One of the recognized classics of feminist literature is considered the British writer Doris Lessing. Many books that have come out of her pen are significant in world literature. What was her path to fame?
Childhood
Doris May Lessing was born in the family of a military man and a nurse from England - but, oddly enough, not in Britain, but ... in Iran: it was there that the parents of the future writer met. His father was in the hospital after being injured and having his legs amputated, his mother looked after him. Doris was born in October 1919, and six years later, a small family left Iran - this time to Africa. It was in Zimbabwe that Doris Lessing spent his childhood, and then several years of adult life.
In Africa, the father served, the girl’s mother worked hard and tirelessly to bridge the gap between the local peoples and European culture, trying to instill her own traditions in them, and Doris was forced to attend a Catholic school. Later, however, she changed the educational institution - she began to go to a special women's school, where she studied until she was fourteen, but she never graduated from it. Nobody knew then, but later it turns out that this was the only education of the future writer in her whole life.
Youth
From the age of fourteen, Doris began to earn money. The girl tried many specialties: she worked as a nurse, journalist, telephone operator and others. Nowhere was she particularly late, because nowhere did she particularly like it. She, as they say, "was looking for herself."
On the personal front
Doris Lessing married twice, and both times - during her life in Africa. The first marriage happened at the age of twenty, Frank Wiesdom became her chosen one. The couple had two children - daughter Jin and son John. Unfortunately, their union did not last long - only four years later, Doris and Frank divorced. After that, the children stayed with their father.
Two years later, Doris went down the aisle for the second time - now for Gottfried Lessing, a German who emigrated from his native country. She gave birth to his son Peter, but this marriage was also short-lived - ironically, he also lasted four years. In 1949, the couple broke up, Doris left herself the name of her ex-husband and little son, left the African continent together with him. With such baggage, she arrived in London - the city where a new round of her life began.
Doris Lessing: the beginning of a literary career
It was in England that Doris first tried herself in the literary field. Being an active supporter of the feminist movement, she joined the Communist Party - all this was reflected in her work. At first, the girl worked exclusively in social topics.
The writer published his debut work in 1949. The novel "Grass Sings", the main character of which is a young girl, talks about her life and about public views that greatly affect the character. Doris Lessing demonstrated in a book how, under the influence of society, because of its condemnation, a man (in particular, a woman), previously quite happy and content with his own fate, can drastically change it. And this is not always for the better. The novel immediately brought the novice writer enough fame.
First works
From that moment, Doris Lessing began to actively print. Works from under her pen appeared one after another - good, she always had something to say. So, for example, in the early fifties she released the short story “Witchcraft is not for sale,” in which she described many autobiographical moments from her African life. She generally composed many works of small size - “It was the story of the old leader,” “The habit of loving,” “A man and two women,” and so on.
For almost seventeen years - until the end of the seventies - the writer published a half autobiographical cycle of five books. During this period, a psychological orientation was added to the social orientation of her work. It was at that time that the world saw the work of Doris Lessing "Golden Notebook", considered to this day as a model among the literature of feminism. At the same time, the writer herself always emphasized that the main thing in her work is not at all the rights of a woman, but the human rights in general.
Science Fiction
Since the seventies in the work of Doris Lessing, a new stage begins. She became interested in Sufism, which was reflected in her next works. Written previously exclusively on the acute social and psychological, the writer now turned to fantastic ideas. In a three-year period - from 1979 to 1982 - she created five novels, which combined in one cycle ("Canopus in Argos"). All Doris Lessing books in this series tell the story of a utopian future where light is divided into zones and populated by archetypes.
This cycle was adopted ambiguously, gaining both approval and negative reviews. However, Doris herself did not consider the above works to be the best among her works. Both critics and she herself recognized the novel “The Fifth Child” as one of the most significant novels in her work. Doris Lessing even advised in an interview to begin acquaintance with her books from this particular work, which tells about the life of an unusual child in an ordinary family and how people around him perceive it.
Last years
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Doris Lessing worked as actively as in the past century. She released the novel "Ben Among the People", which is a continuation of the acclaimed "Fifth Child." The book “Cleft” by Doris Lessing, written by her during these years and offering readers a different version of reality, also gained great popularity: at first there were only women, and men appeared much later.
Perhaps she would have written something else - there was more than enough energy for this elderly woman. However, in November 2013, Doris Lessing died. It happened in London. The writer lived for almost a hundred years.
Confession
In the mid-nineties of the last century, Doris Lessing became a doctor at Harvard University. In the last year of the last century, she received the Order of Knights of Honor, and two years later - the David Cohen Award.
In addition, Doris Lessing is the owner of many other awards, among which one should be especially emphasized - the Nobel Prize in Literature she received in 2007.
Heritage
The legacy of the British writer includes many works in various genres. A special mention deserves the collection of Doris Lessing "Grandmothers", which includes four short stories, including the eponymous. It can be attributed to feminist literature, since all four stories in the book tell about women, their passions and desires, and the society that limits them. The perception of the book was mixed. The title novel of the collection was filmed four years ago (in Russia the film was released under the name “Secret Attraction”).
In addition to these short stories and the aforementioned books, one can distinguish such works as “Memoirs of the Survivor”, “Great Dreams”, the collection of short stories “The Present” and many other works.
Interesting Facts
- She considered her early years unhappy; she didn’t like the African continent. There is an opinion that it was because of this that I began to write.
- During the years of life, Lessing in Africa Zimbabwe was an English colony.
- The maiden name of the writer is Taylor.
- Criticized apartheid politics.
- In the eighties, she created two works under the pseudonym Jane Somers.
- He is the author of four plays staged in various theaters in Britain.
- Over the decades, more and more new works have appeared on the work of the British writer.
- Her portrait was exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery of the British capital.
- She wrote scientific articles.
- She abandoned the title of Lady Cavalier of the British Empire.
- The first to receive the Nobel Prize for work in the science fiction genre.
Perhaps Doris Lessing is not now the most popular and famous writer in reading circles. However, its heritage is so great and diverse that anyone who loves literature should become familiar with at least part of it.