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Doris Lessing’s Followers (2,545)

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 · 186,733 ratings · 15,051 reviews · 468 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Golden Notebook 3.76 avg rating — 22,123 ratings — published 1962 — 2 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 3.61 avg rating — 19,252 ratings — published 1988 — 6 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 3.82 avg rating — 13,017 ratings — published 1950 — 134 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 3.67 avg rating — 3,916 ratings — published 1985 — 73 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 3.60 avg rating — 3,195 ratings — published 1974 — 82 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 — 3,359 ratings — published 2007 — 53 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) 3.66 avg rating — 2,525 ratings — published 1979 — 58 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) 3.80 avg rating — 2,405 ratings — published 1952 — 72 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 3.92 avg rating — 2,316 ratings — published 1986 — 46 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 — 2,407 ratings — published 1973 — 2 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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Series by Doris Lessing

Canopus in Argos (5 books)
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Children of Violence (5 books)
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Doris Lessing's autobiography (2 books)
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Hanya Yanagihara’s latest novel is actually three tales of New York. In To Paradise, the highly acclaimed author of A Little Life and The...

Polls

February 2016 New School Group Read

1947, The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, 283 pages

25 votes, 17.5%

1950, The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, 182 pages

21 votes, 14.7%

1979, The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, 396 pages

17 votes, 11.9%

1908, The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G.K. Chesterton, 198 pages

13 votes, 9.1%

1954, Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan, 113 pages

13 votes, 9.1%

1966, The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, 360 pages

11 votes, 7.7%

1934, Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller, 318 pages

10 votes, 7.0%

1966, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein, 288 pages

8 votes, 5.6%

1931, The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, 418 pages

8 votes, 5.6%

1956, The Black Obelisk by Erich Maria Remarque, 448 pages

4 votes, 2.8%

1947, If This Is a Man by Primo Levi, 398 pages

4 votes, 2.8%

1936, South Riding by Winifred Holtby, 492 pages

3 votes, 2.1%

1962, The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, 640 pages

3 votes, 2.1%

1985, Satantango by László Krasznahorkai, 274 pages

3 votes, 2.1%

143 total votes

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