Lit Openers
Episode 9: The Grass is Singing
by Doris Lessing
Interactive Biography Chart
ESSENTIAL BIOGRAPHIC INFO |
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| Author Name: | Doris May Lessing | |
| Pseudonym: | Jane Somers (published two novels under this pseudonym) | |
| Nickname: | /// | |
| Date of Birth: | 22nd October 1919 | |
| Place of Birth: | Kermanshah, Persia (now Iran) | |
| Date of Death: | 17th November 2013 | |
| Time Period: | 20th-21st Century | |
| Type of Education: | Formal schooling ended at age 14; self-educated thereafte | |
| School/University: | Dominican Convent High School, Salisbury; Girls' High School, Salisbury (now Harare) | |
| Places where the author lived: | Kermanshah, Persia (1919-1925); Southern Rhodesia/Zimbabwe (1925-1949); London, England (1949-2013) | |
| Peculiar events: | Left school independently at age 14; married twice and divorced twice; left her first two children with their father when she divorced; joined the Communist Party (1952-1956); banned from Southern Rhodesia and South Africa from 1956 to 1995 due to her political views; published two novels under the pseudonym Jane Somers to demonstrate the difficulties faced by new writers; declined a damehood (DBE) in 1992 and an OBE in 1977, but accepted appointment as a Companion of Honour in 1999; became the oldest person ever to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature at age 88 in 2007 | |
LITERARY PRODUCTION |
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Main works |
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| Complete title: | "The Golden Notebook" (1962) | |
| Genre: | Modernist novel | |
| Synthesis: | The Golden Notebook is Lessing's most experimental and influential novel. It explores the life of Anna Wulf, a writer experiencing a personal and creative crisis. The novel uses a complex, fragmented structure with five different notebooks (black, red, yellow, blue, and golden) representing different aspects of Anna's life: her experiences in Africa, her involvement with the Communist Party, her attempts at fiction, her personal diary, and finally, the golden notebook that attempts to synthesise all aspects of her fragmented experience. The novel addresses themes of women's independence, mental breakdown, political disillusionment, and the struggle for personal and artistic integrity. It became a seminal text for the feminist movement and is considered one of the most important works in 20th-century English literature. | |
Other works |
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| Title: | "The Grass Is Singing" (1950) Lessing's debut novel | |
| Genre: | blends social realism with stream-of-consciousness elements | |
| Brief Synthesis: | Set in Southern Rhodesia and tells the tragic story of Mary Turner, a white farmer's wife, and her complex, ultimately fatal relationship with her Black servant, Moses. The novel examines racial tensions, colonial exploitation, and the psychological deterioration of the protagonist, offering a powerful critique of the racial dynamics in colonial Africa. | |
| Title: | "Children of Violence" A five-novel sequence published between 1952 and 1969 | |
| Genre: | Bildungsromans | |
| Brief Synthesis: | A semi-autobiographical series of five novels published between 1952 and 1969: 1. Martha Quest (1952), 2. A Proper Marriage (1954), 3. A Ripple from the Storm (1958), 4. Landlocked (1965), 5.The Four-Gated City (1969). The series chronicles the life of Martha's quest from adolescence to middle age, following her journey from Southern Rhodesia to England. The novels explore the tension between individual conscience and collective responsibility, examining themes of political activism, women's emancipation, marriage, and the search for identity against the background of 20th-century social and political upheavals. | |
| Title: | "Canopus in Argos: Archives" A five-novel sequence published between 1979 and 1983 | |
| Genre: | Science fiction | |
| Brief Synthesis: | It represents Lessing's venture into science fiction or, as she preferred to call it, "space fiction". The series explores philosophical and spiritual themes, particularly influenced by Sufism, examining human consciousness, civilisation, and cosmic perspectives on human behaviour. The series includes: 1. Shikasta (1979), 2. The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five (1980), 3. The Sirian Experiments (1981), 4.The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 (1982), 5. Documents Relating to the Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire (1983). | |
| Title: | "The Good Terrorist" (1985) | |
| Genre: | Political novel | |
| Brief Synthesis: | This novel follows Alice Mellings, a middle-aged woman who becomes involved with a group of political radicals in London. The novel examines political extremism, revolutionary movements, and the psychology of terrorism, offering a satirical and penetrating look at left-wing politics in 1980s Britain. | |
| Title: | "The Fifth Child" (1988) | |
| Genre: | Modern gothic horror novel, psychological horror story | |
| Brief Synthesis: | This disturbing novel tells the story of Harriet and David Lovatt, whose idyllic family life is disrupted by the birth of their fifth child, Ben, who seems fundamentally different and violent from birth. The novel explores themes of otherness, family dynamics, and the dark side of human nature, with elements of horror and psychological tension. | |
Ep 9 The Grass is Singing ANSWERS
Created for LnT
by Anna Maria Bellomo
Former High School English Teacher
Created for LnT
by Anna Maria Bellomo
Former High School English Teacher