Oh Dear - Doris Lessing is dead

[malaise]

Last edited Mon Nov 18, 2013, 08:43 AM - Edit history (1)

The literary world mourned on hearing that Doris Lessing, the Nobel-prize winning author of The Golden Notebook and The Grass is Singing, among more than 50 novels covering subjects from politics to science fiction, had died peacefully at her London home aged 94.

Her younger son, Peter, whom she cared for through years of illness, died three weeks ago.

The biographer Michael Holroyd, her friend and executor, said her contribution to literature was "outstandingly rich and innovative". He called her themes "universal and international … They ranged from the problems of post-colonial Africa to the politics of nuclear power, the emergence of a new woman's voice and the spiritual dimensions of 20th-century civilisation. Few writers have as broad a range of subject and sympathy.

"She is one of those rare writers whose work crosses frontiers, and her impressively large output constitutes a chronicle of our time. She has enlarged the territory both of the novel and of our consciousness."

The American author Joyce Carol Oates said: "It might be said of Doris Lessing, as Walt Whitman boasted of himself: I am vast, I contain multitudes. For many, Lessing was a revolutionary feminist voice in 20th-century literature – though she resisted such categorisation, quite vehemently. For many others, Lessing was a 'space fiction' prophet, using the devices and idioms of the fantastic to address human issues of evolution and the environment.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/17/doris-lessing-dies-94

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/18/doris-lessing-five-best-novels

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[LisaLynne]

1. She is my favorite author, a true genius.

I can't really write anything right now that would even begin to explain what her writings have meant even just to me, let alone the world.

[malaise]

9. You sound like my best friend from childhood

I find it amazing that just three weeks after her younger son died, she went peacefully.

I suspect she stayed alive to look after him since he had several health problems.

She was a great writer.

[LisaLynne]

16. Yes, it sounds as though she was holding on for him.

I just read a short collection of some speeches she gave where she talked about ... all sorts of things. I think she was a visionary, but also very aware of the very real flaws that we have as humans and societies. She will be missed.

[malaise]

17. She was a genuinely honest woman

which is why she was such a great writer.

[Hekate]

2. KnR for a towering 20th Century author

[MADem]

3. Yes, I read that yesterday--she looked pretty good in her nineties. RIP. nt

[tavernier]

4. Her writing lives on

as a gift to us.

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. I read Canopus in Argos: Archives

in the early 80s after my wife bought one her earlier books on women's issues


The books represented a major shift of focus in Lessing's writing which is a series of 5 books on the subject


Canopus, a benevolent galactic empire centred at Canopus in the constellation Argo Navis, colonises a young and promising planet they name Rohanda (the fruitful). They nurture its bourgeoning humanoids and accelerate their evolution. When the Natives are ready, Canopus imposes a "Lock" on Rohanda that links it via "astral currents"[2] to the harmony and strength of the Canopean Empire. In addition to Canopus, two other empires also establish a presence on the planet: their ally, Sirius from the star of the same name, and their mutual enemy, Puttiora. The Sirians confine their activities largely to genetic experiments on the southern continents during Rohanda's prehistory (described in Lessing's third book in the Canopus series, The Sirian Experiments), while the Shammat of Puttiora remain dormant, waiting for opportunities to strike.
For many millennia the Natives of Rohanda prosper in a Canopean induced climate of peaceful coexistence and accelerated development. Then an unforeseen "cosmic re-alignment" .... the Natives develop a "Degenerative Disease" that puts the goals of the individual ahead of those of the community.[

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikasta

Anyway check out all her writings
I also liked her later book 'The Good Terrorist''

[malaise]

8. The Grass is Singing was the first of her novels that I read

I was hooked from then. My best friend from childhood introduced me to Lessing.

[xchrom]

6. A wonderful woman and a great talent. nt

[LeftishBrit]

7. RIP

[LWolf]

10. And, on a smaller front for smaller people,

Barbara Park has died.

RIP for the both of them.

[bemildred]

11. Yes, that is a great book. nt

[malaise]

13. Yes she did

One of the great writers

[magical thyme]

14. I was introduced to her writing in college...

RIP to a great writer.

[The Magistrate]

15. I Was Very Sorry To Learn Of This, Ma'am

She is one for the ages.

No writer I have ever read managed to depict both the large and small, and how these impacted one another in individual lives, half so well as she did.

If one sought some understanding of the twentieth century, and was restricted to just one work for it, that would have to be the 'Children of Violence' pentology --- and if restricted to just one volume, that would have to be 'The Golden Notebook'.

[malaise]

19. Yes indeed Sir

[Surya Gayatri]

18. Brilliant writer, brave feminist--"The Golden Notebook"

is a nuanced masterpiece and The Grass is Singing evokes a Rhodesia long gone. Go peacefully, Doris.

[mia]

20. Thank you, Doris Lessing.

You contributed so much to my life. Rest in peace.

[Egnever]

21. Not to thread jack

But, I find it very interesting how often people seem to die shortly after their loved ones. This amazing woman apparently made it to 94 on pure will power wanting to be there for her child. Within three weeks of his passing she let go. I find this amazing.

[nolabear]

22. What a life and gift to us. May she cross easy.