This author is celebrated for her sharp intellect and unflinching examination of social and political issues. Her works delve into the complexities of the human psyche, the search for identity, and the struggle against societal constraints. Through her powerful prose and philosophical inquiries, this self-educated intellectual became a voice for those grappling with oppression and injustice.
Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way
In response to the many inquiries he has received about the Sufi tradition from people from all walks of life, leading Sufi expert Idries Shah presents a clarifying series of questions and answers that illustrates how traditional Sufi concepts can resolve our social, psychological, and spiritual problems.
Doris Lessing is unrivalled in her ability to capture the truth from the complexities of relationships and the stories in this wonderful collection have lost none of their original power. Two marriages, both middle class, liberal and 'rather literary', share a shocking flaw, a secret 'cancer'. A young, beautiful woman from a working class family is courted by a very eligible, very upmarket man. An ageing actress falls in love for the first time but can only express her feelings through her stage performances because her happily married lover is unobtainable. A dedicated, lifelong rationalist is tempted, after the death of his father, by the comforts of religious belief. In this magnificent collection of stories, which spans four decades, Doris Lessing's unique gift for observation, her wit, her compassion and remarkable ability to illuminate the complexities of human life are all remarkably displayed.
In Pursuit of the English is a first-class novelist's account of the lusty, quarrelsome, unscrupulous, funny, pathetic, full-blooded life in a working-class rooming house. It is a shrewd and unsentimental picture of Londoners you've probably never met or even read about - though they are the real English. In swift, barbed style, in high, hard, farcical writing that is eruptively funny, Doris Lessing records the joys and terrors of everyday life. The truth of her perception shines through the pages of a work that makes a permanent addition to writing about the English.
The first volume of Doris Lessing's `Collected African Stories', and a classic work from the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
This is Doris Lessing s Africa where she lived for twenty-five years and where so much of her interest and concern still resides. Here in these stories, Lessing explores the complexities, the agonies and joys, and the textures of life in Africa.
The fifth and final book in the Nobel Prize for Literature winner's 'Children of Violence' series tracing the life of Martha Quest from her childhood in colonial Africa to old age in post-nuclear Britain. 'The Four-Gated City' finds Martha Quest in 1950s London and very much part of the social history of the time: the Cold War, the anti-nuclear Aldermaston Marches, Swinging London, the deepening of poverty and social anarchy. Daring to go a step further - as Lessing so often has in her career - the novel ends with the century in the throes of World War Three. In the four previous novels of the 'Children of Violence' series, Lessing explored the end of an epoch. Here she trains her gaze on the present - and the future. The disquieting power of her vision revealed across this series finds its culmination in this brave and visionary work.
This much-acclaimed collection of stories vividly evokes both the grandeur of Africa, the glare of its sun and the wide open space, as well as the great, irresolvable tensions between whites and blacks. Tales of poor white farmers and their lonely wives, of storm air thick with locusts, of ants and pomegranate trees, black servants and the year of hunger in a native village - all combine to present a powerful image of a continent which seems incorruptible in spite of the people who plough, mine and plunder it to make their living. In Doris Lessing's own words, 'Africa gives you the knowledge that man is a small creature, among other creatures, in a large landscape.'
The second volume of the autobiography of Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Assembled here for the first time in book form are the very best occasional writings from the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Doris Lessing recounts the cats that have moved and amused her, from the kittens that overran her childhood home to the wrenching decline of El Magnifico, whose story unfolds in a new essay, appearing here for the first time." "Particularly Cats also evokes Lessing's own story in relation to cats, how they affect her and she them, communicating in a language of mood and gesture that all cat-owners will recognize.
An unconventional woman trapped in a conventional marriage, Martha Quest struggles to maintain her dignity and her sanity through the misunderstandings, frustrations, infidelities, and degrading violence of a failing marriage. Finally, she must make the heartbreaking choice of whether to sacrifice her child as she turns her back on marriage and security. A Proper Marriage is the second novel in Doris Lessing's classic Children of Violence series of novels, each a masterpiece on its own right, and, taken together, an incisive and all-encompassing vision of our world in the twentieth century.
