Doris Lessing
Born 1919 · Died 17 November 2013
From Kermanshah, Kermanshah Province, Iran · Nationality: United Kingdom, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland · Writes fiction and nonfiction
Doris May Lessing CH (née Tayler; born 22 October 1919) is a British writer, author of works such as the novels The Grass is Singing and The Golden Notebook.
In 2007, Lessing won the Nobel Prize in Literature. She was described by the Swedish Academy as "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny". Lessing was the eleventh woman and the oldest person ever to win the Literature Prize.
In 2001, Lessing was awarded the David Cohen Prize for a lifetime's achievement in British Literature. In 2008, The Times ranked her fifth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
Quotes
“That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you’ve understood all your life, but in a new way.”
1950–1999 “If a fish is the movement of water embodied, given shape, then cat is a diagram and pattern of subtle air.”
1950–1999, Chapter 2 “What is so painful about that time is that nothing was disastrous. It was all wrong, ugly, unhappy and coloured with cynicism, but nothing was tragic, there were no moments that could change anything or anybody.”
The Golden Notebook “Literature is analysis after the event.”
The Golden Notebook “All one’s life as a young woman one is on show, a focus of attention, people notice you.”
1950–1999, p. 18
Quotes from Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Books by Doris Lessing in order
Books by Doris Lessing in the order they were published, from The Grass Is Singing (1950) to The Grandmothers (2003).
- 1The Grass Is Singing
The Grass Is Singing1950 - 2Martha Quest - Book One of Children of Violence
Martha Quest - Book One of Children of Violence1952 - 3The Habit of Loving
The Habit of Loving1957 - 4The Four-Gated City
The Four-Gated City1959 - 5The Golden Notebook
The Golden Notebook1962 - 6A Man and Two Women
A Man and Two Women1963 - 7Briefing for a Descent into Hell
Briefing for a Descent into Hell1971 - 8The Summer Before the Dark
The Summer Before the Dark1973 - 9A Small Personal Voice
A Small Personal Voice1974 - 10The Memoirs of a Survivor
The Memoirs of a Survivor1974 - 11To Room Nineteen
To Room Nineteen1978 - 12Shikasta Re Colonised Planet 5
Shikasta Re Colonised Planet 51979 - 13The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four, and Five
The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four, and Five1980 - 14The Sirian Experiments
The Sirian Experiments1980 - 15The Making of the Representative for Planet 8
The Making of the Representative for Planet 81982 - 16The Good Terrorist
The Good Terrorist1985 - 17Prisons We Choose to Live Inside
Prisons We Choose to Live Inside1986 - 18The Fifth Child
The Fifth Child1988 - 19Through the Tunnel
Through the Tunnel1990 - 20Canopus in Argos
Canopus in Argos1992 - 21Love, Again
Love, Again1996 - 22Mara and Dann
Mara and Dann1999 - 23On Cats
On Cats2002 - 24The Grandmothers
The Grandmothers2003