The Autobiographical Narrator in Doris Lessing's
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Identity and Narrative in Doris Lessing's and J.M. Coetzee's Life Writings
Identity and narrative in Doris Lessing's and J.M. Coetzee's Life Writings ENG-3992 Shkurte Krasniqi Master’s Thesis in English Literature Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education University of Tromsø Spring 2013 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor Professor Gerd Karin Bjørhovde for her constructive criticism and for encouraging me to work on this thesis. She is an inspiration to me. I would also like to thank my family for supporting me from afar: you are always on my mind. Last but not least, I am grateful to have my husband Jørn by my side. Abstract The main focus of this thesis is the manner in which Doris Lessing and J.M Coetzee construct their identities in their life writings. While Lessing has written a “classical” autobiography using the first person and past tense, Coetzee has opted for a more fictional version using the third person and the present tense. These different approaches offer us a unique opportunity to look into the manner in which fiction and facts can be combined and used to create works of art which linger permanently between the two. It is also interesting to see how these two writers have dealt with the complications of being raised in Southern Africa and how that influences their social and personal identities. In the Introduction I present the writers and their oeuvres briefly. In Chapter 1, I explain the terms connected with life writing, identity and narrative. In the second chapter I begin by looking into the manner in which their respective life writings begin and what repercussions does using the first and the third person have? In the third chapter I analyse their relational identities, i.e. -
Shikasta: Re, Colonised Planet 5 (Vintage International) by Doris Lessing
Shikasta: Re, Colonised Planet 5 (Vintage International) by Doris Lessing Ebook Shikasta: Re, Colonised Planet 5 (Vintage International) currently available for review only, if you need complete ebook Shikasta: Re, Colonised Planet 5 (Vintage International) please fill out registration form to access in our databases Download here >> Series:::: Vintage International+++Paperback:::: 384 pages+++Publisher:::: Vintage; 1st Vintage Books ed edition (August 12, 1981)+++Language:::: English+++ISBN-10:::: 0394749774+++ISBN-13:::: 978-0394749778+++Product Dimensions::::5.2 x 0.9 x 8 inches++++++ ISBN10 0394749774 ISBN13 978-0394749 Download here >> Description: This is the first volume in the series of novels Doris Lessing calls collectively Canopus in Argos: Archives. Presented as a compilation of documents, reports, letters, speeches and journal entries, this purports to be a general study of the planet Shikasta–clearly the planet Earth–to be used by history students of the higher planet Canopus and to be stored in the Canopian archives. For eons, galactic empires have struggled against one another, and Shikasta is one of the main battlegrounds.Johar, an emissary from Canopus and the primary contributor to the archives, visits Shikasta over the millennia from the time of the giants and the biblical great flood up to the present. With every visit he tries to distract Shikastans from the evil influences of the planet Shammat but notes with dismay the ever-growing chaos and destruction of Shikasta as its people hurl themselves towards World War III and annihilation. The Nobel Prize winning author Doris Lessing wrote a series of novels that are illuminating insights based on the idea that we here on planet Earth are but one of hundreds of planetary colonies. -
“A Small Voice for the Earth” – a Romantic and Green Reading of Doris Lessing's Shikasta
“A Small Voice for the Earth” – A Romantic and Green Reading of Doris Lessing’s Shikasta Riikka Siltaoja University of Tampere School of Language, Translation and Literary Studies English Philology Master’s Thesis December 2012 Tampereen yliopisto Englantilainen filologia Kieli-, käännös- ja kirjallisuustieteiden yksikkö SILTAOJA, RIIKKA: Ekokriittinen ja romanttinen luenta Doris Lessingin romaanista Shikasta Pro gradu-tutkielma, 73 sivua Syksy 2012 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tutkielmassani tarkastelen Doris Lessingin science fiction-romaania Shikasta (1979) ekokriittisestä näkökulmasta. Pyrin myös osoittamaan sen yhteyden romanttisen luontokirjallisuuden ja pastoraalin perinteeseen. Doris Lessing on tullut tunnetuksi erityisesti vasemmistolaisena kirjailijana, mutta hän on myös tunnettu siitä, miten vaikea hänen töitään on kategorioida. Väitän tutkielmassani, että Shikastassa on havaittavissa paitsi Lessingin pettymys kommunismiin ja puoluepolitiikkaan, myös selkeä filosofinen siirtymä ’punaisesta vihreään’ politiikkaan. Ensin tarkastelen Shikastan sosialistisia piirteitä pohjautuen Terry Eagletonin etiikkaan teoksessa After Theory (2003), erityisesti suhteessa hänen käsitykseensä objektiivisuudesta ja Aristoteelisesta hyveestä, jotka ovat hänen moraalikäsityksensä perustana. Esitän, että Shikastan esittämä yhteiskuntamalli sekä moraalikäsitys ovat ideologialtaan utopistisen sosialistisia. Ne pohjautuvat erityisesti kollektiiviselle rakkaudelle, -
