დორის ლესინგი (Doris Lessing), ინგლისელი მწერალი ქალი ნობელიანტია.რას გაიხარებენ ფემინისტები! ფორმულირებაც ისეთია რო... "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny"
ბებო გენაცვალოს
Persian (Iranian)-born British writer, whose novels and short stories are largely concerned with people caught in the social and political upheavals of the 20th century. Central themes in Lessing's works are feminism (see also Simone de Beauvoir, Betty Friedman, Germaine Greer, Marilyn French), the battle of the sexes, and individuals in search of wholeness. Doris Lessing was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007.
"Not simply an artist, she is also critic and prophet, dissecting in minute detail the faults of society "hypnotized by the idea of Armageddon" and prophesying the calamitous results of those faults. At the same time, she attempts to delineate possible solutions to the world's problems." (Mary Ann Singleton, in The City and the Veld, The Fiction of Doris Lessing, 1977)
Doris Lessing spent her early childhood in Kermanshah, Persia (now Iran), where her English-born father was a bank clerk. In the mid-1920s her father bought a maize farm in Zimbabwe (former Rhodesia), where she grew up. Lessing was educated in Salisbury at a Roman Catholic convent. She left the school at the age of fourteen and worked as a nursemaid, telephone operator and clerk. From the age of 18 she worked at the Rhodesian parliament and helped to start a non-racist left-wing party in the country. Her first marriage ended in 1943. She joined the Communist Party and married the German political activist Gottfried Lessing, who later became the German ambassador to Uganda and was accidentally killed in the 1979 revolt against Idi Amin.
Lessing's second marriage did not succeed and in 1949 she moved to England with her youngest child and the manuscript of her first novel, The Grass is Singing, which appeared in 1950. The story was set in Rhodesia and depicted a poor white farmer whose wife has a relationship with their African servant, and who eventually kills her.
Many critics consider Children of Violence, Lessing's semi-autobiographical series of novels about Martha Quest - who grows up in southern Africa and settles in England - her most substantial work. From this period she supported herself and her son by writing. It has been said that Lessing's Children of violence and more The Canopus in Argos reflects the influence of Sufist thought and concern with the union of the soul with a Higher Being (The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction by John Clute and Peter Nichols, 1993).
DIARY OF A GOOD NEIGHBOR (1983) and IF THE OLD COULD (1984) were published under the name Jane Somers to dramatize the problems of unknown writers. The use of a pseudonym also helped Lessing to experiment with different type of fiction.
Lessing has published poems, plays, and several science fiction novels. Her most widely read and translated book is THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK (1962). The book was hailed as a landmark by the Women's Movement. It deals with a novelist's crisis, who keeps four notebooks while working on her fictional novel 'Free Women'. Sections of conventional narrative ironically entitled 'Free Women' enclose and intersperse the four experimental notebooks of writer Anna Wulf who is struggling with crises in her domestic and political life. In the end Anna gives the 'golden notebook' to her American lover with a suggestion for the first sentence of his new novel: he in turn suggests the first sentence of hers. The conventional narrative ends prosaically with Anna's declaration that she is about to join the Labour Party.
In BRIEFING FOR A DESCENT INTO HELL (1971), written in a 'stream of conscious' style, and MEMOIRS OF A SURVIVOR (1974) Lessing portrayed the breakdown of society. The film version of Memoirs of a Survivor (1981) was directed by David Gladwell, starring Julie Christie, Christopher Guard, Leonie Mellinger, Debbie Hutchins. "Christie emerges as a fine character player despite her still potent attractiveness.," wrote Derek Elley in Variety Film Guide (2000). "Director David Gladwell apparently did not have the budget to give a more solid look to the degenerating city."
