Doris Lessing - RIP

[ejp626]

Sad, but she had a long and productive career (passing away at 94). Interestingly, the Guardian obit (http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/17/doris-lessing-dies-94) mentions that she had been caring for her youngest son and he passed away 3 weeks ago. I would certainly assume the two are related, perhaps feeling that she was no longer as needed -- and could thus pass away peacefully (according to the report).

Her last full novel was Alfred and Emily, which sounds curious but perhaps not really my thing. The first half imagines her parents if there had never been WWI (and they never even meet), and then the second half walks through what their lives actually were like. Maybe just a bit of the alternative reality she did in her SF, mixed with more than a little "As Times Goes By." Anyway, surely not the best place to start with her work.

I really liked The Golden Notebook, which I read at university. I strongly disliked The Good Terrorist and The Fifth Child. I vaguely remembering reading her Jane Somer novels and thinking they were pretty good. There are some others that I should have read but don't think I ever did. One of these days I will read the Martha Quest/Children of Violence series.

I saw her once at a reading in Newark (probably @Rutgers-Newark) in the early 90s. I can't remember what she read -- either a short story or perhaps something from The Fifth Child. I had her sign a paperback copy(!) of The Good Terrorist, but disliked it so much that I eventually gave it away. I wish I had been more together to either get a new copy of The Golden Notebook or The Four-Gated City. I was tempted to ask her a question about The Golden Notebook, but probably wisely said nothing and let her get on with the signing.

Edited November 17, 2013 by ejp626

[Leeway]

Odd, but the only two novels I have read of Lessing were "The Good Terrorist" and "The Fifth Child" and enjoyed both, although both certainly present challenges. Still, I thought the works had more fiber than often found in modern literature. Was it the political drift of the novels that put you off? I've also read a few stories. I have intended to read "The Golden Notebook,"and, "Four-Gated City," and hope to eventually get around to them.

[ejp626]

Odd, but the only two novels I have read of Lessing were "The Good Terrorist" and "The Fifth Child" and enjoyed both, although both certainly present challenges. Still, I thought the works had more fiber than often found in modern literature. Was it the political drift of the novels that put you off? I've also read a few stories. I have intended to read "The Golden Notebook,"and, "Four-Gated City," and hope to eventually get around to them.

I don't really remember much about The Fifth Child, other than I thought she was more than a little unfair at attacking the smugness of the middle class and thought she was actually sticking the knife in a bit gleefully showing how they behaved when things fell apart (and they were not masters of their domain the way the English middle class like to pretend they are).

With The Good Terrorist, I found the portrayal of the "terror" cell to be far too glamourized, even though -- on the surface -- you could claim she wasn't intentionally "siding" with the leftists. Still I thought she certainly gave them the most compelling arguments and was knocking the concerns of the bourgeois neigbours. In general, it is a really tricky balance to get right when you are writing about desperadoes and people on the fringes. One is always being asked to explain how much you identify with fairly despicable characters. To this day, there are people that feel Milton made Satan too appealing in Paradise Lost. I vaguely remember around that time I had been helping a friend deal with tricky tenants in Newark and that kind of coloured my view of squatters to the point I didn't want to read anything that wasn't an outright condemnation of them. To this day I am pretty allergic to those who espouse squatting and freeganism and other kinds of off-the-grid nonsense. (The only book with anything of a similar plot that I did enjoy was Atwood's Lady Oracle where the leftists are total bunglers -- and slightly less blood-thirsty than those in the film Four Lions.)

[Leeway]

Squats and stuff like that are hardly known in these parts, so reading it was about the same for me as reading about housing maladies in Dickens, i.e. more literary than real. I can see how you might have a more immediate reaction.

From what I recall of The Fifth Child, my perception was that she was trying to unsettle preconceived notions, subvert the comfort level of the middle-class, and strike a blow for life outside the norms. In The Good Terrorist, once again it is an attempt to strike a blow for life outside the norms. However, I don't think she is on one side or another, at least not in any totally committed way, but is attempting to explore the moral complexities of such a life. There is a lot that is unpleasant or even repulsive about the life the squatters live (and also those who oppose them). But she does not therefore invalidate what they are doing (or trying to do). Even the climactic action at the end, and what happens to the main protagonist, leaves them (and us) in an ambiguous moral position. I found myself asking where Lessing stood, but I think she wanted to avoid giving pat answers or making conclusions for us.

[ejp626]

I found myself asking where Lessing stood, but I think she wanted to avoid giving pat answers or making conclusions for us.

I think this is very true. And at some points of my life I am more open to this than others (both in my reading and in my personal life). Still, it is inevitably just as much of a pose to be a provocateur as to be one of the self-confident Yuppies that she was poking in those particular novels. I definitely liked her other work better.