Shikasta

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Shikasta is a science fiction novel by Doris Lessing . Written in 1979, it was the first book in the five-volume series Canopus in Argos: Archives . The full title of the novel is:

Canopus in Argos: Archives - Re: Colonized Planet 5 - Shikasta - Personal, Psychological and Historical Documents on the Visit of JOHOR (George Sherban) - Envoy (Grade 9) - 87th of the Last Days Period

content

Johor, representative of a well-advanced, benevolent race living on the planet Canopus and directing a wise star empire, reports on the story of the promising planet "Rohanda" (= the blooming one), which by a shift of cosmic rays from the benign vibrational network, which Canopus connects with many other worlds, was almost completely cut off. As a result, the flourishing “Rohanda”, which was stable over eons and constantly evolving higher, became the planet “Shikasta” (cf. Persian “schekaste”: “broken”) - the “injured”.

Johor visited Rohanda / Shikasta at different times both directly by spaceship and via "Zone 6", i. H. by incarnating into a resident of Shikasta. On his first mission, Johor still sees Rohanda in its heyday: inhabited by large, magnificent animals that live in friendship with the intelligent inhabitants of Rohanda - the "people" and the "giants" who have settled as their teachers. The whole planet including all life "vibrates" in inner harmony, beauty and stability. Everything is in balance, beauty and function are connected, everything is flowed through by the “substance of the we-feeling” (SUWG), which flows in a steady influx of Canopus and is bundled on Rohanda by stone circles and the well thought-out layout of geometric cities and is reinforced.

But suddenly Shikasta loses contact with the vibrational network of Canopus through a cosmic accident. As a result, the flow of the SUWG is reduced to a minimum and the formerly wise residents of Shikasta, but also the introduced giants, very quickly forget their history, their place in the universe and thus their purpose of existence. Without the SUWG, the residents of Shikasta are almost completely defenseless to the influences of the evil Shammat - another, malevolent star world that feeds on greed and the destruction of other worlds - which further reduces the flow of SUWG through sabotage systems. Mental degeneration is soon followed by physical degeneration: life expectancy falls and susceptibility to disease increases. All beings feel the loss of a great past, the past paradise, only vaguely and as a rather instinctive longing ... The inhabitants begin to fight with each other, many species are becoming extinct and a new race - a cross between the "giants" and the "small ones" People “- soon dominates the planet, while the older races die out or are exterminated.

The mythical age is over and the history of our “earth” begins - under the increasing influence of Shammat, the increasingly accelerating degeneration of humanity and the destruction of everything that was once beautiful, true and good ... Canopus tries to counter this by repeatedly saying “ambassadors ”To Shikasta, partly“ secret ”, partly open. The most important of these ambassadors directly or indirectly establish the great religions, philosophies and world views, which, however, are soon perverted into their opposite by people and Shammat. When all attempts of Canopus to dissuade Shikasta from the path of ultimate ruin, of self-annihilation, more or less failed, Johor incarnated one last time at the end of the 20th century in the guise of George Sherban on Shikasta in order to save the world ...

Design and structure

Doris Lessing uses many literary stylistic devices. So fictitious records from the archives of the Canopians, legends of Shikasta, diary entries of acting persons, secret service reports of the Shikasta government or analyzes of other "ambassadors" are strung together in loose order. The writing style varies, depending on the “source”, from encyclopedic descriptions, emotionally written diaries to angry accusations from the envoy Johors. This approach, which is a bit confusing at first glance, has a great literary and emotional effect, especially in the second part. In retrospect, seeming banalities of everyday life allow a more profound look at the true states of Shikasta than some profound analyzes. The first 100 pages of the book take place in a mythical past, which the attentive reader soon sees as an idiosyncratic but equally meaningful processing and interpretation of ancient oriental, but also other myths. The main part of the book is the - analytically sharp - description of humanity in the twentieth century. Brief explanations about the history of colonization, the perversion of religions and other facts necessary for understanding the current state of humanity are repeatedly interspersed in the flow of the narrative. The last third of the book describes the work of Johors incarnated as George Sherban on earth at the end of the 20th century and how he began to move things in the right direction ...

background

On the first 100 pages in particular, the author interprets the myths of the Old Testament and other oriental writings. Lessing's analytical basic approach is strongly influenced by Buddhism: Accordingly, the lack of SUWG, i.e. compassion, and the out-of-control greed for more and more, the lack of awareness of being part of a larger whole, and the resulting limitation of one's own point of view - which In the end, despite all good intentions, it always manifests itself in righteousness - causes of the disastrous state of the earth, which apparently inevitably moves towards its own downfall. In the further course of the book, the political currents of the 20th century, the economic model based on more and more consumption, but also the religions, generation conflicts and protest movements of the 1960s are analyzed in a keen and psychologically sensitive manner. This culminates in the realization that - measured by the methods and long-term results - there is ultimately no real qualitative difference between the various forms of government, economy and society. Only the degree of degeneration and resistance to Shammat's bad influence varies.

The “north-western peripheral areas” - that is, Europe and the resulting state structures, the so-called “western world” - come off particularly badly in this analysis: They would have wiped out many much “older, smarter and more valuable cultures” and nothing but destruction, inner emptiness and moral decline, making the inhabitants of these areas succumb to Shammat's influence much faster than they did before. Shikasta is therefore not a classic science fiction novel, but actually a socially critical work that uses elements of science or space fiction in order to be able to cast a higher-level, "objective" view of our world. In spite of the sobering assessment of human behavior and the obviously not manageable rescue of Shikasta on one's own, the book is filled with deep humanity, understanding and hope. Because Shikasta ultimately only suffers from the lack of a sense of togetherness, and this can still come from the people themselves despite the current aggravating conditions, because SUWG is ultimately the substance of life itself, the force that holds everything together and connects everything - Buddhist compassion, Christian love, but also correctly understood Islamic submission to God's higher plan.

Text output

  • Doris Lessing: Canopus in Argos: Archives. Re: Colonized Planet 5, Shikasta , Jonathan Cape Ltd., London 1979.
  • Doris Lessing: Canopus in Argos: Archives. Re: Colonized Planet 5, Shikasta , from the English by Helga Pfetsch, S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt 1983, ISBN 978-3-10-043906-2 .

literature

  • Gudrun Güth, Jürgen Schmidt-Güth: Doris Lessing: Canopus in Argos. Archives. In: Hartmut Heuermann (Ed.): The science fiction novel in Anglo-American literature. Interpretations. Bagel, Düsseldorf 1986, ISBN 3-590-07454-X , pp. 376-399.