Afterword
The book contains a 30-page afterword in which Lessing states that The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 and the previous book in this series, The Sirian Experiments were inspired by her 50-year fascination in the ill-fated 1910–13 Antarctic expedition of Robert Falcon Scott.
Lessing expresses her concern that Scott and his explorers, heroes in their day, were vilified by later generations. She analyses the disastrous expedition and laments at the way they put England and science ahead of their own personal safety. They tried to transcend themselves by taking on responsibilities they were not equipped for or experienced enough to undertake, which ultimately cost many of them their lives.
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