page_title: The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five / Background
caption_attribution_description: Illustration of Idries Shah
context_page_description: 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. 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, and concerns two ordained marriages that link the patriarchal Zone Four with the matriarchal Zone Three, and the tribal 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".
context_section_description: When Lessing published Shikasta in 1979, the first book in her Canopus in Argos series, it represented a major shift of focus for the author. In her earlier books, Lessing had established a name for herself as a writer of realistic fiction; in Shikasta she introduced her readers to the spiritual and mystical themes in Sufism. In the mid-1960s Lessing had become interested in Sufism, an Islamic belief system, after reading The Sufis by Idries Shah. She described The Sufis as "the most surprising book [she] had read", stating that it "changed [her] life". Lessing later met Shah, who became "a good friend [and] teacher". In the early 1970s Lessing began writing inner space fiction, which included the novels Briefing for a Descent into Hell (1971) and Memoirs of a Survivor (1974), and in the late 1970s she turned to science fiction when she wrote Shikasta, in which she used many Sufi concepts.
  Lessing said that ideas for The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five had been with her for about ten years, but she "couldn't think of a way to do it". It was only when she was halfway through Shikasta that she realised that she had "created a marvelous format" that she could use for other books, and it was this format, Canopus in Argos, that made The Marriages possible. Shikasta was originally intended to be a single self-contained book, but Lessing's fictional universe developed, and she ended up writing a series of five.
  Lessing's switch to science fiction was not well received by readers and critics. By the late 1970s Lessing was considered "one of the most honest, intelligent and engaged writers of the day", and Western readers unfamiliar with Sufism were dismayed that Lessing had abandoned her "rational worldview". George Stade of The New York Times complained that "our Grand Mistress of lumpen realism has gone religious on us". Reaction to the first two books in the series, Shikasta and The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five, prompted Lessing to write in the Preface to the third book in the series, The Sirian Experiments (1980):
  I would so like it if reviewers and readers could see this series, Canopus in Argos: Archive, as a framework that enables me to tell (I hope) a beguiling tale or two; to put questions, both to myself and to others; to explore ideas and sociological possibilities.
  Further criticism of the Canopus series followed, which included this comment by New York Times critic John Leonard: "One of the many sins for which the 20th century will be held accountable is that it has discouraged Mrs. Lessing ... She now propagandizes on behalf of our insignificance in the cosmic razzmatazz." Lessing replied by saying: "What they didn't realize was that in science fiction is some of the best social fiction of our time. I also admire the classic sort of science fiction, like Blood Music, by Greg Bear. He's a great writer." Lessing said in 1983 that she would like to write stories about red and white dwarves, space rockets powered by anti-gravity, and charmed and coloured quarks, "[b]ut we can't all be physicists".
  Lessing considered Marriages one of her better books, and said, "this book goes down into me pretty deep ... it will never happen again". In an interview published in 1996, Lessing spoke passionately of the novel:
  Something happened when I wrote the book. I hit some other level. And is it a legend or a myth or a fairy tale or a fantasy? That isn't the word for what I’ve written, I think. You see, only I could have written The Golden Notebook, but I think Anon wrote this other book.
caption: Idries Shah, who introduced Lessing to Sufism[17]