth of their situation. The Shammatans are

very human.

Evil, for Lessing is thus something very subtle. It is the 152 use of rhetoric to manipulate others, not living according to the

Necessity, sentimentality, and living only for one's self. The

last point is one that she reiterates throughout the series—the

impossibility and the danger of living discrete from other lives.

Keeping all this in mind, Mariette Claire points out that it would

be "quite plausible to make a religious reading" (1984:31) of the

Canopus series if it were not for it explicit attacks on religious

ideologies. Instead, Lessing clearly underlines the idea that the

novels are not to be interpreted this way. There should be a

material/spiritual dualism. Rather as she points out in an article

"In the world. Not of it" about , the mystical must be

combined with the practical.

Sufism believes itself to be the substance of that current which can develop man to a higher state in this evolution. It is not contemptuous of the world (Sept. 1975:133).

Lessing has enlarged the implications of colonialism by

talking of it in galactic terms. She heightens its enormity--

planets are subdued, exploited, experimented on and then abandoned

as seen fit—but is not righteously indignant about it. She

accepts it for what it is—a historical fact and concedes that, at

times, it may be a positive influence. For instance, Canopean

influence on Shikasta before the falling away of the Lock was a

beneficial one for both.

The Sirian Experiments also deploys fantasy in the service of 153

"morality" with zestful inventiveness and makes us aware of the possible shifts in perception. According to Alter, (1981:24) the

Canopus in Argos novels are built on ascending powers of vision.

In Marriages, we move up to a steep spiritual slope from Zone Five to Four, Three and Two. And in Shikasta and the Sirian Experiments we rise from the narrow vision of Shammat to the imperfect vision of Sirius and then to the clear and steady sight of Canopus.

Ambien II's inability of looking properly is a mirroring at a higher level of humanity's incapacity to achieve an adequate view of itself, of what it has done, where it is heading.

The afterword to the next novel reemphasizes this. It is an essay on the polar expedition of Scott and Amundsen. Lessing compares Amundsen's efficient, practical approach which won the

Pole but lost the audience, with the lofty exalted emotionalism that fired the very badly prepared Scott team and made heroes of them. World War II ended the romantic era of the 19th century and to our eyes today Scott can be considered a fool. This is because we are unable to recapture the precise atmosphere of the time. It is not our greater vision which allows us to shake our heads in bewilderment at these things now; it is because social processes beyond our ken have changed the atmosphere. One moment the Gang of Four are cultural leaders, the next they are disgraced (The

Making of the Representative for Planet 8, 1983:168). History is constantly revised. 154 And that is what The Sirian Experiments is about. The change in Ambien II's narrative stance, the shift from assurance to her realization that there is knowledge not contained within the Sirian modes of thought is the crux of the novel.

THE MAKING OF THE REPRESENTATIVE FOR PLANET 8

The publication of The Making of the Representative for Planet

8_ (1982) had reviewers concluding that Lessing purposely "wants to confound and dismay readers" (Leonard, 1982:1) and that she is "Twitting her admirers" (Turner, 1982:278) . They find the book "grim and painful" (Leonard, 1982:273) and petulantly complain that

this is not the Lessing who told us everything we did not want to know about sex and history in her African stories, her Martha on Quest, her Anna crying Wolf, nor the commonsensical Lessing who was determined to pin the century down and break its arms, to make the isms cry uncle; that Lessing, who grew up under empty skies in Rhodesia and lived in a full of cats. It is not even the Lessing who managed to pause in her mystifying to image Kate in Summer Before the Dark, Rachel in Shikasta and Al. Ith of Zone Three (Leonard, 1982:1). In the process they fail to critically examine the book for its worth, their only comment being it is not what they used to. In Planet 8, Doeg Memory Maker and Keeper of Records of Planet

8, recounts the changes in the placet and her people during "The 155 Ice". Originally, the planet was the supposedly temporary home of human beings who are readied by Canopus for removal to Rohanda.

