[Canopus in Argos 05] • The Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire

Documents Relating to The Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire is an sf novel by Nobel Prize in Literature-winner Doris Lessing. It concludes her five-book Canopus in Argos series & comprises a set of documents that describe the final days of the Volyen Empire, located at the edge of our galaxy & under the influence of three other galactic empires, the benevolent Canopus, the tyrannical Sirius & the malicious Shammat of Puttiora.

The Sentimental Agents is a social satire written in the tradition of Jonathan Swift & George Orwell focusing on the debasement of language in political rhetoric. In this fictional universe it's propaganda that keeps fragile empires afloat. When language becomes too distorted, some succumb to a condition called "undulant rhetoric" & are placed in a Hospital for Rhetorical Diseases.

Because of its focus on characterization & social/cultural issues, & no emphasis on technological details, this book is soft sf, or "space fiction" as Lessing calls her Canopus in Argos series. While The Sentimental Agents can be read as a stand-alone book, she does continue with the history of the Sirian Empire, picking up from where she left off in The Sirian Experiments ('80), 3rd book in the series.