I think this is just a great award. Like a lot of people (I'm guessing), I've abandoned Lessing since she's gone all mystical science fiction on us (a mistake? someone tell me those books are great, and maybe I'll give them a shot), but the Martha Quest novels? the short stories? The Golden Notebook? That is great and important writing, aesthetically and culturally.
I first read The Golden Notebook in the early 80s, when I was taking a semester off from school to be full-time political and attempt to recover my college-stifled love for books. It completely rocked my world (which shows what a baby boomer I am, at heart, despite my perch on the exact demographic cusp between baby boom and Gen X). She was struggling with the tension between politics and literature. I was struggling with the tension between politics and literature! She was questioning the efficacy of narrative form. I was questioning the efficacy of narrative form! She was trying to figure out who she was and the place of desire in her life. I was trying to figure out who I was and the place of desire in my life (even though I didn't call it desire back then, I think I probably called it boys)! Indeed, I think Anna's madness helped forestall my own.
I re-read it in the mid-90s, wondering if it would still work for me, and while the identification had evaporated, the book blew my mind yet again.
Congratulations, Ms. Lessing!
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2 comments:
I've only read a few Lessing short stories but your comments make me think I should try the notebooks again.
Nice post! I am just writing a Lessing post, had to wait till I could get to the library yesterday to get hold of the relevant book, and it is also prompting all sort of retrospective contemplation--more TK...
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