The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five
US first edition cover (Alfred A. Knopf)
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| Author | Doris Lessing |
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| Country |
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| Language | English |
| Series | Canopus in Argos |
| Genre | |
| Published |
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| Media type | Print and ebook |
| Pages | 299 |
| ISBN | (US) 0-224-01790-X (UK) |
| OCLC | 5171635 |
| 823/.9/14 | |
| LC Class | PZ3.L56684 Map 1980 PR6023.E833 |
| Preceded by | Shikasta |
| Followed by | The Sirian Experiments |
The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five is a 1980 science fiction novel by Doris Lessing. It is the second book in her five-book Canopus in Argos series, the first being Shikasta (1979). It was first published in the United States in March 1980 by Alfred A. Knopf, and in the United Kingdom in May 1980 by Jonathan Cape.
The novel takes place in three of six metaphysical Zones that encircle the planet Shikasta (an allegorical Earth), and concerns two ordained marriages that link the patriarchal and militaristic Zone Four with the matriarchal and egalitarian Zone Three, and the tribal and barbaric Zone Five. The story is told from the point of view of the matriarchal utopian Zone Three, and is about gender conflict and the breaking down of barriers between the sexes. Lessing called the Canopus in Argos series "space fiction", but The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five is generally referred to as feminist science fiction.
The novel is influenced by spiritual and mystical themes in Sufism, an Islamic belief system in which Lessing had taken an interest in the mid-1960s. The zones are said to correspond to Sufism's different levels of consciousness, and symbolise the "Sufi ladder to enlightenment". Lessing was criticised for abandoning her traditional fiction and switching to science fiction in her Canopus in Argos series. Notwithstanding this criticism, The Marriages was generally well received by critics, with some reviewers calling it one Lessing's best works on the topic of gender conflict.
The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five was adapted as an opera by composer Philip Glass with story-libretto by Lessing, and premiered in Heidelberg, Germany in May 1997. The United States premiere was performed in Chicago in June 2001. These productions were not very well received by theatre critics.
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