THE GOOD TERRORIST (1985) examined with irony a militant left-wing life style and the short distance between idealism and terrorism. "Kindly, skilled people watched, and waited, judging when people (like herself, like Pat) were ripe, could be really useful. Unsuspected by the petit bourgeois who were in the thrall of the mental superstructure of fascist-imperialistic Britain, the poor slaves of propaganda, were these watchers, the observers, the poor people who held all the strings in their hands. In factories, in big industries - where Comrade Andrew wanted her, Alica, to work; in the civil service (that was just the place for Comrade Muriel!); in the B.B.C., in the big newspapers - everywhere in fact was this network, and even in little unimportant places like these two houses, Nos 43 and 45, just ordinary squats and communes. Nothing was too small to be overlooked, everyone with any sort of potential was noticed, observed, treasured... It gave her a safe, comfortable feeling." (from The Good Terrorist) Alice, the protagonist, sees herself as a committed revolutionary. She knows how to confront officials, spray paint slogans, but she really does not have an understanding of political movements. When explosives are stored under her own roof, she cares more about curtains than issues. As Alice tries to change the house in a genuine commune, she becomes the mother of parasitic companions.
LOVE, AGAIN (1966) was set in the theatre world. The protagonist is an older woman, manager of a small theatre company, whose self-analysis runs parallels with a new production. In THE FIFTH CHILD (1988) a family is torn apart by the arrival of their fifth offspring, a monster. In AFRICAN LAUGHTER (1994) Lessing gave an account of her four visits to Zimbabwe between 1982 and 1992. MARA AND DANN (1999), set thousands of years in the future, tells the story of a brother and sister in a world full of violence and adventures. Its sequel was THE STORY OF GENERAL DANN AND MARA'S DAUGHTER, GRIOT AND THE SNOW DOG (2006). THE SWEETEST DREAM (2002) was a family story, in which Frances Lennox struggles in life with her two sons and her ex-husband, a phoney Communist. The last part of the book focused on Sylvia, the daughter of Johnny's second wife, who works as a doctor in Zimlia, a thinly veiled Zimbabwe. "But while the novel ends on an affecting note that attests to Ms. Lessing's undimmed talent for social and psychological observation, even this achievement cannot erase the memory of the lugubrious and unconvincing pages that have taken so long to get there." (Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times, February 1, 2002)
In 1981 David Gladwell adapted Lessing's The Memoirs of a Survivor for a film, starring Julie Christie. Lessing has also collaborated with the composer Philip Glass on an opera based on the novel The Making of the Representative for Planet 8. The fourth volume of her space fiction series tells the story of a remote planet of the Canopean empire, a beautiful tropical paradise, which becomes a world of ice. Among Lessing's several literature prizes are the Somerset Maugham Award (1956) and the W.H. Smith Award (1986). The first volume of her autobiography, UNDER MY SKIN, was published in 1994, and depicted her childhood in Zimbabwe. WALKING IN THE SHADE (1997) covered the years from 1959 to 1962.
For further reading: Doris Lessing by Carole Klein (1999); Spiritual Exploration in the Works of Doris Lessing by Phyllis Sternberg Perrakis (1999); Between East and West by Muge Galin (1997); Doris Lessing by Gayle Greene (1994); Woolf and Lessing, ed. by Ruth Saxton and Jean Tobin (1994); Fine-Tuning the Feminine Psyche by Lorei Cederdstrom (1990); Approaches to Teaching Lessing's The Golden Notebook, ed. by Carey Kaplan, Ellen Cronan Rose (1989); Doris Lessing by Ruth Whittaker (1988); Doris Lessing by Carey Kaplan (1988); Rereading Doris Lessing by Claire Sprague (1987); Doris Lessing by Mona Knapp (1985); The Unexpected Universe of Doris Lessing by Katherine Fishburn (1985); Substance Under Pressure by Betsy Draine (1983); Doris Lessing by Dee Seligman (1981); The City and the Veld: The Fiction of Doris Lessing by Mary Ann Singleton (1977); The Novels of Doris Lessing by P. Schlueter (1973); Doris Lessing by D. Brewster (1965)