Before the shift in Planet 8's position and the tilting of its axis, the brown skinned, black-eyed vegetarian people of Planet 8 had known nothing but colour and warmth, both as essential to them as food: "The many blues of the skies, the infinite greens of the foliage, the reds and brown of our earth, mountains shining with pyrites and quartz, the dazzle of water and of the sun" (1981:16).

But disaster was anticipated by Canopus and the people of Planet

8 were instructed to build a wall around the planet. The building of the wall takes up a lot of time and energy but when the ice comes everyone realizes its value. A lot of changes take place— in diet, clothes,, houses and temperament. Everyone accepts these changes though because they are going to be space lifted to

Rohanda. But soon we learn that Rohanda is subjected to a violent planetary shift and the people of Planet 8 are stuck. Conditions get worse but the Canopeans cannot transport them to any other planet. Many give up the struggle for survival though the representatives try to rouse them from their lethargy and indifference. At the end, only handful survive and these are the ones who have learnt to reconceive their identities and become one

collective representative.

Colonialism is a theme that runs through the Lessing canon

and here Lessing explores the attitude of the colonized. Not that 156 the life of the people of Planet 8 is typical of all colonized peoples. First of all, their relationship with Canopus is closer than that of the colonizer and the colonized. As Doeg admits, "The presence of our kind on the planet was because of Canopus. They had brought us here, a species created by them from stock

originating on several planets" (1982:11). Despite this Canopus

does not exploit them economically or otherwise. "As always we

continued to grow more crops and beasts than we needed...Our wealth

was not increasing but we were not poor. We had never suffered

harshness or threat" (1982:13). The people govern themselves--they

have fifty representatives who look after different aspects of

their life. Five of the fifty representatives are elected to be

representatives of the representatives. This election is not

similar to what we would normally think is involved in an election.

In Planet 8, people grow to assume jobs and responsibilities

according to their aptitude. But these jobs are not fixed—the

representatives can take on each other's roles at any time. For

example, Alsi becomes Doeg for a time and Doeg, Bratch.

All this is possible because the colonizers are Canopean.

And even then Planet 8 was not the end of the evolution of this

people as envisaged by the Canopeans. They were to be taken to

Rohanda where they would make "a harmonious whole" (1982:28) with

the natives there. But first another phase of development there

must be concluded. 157 In the meantime, calamity occurs, but the Canopeans have made provisions. The wall has been built and Canopean agents arrive on

Planet 8 to instruct them how to make warmer clothes, to build

houses that can withstand the cold, and how to substantiate their

diets. Animals that can survive the cold and whose meat and hides

are useful are flown in especially from other planets by Canopus.

They also make all the representatives walk around the planet on

top of the wall. This is to get them used to the idea of a "world

of cold" (1982:20) . But they leave some of the decisions up to the

people of Planet 8 themselves. For instance, the decision to eat

creatures that lived in their sacred lake was left to them to make.

Doeg writes that,

it was never the way of Canopus to demand, announce, threaten—or even to stand high on the crest of our wall, as we sometimes did on civic occasions, to address large crowds. No, they moved quietly among us, staying for a while in one dwelling and then moving on to another, and while nothing dramatic or painful was ever said, before long we had all gathered from them what was needed (1982:17).

Everything that the people of Planet 8 had achieved whether

in the field of weaving, mining, or the education of children had

been accomplished with the help of the Canopeans. The agents came

without prior warning and casually gave them advice, showed them

how they could more effectively use the resources of their planet,

suggested devices, methods, techniques. In fact "everything on 158 Planet 8 that had been planned, built, made—everything that was not natural—was according to their specifications" (1982:11).

But the Canopeans are helpless when disaster strikes Shikasta.

Doeg finds it strange to know "that Canopus does not have resources for this or that. We have always thought of you as all powerful, able to do what you like. Ws have never imagined you as limited"

(1982:79). The Canopeans do not abandon Planet 8 even when conditions get worse. Supplies of dried and preserved fruits and a "pliable substance" (1982:57) which was to be used for insulating their dwellings are flown in. Johor arrives and lives with them

like they do. He exhorts them to stay alive as long as they can because it is "necessary". And only gradually does the reader

realize what the dimensions of this Necessity are. The people

learn to adapt to the changes. Not long ago there had been only

one Representative for the Law. Now there were several, because

the tensions and difficulties made people quarrel where they had

been good humoured.

