Doris Lessing: Epic Chronicler of a Divided Civilization
"Some people sailed through, while others starved and were broken; most people found this intolerable in one way or another, or at least at times."
— The Memoirs of a Survivor, Doris Lessing
Doris Lessing (1919–2013)
Doris Lessing, who also wrote under the pen name Jane Somers, was one of Britain’s most influential contemporary female writers. Often regarded as the greatest literary voice of women since Virginia Woolf, her works encompassed a wide range of themes, including realism and fantasy, politics and psychology, feminism, and philosophical inquiry. Lessing's writing stood as a beacon at the intersection of 20th-century thought and art. In 2007, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making her the oldest recipient at that time and the thirty-fourth writer, as well as the eleventh woman, to receive this honor. The Swedish Academy praised her as "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny."
Why Should One Read Lessing?
In the realm of contemporary literature, some writers create works that gently nurture the soul, like a soft breeze or light rain, while others strike like thunder, awakening dormant minds—Doris Lessing clearly belongs to the latter category. Her writing does not aim to please; it does not compromise or provide easy answers. Instead, it immerses you in a space where you must confront yourself and reevaluate your understanding of the world. In her hands, writing becomes a struggle between the soul and reality, and reading becomes a call to courage. Reading Lessing is not about seeking answers but about learning to question more deeply—examining how we live, how we become trapped within our identities, systems, and loneliness, and how we struggle, nonetheless, to take flight.
Part I. Societal Oppression and Female Tragedies
The Grass is Singing
Call Number: PR6023.E833 L47 2013 CN / PR6023.E833 L47 2023a CN
The Grass is Singing is Doris Lessing’s debut novel and one of her most powerful realist works. Through the complex and taboo relationship between Mary—a white woman—and Moses, her Black servant, the novel reveals the deep-rooted racial oppression and gender struggles within Southern African colonial society. With sharp and insightful prose, Lessing explores the psychological unraveling of individuals trapped between isolation and the suffocating constraints of social norms.
Reading this book feels like stepping into a scorched wilderness, stifled desires and anxieties murmur and clash in the wind, growing like wild grass, only to wither away like weeds.
The Fifth Child / Ben, in the World
Call Number: PR6023.E833 L47 2023 v.1 CN / PR6023.E833 L47 2023 v.2 CN
The Fifth Child tells the story of Harriet and David, a middle-class couple who long for traditional family happiness. After having four children, they unexpectedly conceive a fifth child, Ben. From birth, Ben exhibits disturbing abnormalities: a grotesque physique, preternatural strength, and violent behavior, setting him utterly apart from his siblings. His presence gradually rips the family apart, fueling alienation among relatives and triggering financial collapse. Ultimately, the parents are forced to consign him to an institutional care facility.
In the sequel, Ben, in the World, Ben is abandoned and now grown up, struggling to find his place in a society that rejects his unsettling appearance and behavior. This adolescent, lost in a mental haze, wanders the streets, often exploited by predators. Despite his challenges, he clings to a naive hope of finding others like him. He embarks on dangerous quests, only to face harsh disappointments. In this vast world, where does such a castaway truly belong?
These two interconnected novels by Doris Lessing, published in 1988 and 2000 respectively, explore a family's extraordinary experiences to delve deeply into social norms, familial ethics, human alienation, and the conflict between the individual and society. Unlike traditional tragedies that provide catharsis, these novels compel readers to witness the complete process of a soul's birth and destruction—similar to watching someone fall into an abyss without an outstretched hand to save them, as reaching out might drag you down together. Through her dispassionate prose, Lessing creates a harsh allegory of profound significance.
Part Ⅱ. The Self-Reinvention of Middle-Aged Women
The Summer Before the Dark
Call Number: PR6023.E833 L47 2023b CN (Electronic resource available in DISCOVER)
The Summer Before the Dark is not just a fiery feminist manifesto; it serves as a calm mirror reflecting the delicate balance that middle-aged women navigate between family, society, and self. Kate has been living a quiet life, but she begins to feel increasingly dispensable as her family members pursue their own futures. In search of identity and freedom, she embarks on a summer journey. During her travels, Kate experiences three distinct phases filled with metaphorical and dreamlike encounters. Though she loses her way at times, she gradually discovers glimmers of clarity through reflection and memory. Lessing uses Kate's odyssey to explore themes of choice, freedom, and self-worth.
Ultimately, Kate returns to her family. But Lessing did not criticize this choice. True awakening isn't necessarily about radical escape, but about making autonomous choices even after recognizing the constraints.
