[Canopus in Argos 03] • De Siriaanse experimenten

The Sirian Experiments is the 3rd volume in Doris Lessing's celebrated Canopus in Argos Archives sf series. In this interlinked quintet of novels, she creates a new, extraordinary cosmos where the fate of the Earth is influenced by the rivalries interactions of three powerful galactic empires, Canopus, Sirius their enemy, Puttiora. Blending myth, fable allegory, her astonishing visionary creation both reflects redefines the history of own world from its earliest beginnings to an inevitable, tragic self-destruction.

The Sirian Experiments chronicles the origins of our planet, the three galactic empires fight for control of the human species. The novel charts the gradual moral awakening of its narrator, Ambien II, a 'dry, dutiful, efficient' female Sirian administrator. Witnessing the wanton colonisation of land people, Ambien begins to question her involvement in such insidious experimentation, her faith in the possibility of human progress itself growing weaker every day.