Selected bibliography:
THE GRASS IS SINGING, 1950 - suom. Ruoho laulaa
THIS WAS THE OLD CHIEF'S COUNTRY, 1951 - Vanhan päällikön maa
MARTHA QUEST, 1952 - suom. Parempien ihmisten lapsi
FIVE, 1953
BEFORE THE DELUGE, 1953
A PROPER MARRIAGE, 1954 - suom. Hyviin naimisiin
RETREAT TO INNOCENCE, 1956
GOING HOME, 1957 (rev. 1968)
THE HABIT OF LOVING, 1957
EACH HIS OWN WILDERNESS, 1958
MR DOLLINGER, 1958
A RIPPLE FROM THE STORM, 1958 - suom. Myrskyn varjossa
FOURTEEN POEMS, 1959
IN PURSUIT OF THE ENGLISH, 1960
THE TRUTH ABOUT BILLY NEWTON, 1960
THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK, 1962 - suom. Kultainen muistikirja
PLAY WITH A TIGER, 1962 (drama adaptation of The Golden Notebook)
GRASS IS SINGING, 1962 (tv play from her novel)
A MAN AND TWO WOMEN, 1963
AFRICAN STORIES, 1964 - Afrikkalaisia tarinoita
LANDLOCKED, 1965 - suom. Lumous haihtuu
PARTICULARLY CATS, 1966 - Erittäin kissamaista
CARE AND PROTECTION, 1966
DO NOT DISTURB, 1966
THE STORM, 1966 (from A. Ostrovsky's play)
BETWEEN MEN, 1967
PARTICULARLY CATS, 1967
FOURGATED CITY, 1969 - suom. Muutoksen aika
BRIEFING FOR A DESCENT INTO HELL, 1971
THE STORY OF NON-MARRYING MAN, 1972 - Mies joka ei halunnut naimisiin
THE SINGING DOOR, 1973
COLLECTED AFRICAN STORIES, 1973 - Afrikkalaisia kertomuksia
THE SUMMER BEFORE THE DARK, 1973 - Kesä ennen pimeää
THE SUN BETWEEN THEIR FEET, 1973 - Musta madonna
A SMALL PERSONAL VOICE, 1974
THE MEMOIRS OF A SURVIVOR, 1974 - Eloonjääneen muistelmat - film 1981, dir. by David Gladwell, starring Julie Christie, Christopher Guard, Leonie Mellinger, Debbie Hutchins
CANOPUS IN ARGOS: ARCHIVES (1979-83): Planet Five. Shikasta (1979) - suom. Shikasta; The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four, and Five (1980) - suom. Avioliitot vyöhykkeiden välillä; The Sirian Experiments (1981) - suom. Siriuksen kokeet; The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 (1982) - suom. Planeetta 8; Documents Relating to the Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire (1983)
THE DIARY OF A GOOD NEIGHBOUR, 1983 (under the pseudonym Jane Somers)
IF THE OLD COULD, 1984 (under the pseudonym Jane Somers)
THE GOOD TERRORIST, 1985 - suom. Hyvä terroristi
PRISONS WE CHOOSE TO LIVE INSIDE, 1986
THE WIND BLOWS AWAY OUR WORDS, 1987
FIFTH CHILD, 1988 - suom. Viides lapsi
THE MAKING OF THE REPRESENTATIVE FOR PLANET 8, 1988 (from her novel, with P. Glass)
AFRICAN LAUGHTER: FOUR VISITS TO ZIMBABWE, 1992
UNDER MY SKIN, 1994
PLAYING THE GAME, 1995
LOVE, AGAIN, 1995
WALKING IN THE SHADE, 1997
MARA & DANN, 1999
BEN, IN THE WORLD, 2000
THE SWEETEST DREAM, 2002
THE GRANDMOTHERS, 2003
TIME BITES, 2004
THE STORY OF GENERAL DANN AND MARA'S DAUGHTER, GRIOT AND THE SNOW DOG, 2006
THE CLEFT, 2007
ასე გამოიყურებოდა ყმაწვილქალობაში
ЛЕССИНГ, ДОРИС (Lessing, Doris) (р. 1919), английская писательница. Дорис Мей Тейлор родилась 22 октября 1919 в Керманшахе (Персия, ныне Иран). В 1925 семья переехала в Южную Родезию (ныне Зимбабве), бывшую тогда английской колонией. Годы, проведенные в африканской глуши, оказались впоследствии неиссякаемым источником ее писательского вдохновения. В 1949 Лессинг покинула Африку и переехала в Лондон, оставив брата, первого мужа, с которым она развелась, а также двоих детей от этого брака, второго мужа, Готфрида Лессинга, брак с которым также распался. Дорис уехала в Лондон с сыном от второго брака, чтобы начать новую жизнь писательницы.