Documents Relating to The Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire is an sf novel by Nobel Prize in Literature-winner Doris Lessing. It concludes her five-book Canopus in Argos series & comprises a set of documents that describe the final days of the Volyen Empire, located at the edge of our galaxy & under the influence of three other galactic empires, the benevolent Canopus, the tyrannical Sirius & the malicious Shammat of Puttiora. The Sentimental Agents is a social satire written in the tradition of Jonathan Swift & George Orwell focusing on the debasement of language in political rhetoric. In this fictional universe it's propaganda that keeps fragile empires afloat. When language becomes too distorted, some succumb to a condition called "undulant rhetoric" & are placed in a Hospital for Rhetorical Diseases. Because of its focus on characterization & social/cultural issues, & no emphasis on technological details, this book is soft sf, or "space fiction" as Lessing calls her Canopus in Argos series. While The Sentimental Agents can be read as a stand-alone book, she does continue with the history of the Sirian Empire, picking up from where she left off in The Sirian Experiments ('80), 3rd book in the series.
From Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, this is the second instalment in the visionary novel cycle 'Canopus in Argos: Archives'.
The celebrated author explores new ways to view ourselves and the society we live in, and gives us fresh answers to such enduring questions as how to think for ourselves and understand what we know.
This book begins with Lessing's childhood in Africa, recalling her marriages and involvement in communist politics and ends on her arrival in London in 1949, with the typescript of her first novel - The Grass is Singing - in her suitcase.
The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 is the fourth volume in Doris Lessing's celebrated space fiction series, 'Canopus in Archives'.
From Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, the fifth and final instalment in the visionary novel cycle `Canopus in Argos: Archives'.
Nineteen brilliant examples of Doris Lessing's GeniusIncludes:One off the Short ListThe Story of Two DogsThe Sun between their FeetA Woman on a RoofHow I Finally Lost my HeartA Man and Two WomenA RoomEngland versus EnglandTwo PottersBetween MenA Letter from HomeOur Friend JudithEach OtherHomage for Isaac BabelOutside the MinistryDialogueNotes for a Case HistoryThe New ManTo Room NineteenCover by Robert Foster.
The third book in the Children of Violence series, a quintet of novels tracing the life of Martha Quest from her childhood in colonial Africa through to old age in a post-nuclear Britain. The other books are Martha Quest , A Proper Marriage , Landlocked and The Four-Gated City .
At age 82, Clifton Fadiman continues his prolific publishing career, here presenting 62 of the world's best short stories from 16 countries. His criteria? "Each story had to be both interesting and of high literary merit." Fadiman fulfills both requirements and much more, offering a cornucopia of superior 20th-century writers that includes Franz Kafka, D. H. Lawrence, Isaac Babel, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, John Cheever, Sean O'Faolain, Graham Greene, Robert Penn Warren, Colette, John Updike, Donald Barthelme, and James Thurber. (Regrettably, J. D. Salinger is not included due to lack of permission.) Here is a truly remarkable collection of this century's short stories that readers from all over the world will read with delight.
Set in a future Ice Age where the northern hemisphere is buried in snow, the story follows Mara and her younger brother, Dann, who are abducted from their Mahondi home. Raised in a challenging rural village, they face threats from nature and a hostile community. As drought drives them north in search of sustenance, they navigate cities filled with crime and corruption, exploring the complexities of human nature and society. This imaginative narrative offers a profound reflection on survival and the human condition.
The Nobel Prize-winner Doris Lessing's first novel is a taut and tragic portrayal of a crumbling marriage, set in South Africa during the years of Arpartheid.
As the turbulent years following the Russian revolution of 1917 settle down into a new Soviet reality, the brilliant and eccentric zoologist Persikov discovers an amazing ray that drastically increases the size and reproductive rate of living organisms. At the same time, a mysterious plague wipes out all the chickens in the Soviet republics. The government expropriates Persikov's untested invention in order to rebuild the poultry industry, but a horrible mix-up quickly leads to a disaster that could threaten the entire world.This H. G. Wells-inspired novel by the legendary Mikhail Bulgakov is the only one of his larger works to have been published in its entirety during the author's lifetime. A poignant work of social science fiction and a brilliant satire on the Soviet revolution, it can now be enjoyed by English-speaking audiences through this accurate new translation.Includes annotations and afterword.
