PLAY WITH A TIGER AND OTHER PL

by Doris Lessing

Paperback. 304 English Flamingo Three acclaimed works for the stage by Doris Lessing. winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.Written from 1950s to the 1970s. the three plays collected here reflect the social and political concerns of the times . and are rich with Doris Lessing's characteristic passion and incisiveness. 'Play with a Tiger' follows the fortunes of Anna and Dave. representatives of the emerging post-war classless society. and their attempts to find a blueprint for living. 'The Singing Door '. written for children. is a highly experimental play. a clever and witty allegorical study of power games.' Each His Own Wilderness' tells the story of Myra. who has fought all her life for the socialist ideal. and who must now come to terms with the fact that despite her best efforts. her son is indifferent to her politics.

Genres: Plays

304 pages, Paperback

First published October 7, 1996

About the author

Doris Lessing was born into a colonial family. 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).

Reviews

[Maia · Rating 2 out of 5]

wish i had chosen another drama piece this play was so boring and confusing i didn't understand anyone's moral status cause it changed like every page - 2 stars :(

[Stina Svensson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tyckte kanske inte att karaktärerna var så intressanta i deras relation till situationen i alla fall, men dialogen var fantastiskt skriven, verkligen helt otrolig

[بسام عبد العزيز · Rating 1 out of 5]

بكل تأكيد اللعب مع النمر سيكون أكثر احتمالا من قراءة هذه المسرحيات العقيمة\

مقياس البيض: 4 من 5 بيضات