В 1950 вышел первый роман Лессинг Трава поет (своим названием он обязан поэме Т.С.Элиота Бесплодная земля). Будучи своеобразной хроникой жизни родезийского общества периода апартеида, роман был встречен «на ура».
Вскоре началась работа Лессинг над задуманной серией «Дети насилия», состоящей из пяти романов: Марта Квест (1952), Подходящий брак (1954), Зыбь после шторма (1958), Окруженный сушей (1966), Город о четырех вратах (1969). Примером творчества «настоящей Лессинг», который сегодня многие склонны именовать шедевром, стал роман Золотой дневник (1962). Хотя роман часто называют классикой феминистской литературы, сама Лессинг настаивает на том, что это лишь одна его сторона, что по сути его главная тема – права личности в обществе, а вовсе не роль женщин в нем.
Инструкция к спуску в ад (1971) и Лето перед закатом (1973) – романы, погружающие читателя в глубины расстроенной психики и безумия. Цикл Канопус в Аргосе: Архивы представляет собой целую серию визионерски-аллегорических романов о будущем, в котором персонажи – архетипы мужчин и женщин – взаимодействуют в космическом пространстве, состоящем из шести зон, иначе называемых «уровнями бытия»: Шикаста (1979), Браки между зонами три, четыре, пять (1980), Эксперименты на Сириусе (1981), Создание комитета представителей для планеты восемь (1982), по мотивам последнего в 1988 композитором Филипом Глассом была написана опера. Заключительный роман цикла Документы, имеющие отношение к сентиментальным агентам в империи Волиен (1983).
Роман Хороший террорист (1985) рассказывает о группе лондонских революционеров. Пятый ребенок (1988) – повествование о мальчике-уроде, находящемся на самом примитивном уровне развития. В 1996, после восьмилетнего перерыва, вышел роман И снова любовь. В 1999 – футурологический роман Мара и Дэн. Роман Бен, брошенный, продолжение Пятого ребенка, был опубликован в 2000.
Два романа Дорис Лессинг опубликовала под псевдонимом Джейн Сомерс: Дневник хорошей соседки (1983) и Если бы старость могла… (1984).
Высокую репутацию завоевала Лессинг и своими рассказами. Основные сборники: Это была страна старого вождя (1951), Привычка любить (1958), Мужчина и две женщины (1963), Африканские истории (1964), Искушения Джека Оркни (1972). В 1978 вышел том рассказов, включивший всю ее «малую прозу», кроме рассказов, действие которых происходит в Африке. Еще один сборник, Настоящее, вышел в 1992.
Лессинг – автор четырех пьес, ставившихся в английских театрах: Мистер Доллинджер (1958), Каждому – своя собственная пустыня (1958), Правда о Билли Ньютоне (1961) и Игра с тигром (1962). В 1997 результатом нового сотрудничества с композитором Ф.Глассом явилась опера Браки между зонами три, четыре, пять, премьера которой состоялась в Германии.
Публицистика Лессинг включает книги Прежде всего кошки (1967, переработанное издание Прежде всего кошки и Руфус, 1991), а также два тома воспоминаний Идя домой (1957) и В поисках английского (1960).
В июне 1995 Лессинг была удостоена степени доктора Гарвардского университета. В том же году посетила Южную Африку, В декабре 1999 Дорис Лессинг вошла в последний в ушедшем тысячелетии список лиц, удостоенных Ордена кавалеров почета, которым награждаются люди, имеющие «особые заслуги перед нацией».
В январе 2000 в Национальной портретной галерее в Лондоне состоялось официальное открытие портрета Дорис Лессинг работы художника Леонарда Маккомба.
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ლექსინგი This post has been edited by gabarzgaleba on 11 Oct 2007, 15:47
ნობელის პრემია ლიტერატურაში - 2007, მიიღო დორის ლესინგმა