The seventeen stories in this, the finest collection of Doris Lessing's short fiction, all share the same assured mastery of insight and compassion. They may be set in Africa, England, Germany, or France; their themes may range from the sexual dilemma of a too-attractive woman to the perilous initiation into manhood of a young boy; their tone may be dryly ironic, cuttingly satiric, brilliantly realistic, or powerfully tragic. But whatever the mood or place, long after the stories have ended the people linger in one's mind: the aging rake of the title piece and his insensitive doll-like bride; the compulsive housekeeper, estranged from her untidy husband and yearning for him; the sheltered young wife experiencing the horror of a swarm of locust on her husband's farm; pitiful Mr. Brooke, filling his empty days with dreams of the delightful Marnie; the two British travelers gripped by a gnawing paranoia as they face the evil and egoism of postwar Germany. Each demonstrates again and again the very special qualities of heart and mind that have one Doris Lessing a unique place in modern fiction.
An account of the Russian occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, the Afghan resistance and the plight of the refugees.
In this portrait of Doris Lessing's homeland, the author recounts the visits she made to Zimbabwe in 1982, 1988, 1989 and 1992, after being banned from the old Southern Rhodesia for 25 years for her political views and opposition to the minority white Government. The visits constitute a journey to the heart of a country whose history, landscape, people and spirit are evoked by the author in a narrative of detail. She embraces every facet of life in Zimbabwe from the lost animals in the bush to political corruption, from AIDS to a successful communal enterprise created by rural blacks, and notes the kind of changes that can only be appreciated by one who has lived there before.
This is Doris Lessing's account of a journey back to the land in which she grew up and in which so much of her concern is still invested. Her love of Africa is as strong as her hatred of the white supremacy rule that has haunted its past.
Two women talk, and what they say is explosive. One woman writes, and each part of her becomes a fragment set down in a different notebook. Torn apart by marriage, love affairs, children, and a neurotic society, the one woman, Anna, is going to pieces, breaking down--and finally coming to terms with herself as a total, complete human being...a woman who truly understands herself. A brilliant, complex, compelling work...an artistic vision of the struggles and joys that mark every free woman.
Intelligent, sensitive, and fiercely passionate, Martha Quest is a young woman living on a farm in Africa, feeling her way through the torments of adolescence and early womanhood. She is a romantic idealistic in revolt against the puritan snobbery of her parents, trying to live to the full with every nerve, emotion, and instinct laid bare to experience. For her, this is a time of solitary reading daydreams, dancing -- and the first disturbing encounters with sex. The first of Doris Lessing's timeless Children of Violence novels, Martha Quest is an endearing masterpiece.
Showing Doris Lessing's writing with the angry compassion of first-hand knowledge to reveal an Africa unknown to most Europeans today, this is an evocation of Africa's sounds and smells, its stark power and savage grandeur and its agony and ultimate tragedy.
Frances Lennox ladles out dinner every night to the motley, exuberant, youthful crew assembled around her hospitable tableher two sons and their friends, girlfriends, ex-friends, and ftesh-off-the-street friends. It's the early 1960s and certainly "everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds." Except financial circumstances demand that Frances and her sons Eve with her proper ex-mother-in-law. And her ex-husband, Comrade Johnny, has just dumped his second wife's problem child at Frances's feet. And the world's political landscape has suddenly become surreal beyond imagination.... Set against the backdrop of the decade that changed the world forever, The Sweetest Dream is a riveting look at a group of people who dared to dream-and faced the inevitable cleanup afterward -- from one of the greatest writers of our time.
From Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, this is the first instalment in the visionary novel cycle 'Canopus in Argos: Archives'. The story of the final days of our planet is told through the reports of Johor, an emissary sent from Canopus. Earth, now named Shikasta (the Stricken) by the kindly, paternalistic Canopeans who colonised it many centuries ago, is under the influence of the evil empire of Puttiora. War, famine, disease and environmental disasters ravage the planet. To Johor, mankind is a 'totally crazed species', racing towards annihilation: his orders to save humanity set him what seems to be an impossible task. Blending myth, fable and allegory, Doris Lessing's astonishing visionary creation both reflects and redefines the history of our own world from its earliest beginnings to an inevitable, tragic self-destruction.