The Diary of a Good Neighbour
Call Number: PR6023.E833 L47 2023f v.1 CN
The Diary of a Good Neighbour is a fictional diary novel published by Doris Lessing under the pseudonym Jane Somers. It tells the story of Jane Somers, a fashion editor who, after losing both her husband and mother, unexpectedly befriends Maudie, a woman in her nineties. Through their unconventional friendship, the novel exposes British society's indifference toward the elderly and single women. At its core, the book conveys a profound message: human warmth often lies in those "impractical" choices we make. Through Jane's perspective, Lessing compels readers to confront the harsh realities of aging and the fragile nature of dignity.
If the Old Could…
Call Number: PR6023.E833 L47 2023f v.2 CN
This book is the sequel to The Diary of a Good Neighbour. Continuing in Jane Somers' diary format, it documents her struggles through midlife crisis, familial relationships, and societal roles, along with profound meditations on aging, loneliness, and mortality.
If the Old Could… goes even deeper than its predecessor. It transcends Jane’s personal narrative to offer a powerful exploration of women's lives in modern society, the anxiety of aging, and the quest for meaning in life. Through Jane’s writing, Lessing reveals a harsh truth: Time never stops, but we can choose how to face its passage—whether by retreating in fear or by seeking wholeness amid the brokenness.
Part Ⅲ. Memory, Trauma, and Surreal Explorations
The Memoirs of a Survivor
Call Number: PR6023.E833 L47 2023e CN
The Memoirs of a Survivor is one of Doris Lessing's famous fantasy novels. Set against the backdrop of an unspecified global catastrophe, the story follows the post-collapse survival experiences and transformations of humans through the perspective of an unnamed female protagonist. With surgical precision, Lessing removes the façade of modern civilization, illustrating how quickly middle-class respectability crumbles when essential systems such as water, electricity, law, and healthcare fail. This concept feels alarmingly relevant in our current age of pandemics and warfare. The novel reveals a stark truth: civilization is merely a collective illusion, and its collapse paradoxically uncovers humanity's more primal state of existence.
The Golden Notebook（Available in Chinese & English editions）
Call Number: PR6023.E833 G6 1984/PR6023.E833 G6 2008/PR6023.E833 L47 2014 CN
The Golden Notebook is considered Doris Lessing's most revolutionary masterpiece and a landmark in 20th-century women's literature. This structurally complex novel offers profound psychological insight as it chronicles the struggles of a woman writer navigating the realms of politics, art, love, and mental breakdown. The story is told through the perspective of Anna Wulf, the protagonist, using her four colored notebooks—each representing a different aspect of her life—and a final integrated "Golden Notebook." The black notebook documents her writing life, the red focuses on her political activism, the yellow explores her romantic entanglements, and the blue reflects her psychological turmoil. However, the golden notebook transcends these divisions; it serves as a philosophical reckoning and a synthesis of life's contradictions.
This book is not "easy." It requires readers to engage like detectives piecing together a puzzle. However, if you're tired of smooth, digestible narratives, this book presents instead a wilderness of thought. Lessing uses a literary knife to dissect Anna's mind, showing how her ideas are influenced and torn apart by politics, gender, and art.
Time Bites: Views and Reviews
Call Number: PR6023.E833 L47 2023c CN
Time Bites: Views and Reviews is a collection of Doris Lessing’s late-life nonfiction, a series of essays that form an intellectual stroll through the 20th century, meditating on literature, politics, aging, and mortality. The book brings together Lessing’s incisive critiques of writers like Jane Austen, Tolstoy, and Virginia Woolf, alongside her razor-sharp observations on the world at large. To this fiercely combative author, time is a devourer—eras shift, things vanish without a trace, yet literature remains their last surviving witness. Through these pages, Lessing invites us to reinterpret the world alongside her, one trenchant insight at a time.
Part Ⅳ. Warmth and Healing
On Cats
Call Number: PR6023.E833 L47 2023d CN
On Cats is a collection of prose stories by Doris Lessing that features cats as the main characters. Lessing shares her experiences of living alongside various cats, using their behaviors, personalities, and survival strategies to reflect the complex emotions and power dynamics present in human society.
Reading it feels like caressing a book that purrs. Lessing’s prose has a tactile warmth; when she describes an old cat curling up on her lap, you can almost feel its weight and body heat. However, a sudden mention of the cruel fate of animals can hit you unexpectedly, like an inadvertent scratch from a claw.
After reading this book, you can no longer refer to the furry balls in your home as 'just a cat'; in Lessing's writing, every cat becomes a quivering cosmos.
*All the recommended books listed above have been shelved in the atrium on SLAC 3F. Readers are welcome to check them out.
Doris Lessing
Content | WU Guifen
Layout | WU Guifen
Review | HU Linxiao
