The fifth volume of the author's "Canopus in Argos" series focuses on the madness and false promise of words, rhetoric-induced delusion, as suffered by a young Canopean official in the small Volyen Empire

An interplanetary agent on leave from service on Earth (Shikasta) reports to his superior from an Earth-like planet called Volyen.

The fifth and final volume in Doris Lessing's visionary novel cycle Canopus in Argos: Archives. It is a mix of fable, futuristic fantasy and pseudo-documentary accounts of 20th-century history.

A valuable survey and reference resource It is hard to imagine a more needed and more useful literary reference work than this one, which gives students and readers quick access to the lives and work of a wide range of notable female writers from England and the Continent, from Aphra Behn to Emily Bronte, from Simone de Beauvoir to Isak Dinesen, from Bridget of Sweden to Hannah Arendt. Writers in more than 30 languages are included: French, Czech, Greek, Italian, Swedish, Spanish, German, Russian, Portuguese, Serbian, Catalan, Arabic, Hebrew, Dutch, Bulgarian, Croatian, Slovak, and more. Covers 1,500 years and all major genres Going back 15 centuries, the Encyclopedia covers the authors of novels, short stories, poetry, plays, criticism, social commentary, feminist manifestos, romances, mysteries, memoirs, children's literature, biography, and other genres. In signed entries, some of which are mini-essays, experts in the field examine writers' lives and achievements, comment on individual works, place artistic efforts in historical context, provide insights and analyses, and present more information than can be easily found elsewhere without undertaking more exhaustive research. Each entry is followed by a bibliography of primary works. Indexed by language, nationality, genre, and century. Spotlights the interesting lives of notable writers In these pages students and readers will meet hundreds of interesting women writers who made lasting contributions to the intellectual and popular culture of their countries while often leading fascinating lives, among them: * AGATHA CHRISTIE , who wrote her first book in response to her sister's demand for a detective story that was harder to solve than the popular fiction of her day, and whose work has been translated in more languages than Shakespeare's. * HILDEGARD VON BINGEN , the 12th-century German mystic, who wrote profusely as a prophet, a poet, a dramatist, a physician, and a political moralist, often communicated with popes and princes, and exerted a tremendous influence on the Western Europe of her time * MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT SHELLEY, whose 1818 masterpiece Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus became a literary sensation around the world * ILSE BLUMENTHAL-WEISS, one of the few concentration camp survivors to memorialize the victims of the Holocaust in German verse * LINA WERTMULLER, who in addition to her work in films, has written plays for the stage and a novel, and who once was a member of a short-lived puppet theater that staged the works of Kafka. Special features: Ideal for quick reference and student research * Multicultural-covers over 30 languages and 15 centuries * Includes many contemporary writers * Provides essential biographic data on each writer * Each entry is followed by a chronological listing of the writer's published book-length works * Offers critical evaluations of major works * Indexes help find writers by country...research by time period...survey genres...focus on languages

This study covers the full range of Doris Lessing's work and explores in detail both its form and content. From 'The Grass is Singing' through to 'Alfred and Emily' her main concerns are shown to have a remarkable continuity, both in her commitment to political and cultural issues and in her explorations of inner space.

Deciding what to read next when you've just finished an unputdownable novel can be a daunting task. The Bloomsbury Good Reading Guide features hundreds of authors and thousands of titles, with navigation features to lead you on a rich journey through some the best literature to grace our shelves. This greatly expanded edition includes the latest contemporary authors and landmark novels, an expanded non-fiction section, a timeline setting historical events against literary milestones, prize-winner and book club lists. An accessible and easy-to-read guide that no serious book lover should be without. "The essential guide to the wild uncharted world of contemporary and 20th century writing." Robert McCrum, The Observer

The Rose and the Lotus is a compendium of explorations of two of the world's largest wisdom traditions, Sufism and Buddhism, and what the practitioners of these two approaches have in common and may have to learn from each other. It includes chapters on important teaching texts, ancient and modern and the clues they give for practice, interviews with esteemed teachers such as Shaikh Kabir Helminski, Roshi Bernie Glassman, Tibetan philosopher Geshe Sonam Rinchen, as well as memories and reflections on teachers such as Javad Nurbakhsh, Idries Shah, and Inayat Khan. It includes a new look at the mystic works of Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing and their usefulness in contemplation practice. Yousef Daoud PhD, also published as Joe Martin, has been a practitioner of both Sufism and Buddhism. The author of eight books, he teaches meditation as well as spiritual performance practice. Though Sufism and Buddhism have long been treated as religious manifestations, in this fascinating book, Yousef Daoud (Joe) Martin places them squarely among the great wisdom traditions and explores a wide variety of topics relating to both Sufism and Buddhism. One of the most prolific authors for the journal "SUFI", he has done a real service for anyone concerned with spirituality and gnosis. -- Professor Jeffrey Rothschild, C.U.N.Y., Editor, SUFI On Rumi's MATHNAVI: A Stage Adaptation "Absolutely remarkable and memorable! It was as if I had gone to a party, and had been offered an entire pot of gourmet food ... but with every new bite I felt even hungrier [It] was endowed with a complex simplicity or a simple complexity! It was all very inspiring and enlightening ... It felt as if the actors analyzed Rumi's stories, lifting the veils one after another." --- Lida Saeedian, Author and co- translator of The Pocket Rumi On Parabola: Shorter Fictions "...through the tightly structured geometry of this metaphorically rich [work is] recognition of the search we undertake to fix a place for ourselves ... and try to make sense of a confusing, alienating and often combative world." Cheryl Pallant, High Performance