The diaries introduce us to Jane, an intelligent and beautiful magazine editor concerned with success, clothes and comfort. After her husband, then her mother, die from cancer she befriends ninety-something Maudie, whose poverty and squalor contrast with her own life
The Sirian Experiments is the 3rd volume in Doris Lessing's celebrated Canopus in Argos Archives sf series. In this interlinked quintet of novels, she creates a new, extraordinary cosmos where the fate of the Earth is influenced by the rivalries & interactions of three powerful galactic empires, Canopus, Sirius & their enemy, Puttiora. Blending myth, fable & allegory, her astonishing visionary creation both reflects & redefines the history of own world from its earliest beginnings to an inevitable, tragic self-destruction. The Sirian Experiments chronicles the origins of our planet, the three galactic empires fight for control of the human species. The novel charts the gradual moral awakening of its narrator, Ambien II, a 'dry, dutiful, efficient' female Sirian administrator. Witnessing the wanton colonisation of land & people, Ambien begins to question her involvement in such insidious experimentation, her faith in the possibility of human progress itself growing weaker every day.
A short story collection originally published by Michael Joseph Ltd as part of the collection "African Stories 1964".Contains: The Black Madonna; The Trinket Box; The Pig; Traitors; The Old Chief Mshlanga; A Sunrise on the Veld; No Witchcraft for Sale.
A hugely significant political novel for the late twentieth century from one of the outstanding writers of the modern era In a London squat a band of bourgeois revolutionaries are united by a loathing of the waste and cruelty they see around them. These maladjusted malcontents try desperately to become involved in terrorist activities far beyond their level of competence. Only Alice seems capable of organising anything. Motherly, practical and determined, she is also easily exploited by the group and ideal fodder for a more dangerous and potent cause. Eventually their naive radical fantasies turn into a chaos of real destruction, but the aftermath is not as exciting as they had hoped. Nonetheless, while they may not have changed the world, their lives will never be the same again...
As the summer begins, Kate Brown -- attractive, intelligent, forty five, happily enough married, with a house in the London suburbs and three grown children -- has no reason to expect anything will change. But when the summer ends, the woman she was -- living behind a protective camouflage of feminine charm and caring -- no longer exists. This novel. Doris Lessing's brilliant excursion into the terrifying stretch of time between youth and old age, is her journey: from London to Turkey to Spain, from husband to lover to madness: on the road to a frightening new independence and a confrontation with self that lets her, finally, come truly of age. From the Paperback edition.
A collection of 13 short stories which offer a humorous study of humanity. The subject matter ranges from a tale of adultery to an analysis of self-doubt and a story on the banality of existence.
An unidentified man is admitted to a London hospital after he is found wandering on the Embankment. Later identified as a Cambridge lecturer, he remains oblivious to his past life. This novel develops the idea that mental illness can be a liberating experience for both the individual and society.
This volume is part of a new series of novels, plays and stories at GCSE/Key Stage 4 level, designed to meet the needs of the National Curriculum syllabus. Each text includes an introduction, pre-reading activities, notes and coursework activities. Also provided is a section on the process of writing, often compiled by the author.
A fascinating novel of love and ecology from the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
As the world falls apart outside, the narrator watches over Emily, a young child brought into her care by a stranger. Emily is also guarded by Hugo, half cat and half dog, the bizarre and lovable beast whose presence dominates the tale.
In the title novel, two friends fall in love with each other's teenage sons, and these passions last for years, until the women end them, vowing a respectable old age. In Victoria and the Staveneys, a young woman gives birth to a child of mixed race and struggles with feelings of estrangement as her daughter gets drawn into a world of white privilege. The Reason for It traces the birth, faltering, and decline of an ancient culture, with enlightening modern resonances. A Love Child features a World War II soldier who believes he has fathered a love child during a fleeting wartime romance and cannot be convinced otherwise.