The Freedom of Exile in Naipaul and Doris Lessinp
The Freedom of Exile in Naipaul and Doris Lessinp ANDREW GURR A XXT THE END of the first "Free Women" section of The Golden Notebook Anna Wulf, the fictional author of the notebooks which form the basis for the whole novel, sits looking down on her material "as if she were a general on the top of a mountain, watching her armies deploy in the valley below."1 Anna as army commander is a sad irony, isolated as she is (a few lines earlier we were told "it was only alone, in the big room, that she was herself"), and fragmented to the very end as her fictions remain. This image of the self-deluding writer of fiction is worth unpack• ing. Its contents are the necessities of the writer of reflexive fic• tions and the writer as a free agent. The image's assumption of command, the writer as controller of fictions, is an irony which links the writing of The Golden Notebook precisely to the reflexive fictions of the last twenty years. Fiction has become the imposition of a subjective vision and the writer cannot be separated from the solipsistic fiction, ordering fantastic armies to do fantastic things which never exist outside the writer's head. The general also stands alone, above the fiction, in an isolation which is a form of exile from the battle he seeks to control. He has issued his orders. He expects to control events according to the pattern he dictates. He has the illusion that he is free to give his own shape to the events he rules over. -
Engaging Macrohistory Through the Present Moment
ARTICLE .3 Engaging Macrohistory through the Present Moment Anthony Judge Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential Belgium Introduction The question explored here is how the text of macrohistory – and its larger dynamic – gets written It is distinctly presumptuous for a non-historian to into the individual psychic fabric. Can it exist otherwise? comment on issues of macrohistory that are the focus of extensive studies1 – or is it? Is it appropriate to frame macrohistory as only being a matter for historians? As Identifying Longer-term Rhythms with war and other matters, is macrohistory too impor- 2 There has long been a preoccupation with the tant to be left to historians? longer-term rhythms of human existence that only The following is therefore a reflection on the signif- much more recently came to provide a context for icance of the rhythms of macrohistory for lived experi- macrohistory – but were notably neglected despite the ence in the present moment – an experience that is a work of Pitrim Sorokin (Social and Cultural Dynamics feature of the lived reality of all. The question is how do, 1937). Much is made of the capacity of the earliest or could, people engage with macrohistory – without observers to explore astronomical cycles and predict being historians? Responding to the details of macrohis- eclipses – in both cases judged as being determining tory over centuries is naturally disempowering to many. factors in the cycles of society and human experience. It might well be expected to engender a sense of apathy This provided a basis for astrology that remains vitally -- despite the sense of perspective some claim it offers. -
136 Chapter Six OUTER SPACE FANTASY II: the SIRIAN EXPERIMENTS, the MAKING of the REPRESENTATIVE for PLANET 8 and the SENTIMENTA
136 Chapter Six OUTER SPACE FANTASY II: THE SIRIAN EXPERIMENTS, THE MAKING OF THE REPRESENTATIVE FOR PLANET 8 AND THE SENTIMENTAL AGENTS OF THE VOLYEN EMPIRE Nettled by expressions of dissatisfaction after the publication of Shikasta and Marriages, Leasing explains her purpose once again in a preface to the third novel in this series, The Sirian Experiments (1981) . In sum, Lessing invites readers to see the series "as a framework that enables me to tell (I hope) a beguiling tale or two; to put questions both to myself and to others; to explore ideas and sociological possibilities" (1981:12). Lessing, certainly does this in the next three novels of the series—The Sirian Experiments (1981), The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 (1983) ,_and The Sentimental Agents of the