It had been, before The Ice, a rare thing to have a killing. Now we expected murder. We had not thieved from each other: now it was common. Once civic disobedience had been unknown. Now gangs of mostly young people might roam around throwing sticks and stones at anything that seemed to antagonize them —often the base of the wall (1982:32).

They capture animals and breed them in captivity for meat. They

also cross the wall and go to the middle of their planet and make 159 use of the brief summer there to rejuvenate themselves. They harvest plants that have a "vital and powerful principle of health"

(1982:99) and carry them back to their homes. But everyone makes the effort. Those that do, walk out of their bodies with Johor

into a new existence.

The relationship between the Canopeans and Planet 8 is an

idealized colonial one. Though Planet 8 does not suffer any of

the more glaring and obvious evils of colonialism, they are victims

of the Canopeans in a way. They have been nurtured to grow in the

way that the Canopeans think is the best for them. So even when

they do not agree with what the Canopeans have to say they feel

ashamed of themselves: "it is not accurate to talk of obedience;

does one talk of obedience when it is a question of one's origin

and existence?" asks Doeg (1982:11) . Only once do they voice their

protest. This is when they are asked to build the wall. But that

is all--as Doeg says--it was the limit of our ^rebellion'

(1982:12). They build the wall even though they do not know why

they need it. We see this same faith when the ice comes. They

firmly believe that the Canopeans would spacelift them to Rohanda,

when it was ready. They cling to this belief even after knowing

of the disaster that has struck Shikasta and cry out pitifully

"Johor are they coming? are the space fleets coming? How long must

we wait.. Where are your space fleets, Canopus, when will you save

us?" (1982:107). They do not question or blame the Canopeans 160 except for Doeg and Alsi. They fight, steal and murder each other but do not lay hands on Johor, even when they know the space fleets are not coming. Not that Canopus is to be blamed for Shikasta's disaster but these are a people so subdued, so calm, it seems they are frightened to express their emotions. And even if they do, they pretend it's a joke. Doeg does this when Johor tells him that the lake will freeze. He says, "I tried to joke: Canopus can bring us new beasts with heavy bones for the cold—but what can you do for our bones? Or shall we die out as our animals did, to make way for new species—new races?" (1982:27). Later, he accuses Johor: "You were planning to take off our populations to Rohanda. You have resources and intention for that--but not to save us now" (1982:82). Johor's answer is unsatisfactory. "There is nowhere to take you..." (1982:81) and Doeg realized that they are "victims" (1982:81) but yet does not do anything about it. He is too finely conditioned by the Canopeans.

Thus, though the Canopeans have done the people of Planet 8 a lot of good, there has been some harm done too. Leasing seems to be saying that even if there were to exist "good" colonizers, implicit in that relationship is evil and danger. A colonial relationship can never be one of equality. The colonized is always dependent on the colonizer.

Lessing has always been preoccupied with the idea of human

beings evolving to a higher level of consciousness. In the Four 161

Gated City and Briefing, for instance, we see Martha, Lynda and

Charles exploring the dimension of madness to become richer and whole persons. In Memoirs, the narrator, Emily, Gerald, the

children and Hugo step into a new world when they are ready for

it. The evolution is a painful one as illustrated in the case of

Ben Ata, Al. Ith and Ambien II. Here in Planet 8 we watch this

evolution again in process. The carefree, happy people of Planet

8 who have never faced any physical hardship learn to come to terms

with the fact that their planet is freezing to death. They learn

that though they cannot survive individually on Planet 8 as—Klin

the fruit maker, Bratch the healer and mender of bodies, Bedug the

teacher of the young—there are other planets where individuals

with the same capacities exist and will continue to exist. Their

world, everything they had known, had done was over but they

survive as--

matter, a substance for we were recognizing ourselves as existent, we were feeling, and will...a conglomerate of individuals—each with its little thoughts and feelings, but these shared with the others, tides of thought, of feeling, moving in and out and around, making the several one (1982:158,159).

