The Making of the Representative for Planet 8
US first edition cover (Alfred A. Knopf)
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| Author | Doris Lessing |
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| Country | United Kingdom, US |
| Language | English |
| Series | Canopus in Argos |
| Genre | Novel (science fiction) |
| Published | 1982 Alfred A. Knopf, US; Jonathan Cape, UK |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 190 |
| ISBN | (US) 0-224-02008-0 (UK) |
| OCLC | 7174318 |
| 823/.914 19 | |
| LC Class | PR6023.E833 M34 1982 |
| Preceded by | The Sirian Experiments |
| Followed by | The Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire |
The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 is a 1982 science fiction novel by Doris Lessing. It is the fourth book in her five-book Canopus in Argos series and relates the fate of a planet, under the care of the benevolent galactic empire Canopus, that is plunged into an ice age. It was first published in the United States in January 1982 by Alfred A. Knopf, and in the United Kingdom in March 1982 by Jonathan Cape.
Christopher Lehmann-Haupt of The New York Times wrote in a review of this book that "the effect of the story is powerful and immediate – with all the drama of good polar-exploration literature, and the eloquence, at its best, of the King James Bible." However, John Leonard, also of The New York Times, was critical of Lessing's switch to science fiction and in a review of this book, complained that "Mrs. Lessing is no longer very interested in people. She has come to feel that individuality is a 'degenerative disease'... She seems ... to be in the process of junking not only traditional narrative and conventional characters but the details of feeling as well..."
The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 can be read as a stand-alone book, although it does make reference to the planet Shikasta, introduced in the first book of the Canopus series.
Planet 8 is a small world that was colonised by the benevolent galactic empire Canopus and populated with a new species created from the stock of four different species originating on several other Canopean planets. Planet 8 has a warm temperate climate and, under Canopus's skilled guidance, the inhabitants live comfortably and at peace with themselves and their world.
One day Canopus instructs them to build a huge wall, to exact Canopean specifications, right around the girth of the planet. The construction takes the inhabitants years to complete, and when it is finished, Canopus tells the planet's representatives, leaders of each of the planet's main disciplines, to relocate all settlements north of the wall to the south. Canopus informs everyone that unfortunate interstellar "re-alignments" have taken place and that Planet 8 will soon experience an ice age. After a while temperatures start to drop and the climate begins to change. Glaciers form in the north and slowly advance towards the wall. Canopus, however, assures Planet 8 that Canopus has a new home for them, a peaceful and prosperous world called Rohanda (the subject of the first book in this series, Shikasta), and that when it has reached a certain level of development, Canopus will space-lift the inhabitants of Planet 8 to Rohanda. This fills the people of Planet 8 with hope as they are forced to adapt their lifestyles to cope with this new and unfamiliar climate.
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Wikipedia