Volven Empire (1983). THE SIRIAN EXPERIMENTS The reviewers find ii\any faults with Lessing's The Sirian Experiments. For instance, Edwin Morgan says that the book "is not as well written as it might be. Misplaced particles abound. Singulars and plurals are confounded, sentences are made verbless quite unnecessarily and there is too much reliance on those magic dots..." (TLS, 1981:431). They find her ideas "too near the 137 surface, too little assimilated" (Wilce, 1981:24) but do not explain which ideas they mean, and hastily conclude that the book is "not good science fiction or good Lessing. Fanatics only " (Niccol, 1981:72). However, Robert Alter's review is a perceptive and interesting one. He considers the Canopus in Arqos series to belong to what Northrop Frye called an "anatomy"; that is, "a combination of fantasy and morality" (NYTBR, 1981:1) which "presents a vision of the world in terms of a single intellectual pattern" (NYTBR, 1981:24). -
Information to Users
INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 Nortfi Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Order Number 9218972 The path of love: Sufism in the novels of Doris Lessing Galin, Muge N., Ph.D. The Ohio State University, 1992 UMI 300 N. -
Doris Lessing's Socio- Political Consciousness
International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 5(5) Sep-Oct 2020 | Available online: https://ijels.com/ Doris Lessing’s Socio- political Consciousness Ms. Shikha Sharma1, Dr. N. M. Shah2 1Research Scholar, P.K University, M.P., India 2Associate Professor, GL Bajaj Group of institutions, U.P., India Abstract— Doris Lessing’s socio-political consciousness refers to liberal and progressive outlook on life. She also got interested in communist ideology and became politically involved like the intellectuals of Salisbury who were filled with Marxist idealism. She was impressed by the ideals of the Royal Air Force personals and she contact with them. She experienced the Second World War through her father as it was divided in two groups American and European block. The social and political changes in Great Britain gave rise to the myth of classlessness, which was widely accepted. Domestic peace, colonial retraction and the Cold War on international level, led to the de-politicization of intellectual life. Lessing was one of the founder members and helped organize the first march protesting against nuclear weapons. Her involvement with these developments was primarily as an increasingly well-established, even celebrated writer. Keywords— Lessing's Socio-political consciousness, Doris Lessing's socio-political, consciousness, Political consciousness in novels of Lessing, Social, consciousness of Lessing, Study of consciousness in Lessing's novel. The mostly writers of the thirties was certainly strongly Doris Lessing was influenced by her father and developed a inspired by Karl Marx, and it gave a positive vital force to liberal and progressive outlook on life. She had drifted away their writings. -
Fiction and Narrative: a Study of Doris Lessing's “Memoirs of a Survivor”
International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature (IJSELL) Volume 3, Issue 4, April 2015, PP 115-119 ISSN 2347-3126 (Print) & ISSN 2347-3134 (Online) www.arcjournals.org Fiction and Narrative: A Study of Doris Lessing’s “Memoirs of a Survivor” Veera Swamy T. M.A. Pathlavath. Aruna, M.A. Research Scholar Osmania Universty Potti Sri Ramulu Telugu University Hyderabad, Telangana State Hyderabad, Telangana State [email protected] [email protected] Abstract: African literature is replete with the contribution made by the writers of both genders. The women writers whose works raged a stormy controversy across the globe continued to be firm in their stand to defend their philosophy and approach to life. Doris Lessing is no exception to this. Despite her bitter experiences in life, Lessing had to accept what circumstances offered to her, her compulsive marriage and her inevitable acceptance of her motherhood. She had an unhappy childhood too. She commented that unhappy childhoods seem to produce fiction writers. She believes that she was freer than most people because she became a writer. She took to full time writing in 1949 and produced fiction and short stories of rare kind. The writers of this paper have tried to interpret her works with a particular reference to “MEMOIRS OF A SURVIVOR”. Keywords: Fiction, Narrative, Bitter memories, Pretty neurotic 1. INTRODUCTION Doris Lessing was born to Doris May Tayler in Persia (now Iran) on October 22, 1919. 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. -
Fictions of Time and Space: from Realism to Utopia in Doris Lessing's the Four-Gated City.'