A fierce, compelling account of the nature and origins of love from Doris Lessing, one of the most acclaimed writers of the twentieth century and winner of the Nobel Pize for Literature 2007.
Many will recall the powerful impact The Fifth Child, Doris Lessing's 1988 novel, made on publication. Its account of idyllic marital and parental bliss irredeemably shattered by the arrival of the feral fifth child of the Lovatts made for unnerving and compulsive reading. That child, Ben, now grown to legal maturity, is the central character of this sequel, which picks up the fable at the end of the childhood where the first book ended and takes our primal, misunderstood, maladjusted teenager out into the world, where again he meets mostly with mockery, fear and incomprehension but with just enough kindness and openness to keep him afloat as his adventures take him from London to the South of France and on to South America in his restless quest for community, companionship and peace. As in Mara and Dann, Doris Lessing in this newest book returns to a plain, unadorned prose fit for fables; again, we have a childlike perspective at the heart of the book; again, the world in all its malevolence and misapprehenison swirls around at the edge, while, occasionally, a strong character steps forward to try to stake out some values and practise some good behaviour. Again, it is one of Lessi
Doris Lessing's first book after winning the Nobel Prize for Literature revisits her childhood in Southern Africa and the lives, both fictional and factual, that her parents led.
Exploring an alternative history of humankind's beginnings, this work by Doris Lessing delves into provocative themes that challenge conventional narratives. Renowned as one of the most significant writers of the past century, Lessing crafts a thought-provoking tale that invites readers to reconsider the foundations of human existence. The narrative is both brilliant and dark, reflecting her unique perspective on the complexities of humanity's origins.
Approaching a liberal arts tradition in the classroom, across the curriculum, and beyond, The McGraw-Hill Reader offers rich and diverse readings in education, the social sciences, business and economics, the humanities, and the sciences. This new eleventh edition offers a new focus on reading and composing across various media; it includes over 100 selections from prominent thinkers and writers; each essay was chosen to provoke critical thought and encourage effective writing.
Mit einer hellsichtigen Mischung aus Mythen, Fabeln und Allegorien entwirft Doris Lessing in ihrem „Canopus-Zyklus“ eine eindringliche Parabel auf die Geschichte der Menschheit. In diesem Band sind der 4. und 5. Roman der Saga geeint. Roman 4 führt auf den am Rande des canopischen Imperiums gelegenen Planeten 8, eine Welt der Harmonie und des Überflusses, gesegnet von tropischem Klima. Bis eines Tages die erste Schneeflocke fällt, Zeichen einer kommenden Eiszeit, und der Überlebenskampf beginnt. Der 5. Roman spielt im Reich der Volyen. Hier hat die herrschende Kaste die Bevölkerung versklavt, Revolution, Invasionen und Aufstände sind an der Tagesordnung - ein politisch hochexplosives Klima, dem sich auch der canopische Gesandte nicht entziehen kann.
Dans un registre proche de l'Eté avant la nuit, le nouveau Doris Lessing est un roman fort et bouleversant, où la brillante rédactrice en chef d'un magazine féminin rencontre une vieille femme malade et misérable, lui vient en aide et se lie profondément avec elle. Outre une peinture très vivante et colorée du Londres d'aujourd'hui, la description des rapports qui se nouent entre les deux femmes, de cette tentative d'apprivoisement de l'une par l'autre et des combats désespérés de la vieille dame pour sauver sa dignité et son autonomie, est véritablement admirable. Grave, tendre, écrit avec un remarquable mélange de force et de sensibilité, Journal d'une voisine est un roman qui continuera de vous hanter longtemps après que vous en aurez terminé la lecture. Comme tous les romans de l'auteur du Carnet d'Or, la grande Doris Lessing. Fin septembre 1984, Doris Lessing accordait une interview au "Sunday Times;" par laquelle elle désamorçait le piège qu'elle avait tendu aux éditeurs et critiques anglo-saxons en écrivant deux romans sous le pseudonyme de Jane Somers. Journal d'une voisine est le premier de ces deux romans.
Der Band bietet einen Überblick über das schriftstellerische Werk von Doris Lessing und ermöglicht ein erstes Kennenlernen dieser bedeutenden Autorin.
