A Study On The Identity Dilemma Of The Other In Canopus In Argos: Archives From The Perspective Of Postcolonial Criticism

Doris Lessing(1919-2013),the winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 2007,is a great and unique writer in the history of world literature.She once lived in Africa and experienced the Other life of the marginal diaspora,which made her pay special attention to the living conditions of human beings.It is of great significance for the study of contemporary English literature to understand the writer Lessing and understand the social reality of the whole century through her works.Science fiction is an important part of Lessing’s creation,and The Canopus in Argos: Archives is the most important of her science fiction.However,domestic and international critics have relatively neglected such works.The Canopus in Argos:Archives describes the identity dilemma of the space residents(especially the marginal group residents)on several planets under the political domination and control of the sovereign empire,exploring the causes of their existential dilemmas and criticizing the cultural hegemony of the sovereign empire in the context of space.This paper explores the identity dilemma of the Other in Lessing’s space novels from the perspective of postcolonial criticism.The Other in postcolonial criticism refers to the weak side in the binary opposition,such as the colonized,ethnic minorities,colored races,women and so on.The colonized Other,the female Other and the wandering minority diaspora Other in Canopus in Argos: Archives are all the marginal Others in the universe.Therefore,this paper will analyze the identity dilemma of the Other from these three perspectives.This paper consists of three parts: introduction,main body and conclusion.The main body is divided into three chapters.In introduction,there is a briefly presentation of Doris Lessing and her literary achievements,the summary of The Canopus in Argos: Archives,the background of Lessing’s creation of space novels,composes the identity of postcolonial critical theory,and discusses the feasibility and significance of the application of this theory,literature review at home and abroad,which lays the foundation for the following discussion.The first chapter explores the identity dilemma of the colonized Other in Canopus in Argos: Archives.It mainly shows the lack of subjectivity of the colonized Other,the loss of discourse,the loss of self under hegemony,and the identity confusion under the existential crisis.The colonized Others experience existential dilemmas and identity crises under the hegemonic rule of the empire,suffering from racial discrimination,and under the adverse social factors such as natural disasters.The second chapter analyzes the identity dilemma of the female Other in Canopus in Argos: Archives.Including the women of space Suzerian Empires and the women on the colonized planet.Women,like the colonized nations,are the marginal Others without subjectivity,while the colonial women are even more marginal Others who suffer the dual oppression of the hegemony of the space imperial colonizers and the male power of their own race.This chapter depicts female Others of different races,ages,and classes and explores their identity crisis.The third chapter studies the identity dilemma of the diaspora in Canopus in Argos:Archives.Ally,the queen of the three districts;Nasar,the messenger of the Canopus,and Ambien,the senior leader of Sirius,are all rootless vagrants.This paper focuses on the analysis of their multiple identity conflicts,cultural estrangement from their living place and their confusion after losing their home,which reflects their identity dilemma.Through the perplexity and crisis of the cultural identity of the marginal Other,Lessing reveals the power relationship between self and the Other.Lessing’s space world is a reflection of today’s human society.In Canopus in Argos: Archives,the colonized Other,the female Other and the diaspora Other are Lessing’s imagination of the colonized Africans and their culture,female sex and exile in the 19th-20 th century.It reveals the contempt and unconcerned of the colonists to the lives of the colonized,and reflects Lessing’s humanistic care for the marginal Others in today’s society.