University of Plymouth PEARL https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk Faculty of Arts and Humanities School of Society and Culture 2021-06-01 'Fictions of Time and Space: From Realism to Utopia in Doris Lessing's The Four-Gated City.' Sergeant, DRC http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/13113 10.1215/0041462X-9084315 Twentieth-Century Literature Duke University Press All content in PEARL is protected by copyright law. Author manuscripts are made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the details provided on the item record or document. In the absence of an open licence (e.g. Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher or author. FICTIONS OF TIME AND SPACE: FROM REALISM TO UTOPIA IN DORIS LESSING’S THE FOUR-GATED CITY Doris Lessing’s most famous work remains The Golden Notebook (1962). Partly this is the legacy of its reception as a feminist landmark – a legacy not diminished by Lessing’s own scepticism about such a reading. Partly, however, it is because The Golden Notebook constitutes a marker in twentieth-century fiction, as a writer previously known for her commitment to realism seemed to depart into more experimental modes; a fact not diminished – possibly, even, enhanced – by the nature of this departure being so unclear. As Tonya Krouse has described, a recognition of the novel’s experimentalism was ‘forestall[ed]’ (115) by Lessing’s 1971 Preface, which belatedly positioned it as a continuation of the work of Tolstoy and Stendhal; while critics such as Nick Bentley and Alice Ridout have continued to emphasise the novel’s engagement with that legacy. -
A Postmodern Study of Doris Lessing's the Golden Notebook In
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by International Burch University 1st International Conference on Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics May 5-7 2011 Sarajevo A Postmodern Study of Doris Lessing‘s The Golden Notebook in the Light of Jean-Francois Lyotard ‘s Ideas Shahram Kiaei Faculty Member, Department of English, Islamic Azad University, Qom Branch, Qom, Iran [email protected] Ensiyehsadat Azizi Department of English Islamic Azad University, Arak Branch , Arak , Iran [email protected] Fatemeh Azizmohammadi Faculty Member, Department of English, Islamic Azad University, Arak Branch , Arak , Iran [email protected] Abstract: It has become a virtual commonplace of contemporary criticism that postmodern thought challenges the Enlightenment view of human reason, especially its assumption of a stable, autonomous subject capable of directing the forces of history. For this reason some theorists see postmodernism as pivoting on a reformulation of anti-Enlightenment thought that surfaced during the nineteenth-century and which remained active throughout the modernist period. From this perspective, literary modernism's ambivalent stance toward the integrity of the subject is in part the legacy of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud-- precisely those nineteenth-century thinkers who situate much of the postmodern project. Regarding all the previous criticisms, this study clearly assumes that postmodernism employs quite different critical methodologies from those of modernism. Nevertheless, as Jean-Francois Lyotard suggests, evidence of this postmodern emphasis is latent in modernism itself, most particularly in those highly experimental or transgressive works that challenge traditional notions of referential language, rational order, or the autonomous subject. -
Lessing and Emerson: Conscious Evolution and Ideal Reality
Eastern Illinois University The Keep Masters Theses Student Theses & Publications 2000 Lessing and Emerson: Conscious Evolution and Ideal Reality Rachel Hills Newell Eastern Illinois University This research is a product of the graduate program in English at Eastern Illinois University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation Newell, Rachel Hills, "Lessing and Emerson: Conscious Evolution and Ideal Reality" (2000). Masters Theses. 1608. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/1608 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses & Publications at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THESIS/FIELD EXPERIENCE PAPER REPRODUCTION CERTIFICATE TO: Graduate Degree Candidates (who have written formal theses) SUBJECT: Permission to Reproduce Theses The University Library is receiving a number of request from other institutions asking permission to reproduce dissertations for inclusion in their library holdings. Although no copyright laws are involved, we feel that professional courtesy demands that permission be obtained from the author before we allow these to be copied. PLEASE SIGN ONE OF THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS: Booth Library of Eastern Illinois University has my permission to lend my thesis to a reputable college or university for the purpose of copying it for inclusion in that institution's library or research holdings. Author's Signature Date I respectfully request Booth Library of Eastern Illinois