At this level of existence they see in a myriad guises or

possibilities. Doeg and the others see their bodies as that of

"dead beasts lying frozen on a mountain top..." (1982:158).

However, it was a long and difficult time before they reached this 162 stage. "How dark it was, in our minds and our hopes during that time..." (1982:18). Their new existence was not a reward or grace from a supreme being. The representatives and the people had not been aware of their end and were never consciously working for it.

They were too busy trying to survive. The new existence was a natural process that followed this ability to survive and to adapt to "The Ice". The ending thus, cannot be called metaphysical.

Besides such phenomenon are common in science fiction novels.

Science fiction heroes, heroines and villains have been known to take on different forms as the occasion demands.

Planet 8 is not only a probe of the position of colonized peoples. Lessing, using fantasy, sharpens her dialectic of sameness and difference. In The Sirian Experiments. she demonstrated how it is impossible for an individual to think differently from the whole he or she is part of. In Planet 8 this is enhanced with her idea of a community of dreams. According to

Lessing, when we dream, these are not worlds familiar only to us.

They are shared by others around us. Thus, though there are no words to convey "the flavour of a dream" (1982:95), our friends understand us when we tell them about our dreams. Initially, Doeg finds it hard to believe. He cannot give up the little place he was able to rest on "this is me, I, Doeg..." (1982:93). It is a difficult fact to accept because Doeg, and all of us, for that matter, see ourselves as autonomous creatures, our minds our own, 163 our beliefs freely chosen, our ideas individual and unique. But

Leasing asserts that we are not. Our personal, private realms are influenced, and are a part of the public world around us.

That is why Doeg's memories of the time before "The Ice" are part of the Canopean archives. This despite the fact that memory plays extraordinary tricks on Doeg and on us. It exalts certain things which may be unimportant in themselves but become important because they have lodged in our mind. History then obviously becomes rather distorted. Nevertheless, we are given Doeg's memories (along with a few of Alsi's, Bratch's and Pedug's) as a record of the time before "The Ice".

Fantasy has allowed Lessing this freedom. In realism an empirical representation of the author's society is all that is possible. But Lessing, because she uses this mode, can get beyond the locally political or feminist or humanitarian. She is not restricted now to a particular society only, but can create and extrapolate at her own discretion planets and empires where memory is history. All the points of reference by which we establish the passing of time are absent. There are no dates, no significant political or historical events or even the milestones of birth and death that signal to the reader the period or date of the fictional events. Rather the significant changes in the history of a planet and its people are compressed into a first person narrative, and thus construct the individual who narrates them. 164

Time in this novel is thus used in a "non realistic" manner

(Clare, 1984:30). It enables the project of the title to be

realized—the making of the representative for Planet 8. Mariette

Claire also points out that this usage of time "both affirms and

denies the agency of an individual human being" (1984:30). Fantasy

has given Lessing this advantage. The dislocations available in

this mode permit the construction of an individual in a new

version.

THE SENTIMENTAL AGENTS OF THE VOLYEN EMPIRE

The Volven Empire also elicited its share of hostile reviews.

Critics found the book "rhetorical" (Wallis, 1983:562) because

Lessing makes no distinction "between West and East, democracy and

totalitarianism" (Rothstein, 1982:7). But what annoys critics the

most is that Lessing, the former Marxist, now considers politics

sentimental. Her sharp satire of the Left and its political

cliches are defections unbearable. Their conclusion is that

Leasing's "considerable writing talents sink into darkness"

(1983:22) with,this series.

In The Volven Empire. Lessing takes us across the galaxy to

a struggle between Sirius and Shammat for control of the Volyen

Empire. The Volyen Empire is a small one--consisting of the

planet—Volyen and its two moons and two other planets. Earlier,

there was little contact between Volyen and the other planets in 165 its system. Then because of a cosmic disturbance resulting from the violent " searching" of the neighbouring Sirian Empire, the population increased rapidly, material development accelerated, and a ruling caste came to dominate Volyen, making slaves of nine tenths of the population. All the planets in this system were similarly affected and there began a period of history during which they were invading and settling one another as short lived and unstable "Empires" for twenty one Canopean years. Volyen has several times been dominant and several times a subject. The

Sirian Empire never made any attempt to absorb Vblyen earlier.

