Shikasta
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Shikasta is a science fiction novel by author Doris Lessing, as well as the name of a fictional planet in this book. It is the first book in the Canopus in Argos series. The story of Shikasta alludes to the Old Testament, Gnosticism, Sufism and several mystic concepts, all with a distinct Lessing touch.
Lessing originally intended Shikasta to be published in one binding with the other parts of the series, but this was not possible due to publisher's constraints. The five books listed below were later published in 1979 as originally intended as "Canopus in Argus: Archives Re: Colonised Planet 5 SHIKASTA".
Shikasta and the Canopus in Argos series as a whole fall into the category of Soft science fiction due to their focus on human characters and social/cultural issues, and de-emphasis of the details of scientific technology.
The name Shikasta comes from the Persian word شکسته shekasteh meaning "broken", often seen used as the name of the Iranian national style of Islamic calligraphy.
[edit] Plot summary
The planet Shikasta is a view of Earth, as seen from another civilization or planet named Canopus in Argos, who once colonized it and introduced civilization.
The civilization on Shikasta was peaceful and life energy (resembling Odic force, Mana, Qi, empathy and/or mystic earth radiation) was connecting the minds of the inhabitants of Shikasta to Canopus in Argos. It is clear that this energy is a truly physical phenomenon, transmitted by means of stone formations (compare Ley lines).
However, evil forces, in the form of a civilization named Shammat, only known for tapping and disrupting life energy flows, constantly intervene with the energy flow.
A cosmic accident of some kind (not caused by Shammat) then disrupts the energy flows between Shikasta and Canopus. This leads to the breakdown of the harmony of Shikastan civilization, and dominance by Shammat. As an immediate effect, the life span of living beings on Shikasta is shortened from several hundred years to the average life span of a contemporary human. All kinds of evil aspects of modern society (mostly that of political violence and abuse of power) start to arise from this energy disruption.
Canopus therefore starts sending agents to Shikasta, to help ease the pain caused by this situation. The main character, George Sherban, is one such agent, who travels to Shikasta on several missions. The agents (and also the souls of men) can incarnate in different bodies on Shikasta, and thus basically exist as spiritual beings outside the physical world. However, agents can keep their memories of past existences, while ordinary humans can not. Traveling back and forth to Shikasta involves passing through different zones (akin to cosmological planes).
The book ends with re-establishment of the energy flows from Shikasta to Canopus and the fall of the barbarian (that is, contemporary, 20th/21st century) civilization due to nuclear war on Shikasta.