Der Band bietet einen Überblick über das schriftstellerische Schaffen Doris Lessings und ermöglicht ein erstes Kennenlernen dieser Autorin von Weltrang.
Das wohl persönlichste Erinnerungsbuch der großen englischen Erzählerin: die nachdenkliche Auseinandersetzung mit zwei eigenwilligen Frauen: ihrer Mutter und sich selbst. Die Tochter, die in der Tat klüger wurde als viele andere, erinnert sich an das Rhodesien der dreißiger Jahre, an das Leben ihrer Mutter und an sich selbst, 'das Idealbild einer schwierigen Heranwachsenden'. Sie beschreibt, ratlos noch heute, wie unerträglich ihre Mutter war und wie unerträglich sie, die Tochter.
De heerlijkste verhalen van Doris Lessing, Ischa Meijer, Peter Mayle en vele anderen
Prachtige verhalen over Frankrijk van uiteenlopende auteurs als Simon Carmiggelt, Doris Lessing, Ischa Meijer, James Thurber, Inez van Dullemen, Peter Mayle en vele anderen.
Jak wielka jest miłość, która niszczy samych zakochanych? Liz i Ros są nierozłączne, mieszkają po sąsiedzku w pięknych domach nad brzegiem oceanu. Obie są samotnymi kobietami i obie mają nastoletnich, atrakcyjnych synów. Jeden niedozwolony pocałunek niszczy ten przyjacielski układ i popycha bohaterów do uwikłania się w skandaliczne romanse, które trwają długie lata i niszczą wszystkich dookoła. A najbardziej najbliższych.
Susan Rawlings, eine Frau in den besten Jahren, die eigentlich alles hat, was nach landläufiger Meinung eine Frau sich nur wünschen kann: einen gutaussehenden, erfolgreichen Ehemann, vier wohlerzogene Kinder und ein schönes Haus mit Garten in Richmond, beginnt auf einmal, immer öfter die Tage in einem schäbigen Zimmer in einem Stundenhotel zu verbringen, wo es eines Tages zur Katastrophe kommt. Ungekürzte und unbearbeitete Textausgabe in der Originalsprache, mit Übersetzungen schwieriger Wörter am Fuß jeder Seite, Nachwort und Literaturhinweisen.
Im ersten Band ihrer Autobiografie erzählt Doris Lessing aus dreißig Lebensjahren, von ihrer Kindheit im afrikanischen Busch bis zu ihrem Aufbruch nach England - von Erfahrungen, die später Hintergrund ihrer großen Romane und Erzählungen werden sollten."In diesem Buch pulsiert das Leben. Meisterhaft, wie die Intensität der sinnlichen Welt heraufbeschworen wird. Der Busch, die Freiheit der Entdeckerin, die Wunder ihrer Welt sind großartig beschrieben. Dies ist nicht nur die Geschichte der ersten dreißig Jahre eines einzelnen Lebens, es ist auch die Biografie einer Zeit." Observer
»Rufus besaß die Intelligenz des Überlebenskünstlers. Er war ein zerzauster Kater, unter dessen schmutzigem, struppigem Fell die Knochen hervortraten. Aber er hatte eine wunderschöne Farbe, wie Feuer, wie ein Fuchs.«
Janna, bella ed elegante, con alle spalle un solido successo professionale, conosce una piccola e vecchia signora, Maudie, e da questo incontro casuale nasce una stretta amicizia, un legame quasi simbiotico. La prima comincia a condividere le manie e le abitudini della seconda, i suoi malanni senili, e viene così a contatto con un mondo disordinato e dolente ma anche affascinante, che le permette di scoprire dimensioni esistenziali da lei ignorate fino a quel momento. Il diario di Jane Somers si configura, nel panorama contemporaneo della letteratura in lingua inglese, come uno dei più impietosi esperimenti di autoanalisi mai compiuti da uno scrittore.
Neunzehn neue Geschichten Doris Lessings. Sie spielen in und um London und erzählen sowohl von der Stadt wie auch von den Menschen, die dort leben. In jeder Geschichte werden die zwischenmenschlichen Beziehungen in den Mittelpunkt des Geschehens gestellt.