During Volyen's stable period, Sirius was more or less stable and had made a decision not to expand. When the Sirian upheaval went on, Volyen in a dominant phase again, had developed its armies and sent them out to conquer its two moons. That went virtually unnoticed but when Volyen sent its armies to the other planets of its solar system, the Sirians did take notice. This was because these two planets Maken and Slovin had been earlier designated PE

70, PE 71 by the Sirians. In the meantime, the Shammatans who thrived on trouble arrived on the scene and roused the different peoples of the Volyen Empire to rebel against Volyen and to fight

the Sirians. The Canopeans, initially, had not bothered with

Volyen, because of its poor position for "Harmonic Cosmic

Development" (1983:13). However, they had maintained a Basic

surveillance of 30,000 Canopean years and, when the trouble began, 166

Canopean agents were stationed as observers and to help people see things in the right perspective. But some agents (notably Incent) succumb to the sophisticated manipulation of political rhetoric of

Shammat and take active part in the struggle. Klorathy is sent to help rescue Incent, and to make the people of the Volyen Empire aware of the Canopeans which has become for them "a concept dense with mythic association" (1983:41). But Klorathy is not taken seriously and is often dismissed as a Sirian spy. Fighting breaks out in both the Sirian and Volyen Empires. Incent in not rescued.

He succumbs again to the Shammatans.

All this seems far removed from present day reality. But there are analogies between Lessing's galactic empires and our political realms today. The most obvious one being the way words are used by the ones in power to conceal, manipulate, arouse or enslave. As Orwell showed in the "Newspeak" of 1984. Leasing in this book shows us how tyrants become benefactors, sadists saints, war peace, and barbarism progress. For example, many Volyen youth have been brain washed so thoroughly that they believe Sirius will transform ''the shoddy and pitiful and corrupt and lying Volyen into something not far from paradise" (9183:103). So, many youngsters become Sirian agents and never see themselves as paving the way for invasion of Sirius. Rather they insist that they "stand for the noble true, and beautiful ideas of Sirius" (1983:103). They think that Sirius stands for the ever upward march of evolving galaxies. 167

Sirius means Justice! Truth! Freedom!" (1983:103). But in actual fact/ Sirius is a brutish tyranny. At various times of expansion in the past, the Sirians had simply decided that a certain planet would suit its purposes, sent in its armies, established a ruling base, exterminated those who resisted and adjusted the economic conditions to its advantage. This was at a time when the Five were in power. Later, their tactics changes. Before they take over a planet, agents and spies enter it in all kind of guises and spread information about the advantage of Sirian rule. "Local population

^believe' at first these fairy tales about Sirius to a greater or lesser extent" (1983:103). They become disillusioned as they see the horrors perpetrated. Anyone who tries to accurately describe what is in fact happening vanishes into torture rooms, or prisons or is diagnosed as mad and put into an assylum. There is soon a sharp division between the masses and the small obedient governing class, one living in dire poverty, the other given every possible advantage. But rhetoric is used to pretend that the rulers rule solely for the good of the people. Problems are disguised and efforts are made to describe the country as some sort of .

The conquest of any planet was always described in terms of the benefit to the planet itself. Their rhetoric would make such

statements:

The people of...Volyendna, having voluntarily and enthusiastically agreed to our civilization basely and treacherously 168 rose against us, and had to be taught a salutary lesson by our heroic soldiers (1983:95).

