Doris Lessing

Born

in Kermanshah, Iran

October 22, 1919

Died

November 17, 2013

Website

http://www.dorislessing.org

Genre

Fiction

Influences

Virginia Woolf, Idries Shah, Simone de Beauvoir, Olive Schreiner, Jean ...more

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Both of her parents were British: her father, who had been crippled in World War I, was a clerk in the Imperial Bank of Persia; her mother had been a nurse. In 1925, lured by the promise of getting rich through maize farming, the family moved to the British colony in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Like other women writers from southern African who did not graduate from high school (such as Olive Schreiner and Nadine Gordimer), Lessing made herself into a self-educated intellectual.

In 1937 she moved to Salisbury, where she worked as a telephone operator for a year. At nineteen, she married Frank Wisdom, and had two children. A few years later, feeling trapped in a persona that she feared would destroy her, she left her family, remaining Both of her parents were British: her father, who had been crippled in World War I, was a clerk in the Imperial Bank of Persia; her mother had been a nurse. In 1925, lured by the promise of getting rich through maize farming, the family moved to the British colony in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Like other women writers from southern African who did not graduate from high school (such as Olive Schreiner and Nadine Gordimer), Lessing made herself into a self-educated intellectual.

In 1937 she moved to Salisbury, where she worked as a telephone operator for a year. At nineteen, she married Frank Wisdom, and had two children. A few years later, feeling trapped in a persona that she feared would destroy her, she left her family, remaining in Salisbury. Soon she was drawn to the like-minded members of the Left Book Club, a group of Communists "who read everything, and who did not think it remarkable to read." Gottfried Lessing was a central member of the group; shortly after she joined, they married and had a son.

During the postwar years, Lessing became increasingly disillusioned with the Communist movement, which she left altogether in 1954. By 1949, Lessing had moved to London with her young son. That year, she also published her first novel, The Grass Is Singing, and began her career as a professional writer.

In June 1995 she received an Honorary Degree from Harvard University. Also in 1995, she visited South Africa to see her daughter and grandchildren, and to promote her autobiography. It was her first visit since being forcibly removed in 1956 for her political views. Ironically, she is welcomed now as a writer acclaimed for the very topics for which she was banished 40 years ago.

In 2001 she was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize in Literature, one of Spain's most important distinctions, for her brilliant literary works in defense of freedom and Third World causes. She also received the David Cohen British Literature Prize.

She was on the shortlist for the first Man Booker International Prize in 2005. In 2007 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

(Extracted from the pamphlet: A Reader's Guide to The Golden Notebook & Under My Skin, HarperPerennial, 1995. Full text available on www.dorislessing.org). ...more

Combine Editions
Doris Lessing's Books

Average rating: 3.63 · 126,978 ratings · 8,700 reviews · 218 distinct works · Similar authors

	The Golden Notebook 3.75 avg rating — 14,452 ratings — published 1962 — 93 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Fifth Child 3.53 avg rating — 9,955 ratings — published 1988 — 85 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Grass is Singing 3.81 avg rating — 7,270 ratings — published 1950 — 70 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Good Terrorist 3.68 avg rating — 2,358 ratings — published 1985 — 42 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Memoirs of a Survivor 3.61 avg rating — 1,943 ratings — published 1974 — 41 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Martha Quest 3.83 avg rating — 1,657 ratings — published 1952 — 33 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Cleft 2.86 avg rating — 2,265 ratings — published 2007 — 33 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Re: Colonised Planet 5, Shikasta 3.75 avg rating — 1,588 ratings — published 1979 — 32 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Briefing for a Descent Into Hell 3.72 avg rating — 1,362 ratings — published 1971 — 28 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Summer Before the Dark 3.61 avg rating — 1,431 ratings — published 1973 — 37 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Doris Lessing…

Series by Doris Lessing

The Fifth Child (2 books)
by Doris Lessing
3.50 avg rating — 11,161 ratings

Canopus in Argos (5 books)
by Doris Lessing
3.88 avg rating — 4,095 ratings

Children of Violence (5 books)
by Doris Lessing
3.95 avg rating — 3,931 ratings

Mara and Dann (2 books)
by Doris Lessing
3.75 avg rating — 1,537 ratings

The Diaries of Jane Somers (2 books)
by Doris Lessing, Doris Lessing, ناجي الفحام (ترجمة)
3.94 avg rating — 953 ratings

More series by Doris Lessing…

Quotes by Doris Lessing

“Whatever you're meant to do, do it now. The conditions are always impossible.”
― Doris Lessing

2981 likes

“What's terrible is to pretend that second-rate is first-rate. To pretend that you don't need love when you do; or you like your work when you know quite well you're capable of better.”
― Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook

tags: inspirational

2502 likes

“Ideally, what should be said to every child, repeatedly, throughout his or her school life is something like this: 'You are in the process of being indoctrinated. We have not yet evolved a system of education that is not a system of indoctrination. We are sorry, but it is the best we can do. What you are being taught here is an amalgam of current prejudice and the choices of this particular culture. The slightest look at history will show how impermanent these must be. You are being taught by people who have been able to accommodate themselves to a regime of thought laid down by their predecessors. It is a self-perpetuating system. Those of you who are more robust and individual than others will be encouraged to leave and find ways of educating yourself — educating your own judgements. Those that stay must remember, always, and all the time, that they are being moulded and patterned to fit into the narrow and particular needs of this particular society.”
― Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook

tags: conformity, education, feminism, knowledge-power, quip, school

1946 likes

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Which short story author do we want to read together in November?

Leo Tolstoy

7 votes, 35.0%

Ernest Hemingway

5 votes, 25.0%

Doris Lessing

4 votes, 20.0%

Edgar Allan Poe

2 votes, 10.0%

James Joyce

2 votes, 10.0%

20 total votes

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