Shikasta
E631923
Shikasta is a 1979 science fiction novel by Doris Lessing that inaugurates her Canopus in Argos series, blending cosmic history with political and spiritual allegory.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Shikasta canonical | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T6945907 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Shikasta Context triple: [Doris Lessing, notableWork, Shikasta]
-
A.
Kulisusu
Kulisusu is a town and administrative center located in the province of Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia.
-
B.
Kakushōkaku
Kakushōkaku is a historic Japanese-style residence located within Yokohama’s Sankeien Garden, known for its traditional architecture and scenic views over the landscaped grounds.
-
C.
Okutama
Okutama is a mountainous town in western Tokyo, Japan, known for its forests, lakes, and outdoor recreation areas at the headwaters of the Tama River.
-
D.
Zezuru
Zezuru is a major dialect of the Shona language spoken primarily in central and northern Zimbabwe.
-
E.
Matigari
Matigari is a political allegorical novel by Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o that critiques postcolonial corruption and injustice through the story of a returning freedom fighter.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Shikasta Target entity description: Shikasta is a 1979 science fiction novel by Doris Lessing that inaugurates her Canopus in Argos series, blending cosmic history with political and spiritual allegory.
-
A.
Kulisusu
Kulisusu is a town and administrative center located in the province of Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia.
-
B.
Kakushōkaku
Kakushōkaku is a historic Japanese-style residence located within Yokohama’s Sankeien Garden, known for its traditional architecture and scenic views over the landscaped grounds.
-
C.
Okutama
Okutama is a mountainous town in western Tokyo, Japan, known for its forests, lakes, and outdoor recreation areas at the headwaters of the Tama River.
-
D.
Zezuru
Zezuru is a major dialect of the Shona language spoken primarily in central and northern Zimbabwe.
-
E.
Matigari
Matigari is a political allegorical novel by Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o that critiques postcolonial corruption and injustice through the story of a returning freedom fighter.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
novel
ⓘ
science fiction novel ⓘ |
| author | Doris Lessing ⓘ |
| centralCharacter |
Benjamin Sherban
ⓘ
linked to:
George Sherban
George Sherban ⓘ Johor ⓘ Rachel Sherban ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | United Kingdom ⓘ |
| fictionalWorldElement |
Canopus (advanced galactic empire)
ⓘ
Lock ⓘ Shammat (malevolent influence) ⓘ
linked to:
Samael
Zone 6 ⓘ |
| followedBy | The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five ⓘ |
| genre |
philosophical fiction
ⓘ
political allegory ⓘ science fiction ⓘ speculative fiction ⓘ spiritual allegory ⓘ |
| hasAlternativeTitle | Re: Colonised Planet 5, Shikasta ⓘ |
| hasMainTheme |
colonialism
ⓘ
cosmic history ⓘ decline of civilizations ⓘ intervention of higher powers ⓘ political transformation ⓘ spiritual evolution ⓘ |
| hasPageCountApprox | 400 ⓘ |
| hasSubject |
apocalyptic conflict
ⓘ
humanity’s relationship with the cosmos ⓘ moral responsibility of advanced civilizations ⓘ spiritual decay ⓘ |
| inauguratesSeries | Canopus in Argos: Archives ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| literaryMovement | postmodern literature ⓘ |
| literarySignificance | marks Doris Lessing’s turn to overtly speculative fiction ⓘ |
| narrativeForm |
documentary-style narrative
ⓘ
fictional historical documents ⓘ |
| narrativePerspective | multiple viewpoints ⓘ |
| notableFor |
blend of cosmic myth and political commentary
ⓘ
use of quasi-religious and bureaucratic documents ⓘ |
| originalTitle | Re: Colonised Planet 5, Shikasta ⓘ |
| partOfSeries | Canopus in Argos ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1979 ⓘ |
| publisher | Jonathan Cape ⓘ |
| seriesNumber | 1 ⓘ |
| setting |
Canopus in Argos universe
ⓘ
planet Shikasta ⓘ |
| structure | chronicle of a planet’s history ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Shikasta Description of subject: Shikasta is a 1979 science fiction novel by Doris Lessing that inaugurates her Canopus in Argos series, blending cosmic history with political and spiritual allegory.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.