The Volyen empire is not any better. It drains wealth from its colonies while presenting itself as their benefactor under such slogans as "Aid to the unfortunate" and "Development for the backward" (1983:25) . And yet, the rulers of Volyen saw themselves as "kindly,parentally concerned instructors bringing civilization to the backward populations they were engaged in enslaving and despoiling" (1983:94). Propaganda has been so effective that they have reached the stage where they believe it themselves. However, there are still some who remain clear-sighted individuals. Among them is Grice, the Governor of Volyenadna, who publicly criticizes

Volyen for this fraud. In fact, he goes to the extent of taking the case to court. His indictment against Volyen is based on the first clause of the Volyen constitution, which states that "Volyen undertakes to protect and to provide for all its children in accordance with the developments at a given time of its natural resources and with the evolution and growth of knowledge about the laws of Volyen nature and the laws of dynamics of the Volyen society" (1983:199). At first, the case proceeds haphazardly because everyone regards it as a joke. However, the one's participating on the trial later realize its importance and take it very seriously. They too come up with the verdict that Volyen has not kept any of the promises in her constitution. In the 169 meantime, Volyen is invaded by the Motzans first, and then by the

Alputs. But there is hope—that the group that took part in the

Grice trial will some day "influence all Volyen, and when the

Alputs depart as the Sirian Empire finally falls apart, there will grow a society based on a real knowledge of how things work, real socio—psychological law. One day from Volyen will come influences that will change all the planets in this part of the galaxy"

(1983:193) .

But it is not only the rhetoric of empire that Leasing satirizes. She considers the rhetoric of the church and the state similar. Though apparently different, the kinds and types of

speeches used in these two spheres are almost identical:

So that students could, and indeed were encouraged to, translate the religious into political and vice versa, a process that usually needed no more than the substitution of a few words in a passage of declamation (1983:73).

The Shammatans established two schools of rhetoric at Volyen. One

is described as the one "with all the tricks" and reminds us of the

religious seminaries of Shikasta. This school like its counterpart

at Shikasta uses appropriate music to reinforce ideas. The

rhetoric of the other school is similar to the rhetoric made use

of by politicians in Shikasta. Both the schools teach their

students how "to use words but not be used by them" (1983:86).

They learn to control crowds with the most passionate, violent and 170 emotional language without ever being affected by it. The speeches they make are typical of the revolutionary rhetoric of the Left.

They make such statements as the following:

We promise you we will purge from our midst every filthy traitor and all human scum and disgusting manifestation of outworn philosophy. We will fling all this outworn garbage onto the refuse tips of history (1983:159).

But never do the Shammatans reveal that "This is a school for the

use of power over others, for the crude manipulation of the lowest

instincts" (1983:87). Lessing gives the example of the French

Revolution of what happens when rhetoric is effectively used.

Inflamed by the words of their leaders the populace in France went

on an orgy of killing. In the frenzy of killing and revenge "the

reason for the revolution, which had been to change the economic

conditions and to make the country strong and wealthy became

forgotten" (1983:62). A tyrant arose out of this chaos and the

country, where the worlds "Liberty or Death: had seemed so noble

and fine, was once again in the hands of a hereditary ruling cast.

Politics, Lessing suggests, is founded on impulsiveness,

overwrought sympathy, imperfect solutions and ambiguous decisions.

This is because reminiscent of the revolutions that go on today.

Basically, nothing changes. Power shifts from one faction to

another and at the end of it all, the common man's lot is the

same. 171 This is what Klorathy tries to teach the people of Volyenada, a colony of Volyen. This planet is rich in minerals but is not self sufficient in food. So, as Klorathy tells them, there is no point in their rebelling and killing the governor, Grice, because at the end "Nothing will have changed" (1983:63). He proposes instead to give them a plant "rocknosh" which grows in arid conditions like that of Volyenada. With this planet they can become self sufficient in food and will then be able to think of throwing off the Volyen yoke. The leaders, however, think this is to simple a solution and refuse to listen. Later, a woman who has overheard Klorathy talk about "rocknosh" requests him to bring it. Soon the plant is grown all over the planet and Volyenadnans are able to repel further invasions. It is essential to note that Klorathy never suggests trying to escape from any problem. We can see this in several other cases that Klorathy handles. For instance, during the invasion of the bird men of Makens on

Volyendesta, it is at his advice that Volyendestans welcome the

Makens as fellow sufferers of Sirian colonialism. It is a clever move—the Makens do stay at Volyendesta for while but eventually leave. Klorathy does not waste time bewailing the problems or indulging in useless and childish "what is the pointism..." discussions. When Incent succumbs to this he is sent for treatment to the Hospital of Rhetorical Diseases. But this does not work and

Klorathy is forced to subject him to something called "Total 172

Immersion" (1983:75). He causes Incent to live through the horror of the French Revolution as an active participant in all the murders and violence. Incent emerges from it trembling and shaken but shortly succumbs to Krolgul (the Shammatan overlord of the

Volyen Empire).

