UNDER MY SKIN: VOLUME ONE OF MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY, TO 1949 PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Doris Lessing | 432 pages | 09 Oct 1995 | HarperCollins Publishers | 9780006548256 | English | London, United Kingdom Under My Skin: Volume One of My Autobiography, to 1949 PDF Book I wish I could sit down and have a really long chat with her, as she wishes she could chat with Granny Fisher not sure I've got the name right. No trivia or quizzes yet. There is nothing of the self-aggrandizing, whiny, self-obsessed, navel-gazing writing that characterizes so much of contemporary memoir and biography. Perhaps she felt her fiction, especially the novels in the Children of Violence series and The Golden Notebook, had already done an adequate job exploring or exposing the truth of those times. However, we could not help wondering how with a possible gesture of doubt or disbelief. Apr 27, Bunny rated it really liked it. It was fascinating for me to read the story of a proper young girl who would late After Lessing won her Nobel, I began reading her work, as well as whatever interviews and videos were available. It is a self-portrait of a woman who lived through an extraordinary time, the end of the British Empire in Africa. Her husband and children are present but impalpable, as if the scandal and pain of walking out, moving across a stuffy little colonial capital and going to live with artists and leftists were the exchange of matter for anti-matter, with no connection between them, even that of memory. A few years later, feeling trapped in a persona that she feared would destroy her, she left her family, remaining in Salisbury. Otherwise, there are a few moments of unclouded evocation--the beauty and freedom of the African back lands, the quiet rhythm of a farm day--but they quickly cloud over. Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file. Needless to say I was fascinated from there on. But when she explains how she abandoned her first two children in a vain search for freedom and her self, and when she states that she later deliberately got pregnant again to pass the time before divorcing her second husband, you cannot but wonder about the judgements you have been endorsing with a kind of delight for hundreds of pages. I loved her writing about Communism. She also writes beautifully, her storie My interest was piqued when a writer mentioned that Doris Lessing was one of the authors she read when she was young. I fear that she had to do those things to escape a society that was intellectually barren and oppressively racist. Indeed, it is hard to understand quite what was motivating Lessing. This is autobiography by reluctant extraction. The two were the only unpaired members in their political circle, so they more or less fell together by default, she says. Like other women writers from southern African who did not graduate from high school such as Oliv 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. Whenever we become tired of reading, we naturally leave it anywhere we want and continue as soon as we wish. Lessing supplies a number of explanations for this second marriage. After Lessing won her Nobel, I began reading her work, as well as whatever interviews and videos were available. In that case, we can't You remember with what you are at the time of remembering. In , lured by the promise of getting rich through maize farming, the family moved to the British colony in Southern Rhodesia now Zimbabwe. Under My Skin Alfred and Emily. And no mention of black radica Brilliant, as to be expected from such a writer. Mar 27, Sy DeMaya added it. A couple of lines really rang out loud and clear to me: "Is there such a thing as a gene for the condition, being born with a skin too few" p Lessing had the awareness many of us certainly me lack of the many contradictions of British white life in black Africa. Only imagination--in her fiction--would make a bridge. I really wished for more of a story. I like Doris Lessing's novels but this memoir was disappointing. It is not here. Jan 09, Cynthia F Davidson rated it really liked it Shelves: reading-the-nobel-authors. She sees herself and others so clearly and is so honest about herself, that it is hard to see much point in someone writing her biography. It would be interesting to seek out what she mentioned reading and read them on my own. With that disclaimer, I feel free to say that this is a great memoir. When I learned that she had a two-volume autobiography published I pick it up immediately. So of course her autobiography did not disappoint. One of the best biographies I've ever read. I don't agree with Lessing about everything, nor do I like everything she has written. Found the first three quarters fascinating. It is the slurry after the gold is panned; a clothes closet containing hangers, most of the garments having been taken out and worn out. Under My Skin: Volume One of My Autobiography, to 1949 Writer Details if other :. I wish I could sit down and have a really long chat with her, as she wishes she could chat with Granny Fisher not sure I've got the name right. Jan 09, Cynthia F Davidson rated it really liked it Shelves: reading-the-nobel-authors. I haven't started on her second volume yet, but after the first one I feel like I know her quite well, and have infinite respect for her as an artist. There can be few accounts that are so vivid of a time between the two world wars of the twentieth century and during the second one long past and place southern Rhodesia changed forever. Only imagination--in her fiction--would make a bridge. Ironically, she is welcomed now as a writer acclaimed for the very topics for which she was banished 40 years ago. Open Preview See a Problem? From her early life as a child of white immigrants to "Northern Rhodesia" to her life in South Africa first as a fairly conventional wife and mother and later as a divorced, remarried communist activist, Lessing is honest, witty and thoughtful. A soldier whose injury required a leg amputation, Alfred also suffered from shell shock and would be haunted for the rest of his days by his experiences in the trenches. Read more That year, she also published her first novel, The Grass Is Singing , and began her career as a professional writer. I was enthralled by her childhood, her battles with her mother, her tragic memories of her father and WWI, her general statements on life et al. While my life is in no way especially similar to Lessing's, I really identified with her. These were not love or apparently even lust matches. She is quite simply a heavyweight--she writes candidly about her fraught relationship with her mother, her somewhat casual marriages, her affairs. Maize did not bring money. But when she explains how she abandoned her first two children in a vain search for freedom and her self, and when she states that she later deliberately got pregnant again to pass the time before divorcing her second husband, you cannot but wonder about the judgements you have been endorsing with a kind of delight for hundreds of pages. Mar 14, Jane added it. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Although the reader is always aware of Lessing the writer considering her life, the raw emotions and descriptions come from the younger woman and child. The trouble is that Lessing proclaims but does not convey the wretchedness; or just where and how things hurt. However, we could not help wondering how with a possible gesture of doubt or disbelief. Enlarge cover. Terrifying woman. I like Doris Lessing's novels but this memoir was disappointing. Doris Lessing is brutally honest and tells her story with anger, pride, and great wit. It seems my prediction was right. Under My Skin: Volume One of My Autobiography, to 1949 Reviews Although Lessing describes her fiction as not autobiographical, in this volume she makes explicit comparisons between herself and the leading character, Martha Quest, of the Children of Violence series. Definitely going to check out more of her work, and also more about the experience of communism etc. In that case, we can't She also writes beautifully, her storie My interest was piqued when a writer mentioned that Doris Lessing was one of the authors she read when she was young. Lessing takes advantage of her skill as a novellist to enter the mind of herself as she was when a child and then a young woman. Biography Memoir. It is a self-portrait of a woman who lived through an extraordinary time, the end of the British Empire in Africa. I don't agree with Lessing about everything, nor do I like everything she has written. Lessing wore himself out trying to make the farm pay; in a society of hard-bitten settlers, his wife missed the gentilities of the English middle class. Found the first three quarters fascinating. This autobiography feels very honest by the Nobel Laureate author, Doris Lessing. View all 24 comments. Refresh and try again. What a basically useless group of intellectuals, doing so little to protest apartheid itself and thinking they were of importance! It was a happy chance that this came into my hands, [thanks again to the splendid municipal libraries of Turin, Italy], for I am rarely tempted by autobiographies or biographies.