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Doris Lessing’s Followers (2,797)

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 later had two children. A few years later, feeling trapped in a persona that she feared would destroy her, she left her family, rema 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 later 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

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Doris Lessing’s books

Average rating: 3.67 · 195,072 ratings · 16,105 reviews · 482 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Golden Notebook 3.77 avg rating — 23,035 ratings — published 1962 — 216 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 3.62 avg rating — 21,106 ratings — published 1988 — 69 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 3.83 avg rating — 13,721 ratings — published 1950 — 136 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 — 4,154 ratings — published 1985 — 76 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 3.59 avg rating — 3,343 ratings — published 1974 — 81 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 2.92 avg rating — 3,471 ratings — published 2007 — 49 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
	Prisons We Choose to Live Inside 3.91 avg rating — 2,546 ratings — published 1986 — 43 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 (Canopus in Argos, #1) 3.65 avg rating — 2,629 ratings — published 1979 — 63 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 (Children of Violence, #1) 3.79 avg rating — 2,502 ratings — published 1952 — 74 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 3.60 avg rating — 2,543 ratings — published 1973 — 89 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

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Polls

2nd Quarter 2022 Group Long Read

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, 1949, 746 pages

44 votes, 25.1%

The World According to Garp by John Irving, 1978, 610 pages

42 votes, 24.0%

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, 1962, 640 pages

23 votes, 13.1%

The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, 1001, 1182 pages

19 votes, 10.9%

The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni, 1827, 720 pages

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The Sagas of Icelanders by Jane Smiley, 1200, 782 pages

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Sarum: The Novel of England by Edward Rutherfurd, 1987, 912 pages

13 votes, 7.4%

175 total votes

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Doris Lessing’s Followers (2,797)

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