As the book progresses we see Klorathy and the other Canopean agents travelling from planet to planet trying to stave off much of the violence as they can. They do not particularly enjoy it or see themselves as knights to the rescue. Incent regards their job

"as a terrible burden" (1983:91). There is the danger of falling and succumbing to the Shammatan's rhetoric, too. In fact most of the Canopean agents in the Volyen Empire have been victims of

Shammitis. However, other agents were sent to remind them of their responsibilities. Some like Klorathy recover but others like Incent keep succumbing to the intoxication of words.

At the end of the book, fighting breaks out in the Sirian

Mother planet itself. The Sirian Empire slowly disintegrates. An outlying planet of the empire is instructed to invade another planet which is rebelling but before it can invade a different order is issued. For instance, Motz is asked to invade Volyen.

But before they even landed they heard rumours (contradicted at once) that the centre had never ordered them to attack. Volyen had been presented to the Motzans as a "deprived, bitterly poor 173 planet needing Sirian Assistance" (1983:186), but they realize this is not true when they land at Volyen.

In the shops and markets in every street, in every city, in every settlement, piles, wasteful rolling piles of food: fruits and vegetables the frugal Motzans had never heard of: meat and fish prepared in a thousand ways, clothes so fanciful and delicate and rare and delightful (1983:187).

At first, they think it is a conspiracy but they soon realize their mistake. They lose their discipline, eat and drink and ravage

Volyen. When they come to their senses they ar ashamed and frightened, even ascribing their behaviour to some sinister influence in the atmosphere of Volyen. They decided to leave and dispatched a message to the Sirians announcing that they were no longer to be counted as part of the Sirian Empire and would repel any invasion. But their insubordination was hardly noticed.

Meanwhile the Motzan defection had been noted by their neighbour,

Alput, whose armies invaded Volyen at once.

Despite the confusion at the end, the novel ends on a note of hope. The Sirians are changing. So is the Volyen Empire and the

Shammatans might. After all, the Shammatans understand Canopus better than any one else in the galaxy. And if they decide to change, the Canopeans can teach them as they themselves have changed from their past condition. As Klorathy says,

In the very earliest days of Canopus, we took what we wanted, and blundered, and 174 wondered why it was that everything we touched went wrong and at length failed and collapsed, until we discovered the Necessity and were able to do as we should (1983:94,95)

Therefore, the Shaimnatan, Volyen and sirian Empires can evolve to

the Canopean's present condition.

Leasing has used fantasy in this novel to satirize and dissect

the political illusions of our twentieth century. She shows us how •

language is debased when used as an instrument of power. Though

the revolutionary rhetoric of the Left is a major target in this

book, from Lessing's perspective all positions are equally deluded.

Shammat, Volyen and Sirius are equally misguided in their actions

because they do not live according to the Necessity. Despite the

different rhetoric used to explain their actions, conditions in

their respective colonies are identical. None of them is free from

oppression, corruption, bureaucracy and hierarchy. Neither do they

, or y)ur political parties today actually achieve any of their

numerous idealistic goals. Speeches and promises are made,

sentiments are aroused but basically nothing changes. But never

does Lessing suggest that because of this we are to wallow in self

pity, regret, sentimentality or seek to evade responsibilities.

Instead, we are to face each problem as it comes and gradually grow

from strength to strength.

Lessing's outer space fantasies demonstrate that though this

cosmology is an invention, it is a fiction which allows for the 175 raising of questions in forms impossible in a realistic text,