Itbegins with a brief overview of Doris Lessing's life and works anda general introduction to The Grass is Singing. The present volume, divided intothree sections, examines this novel from critical perspectives. A masterpiece of social realism, the novel isset in colonized Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and concerned with theissue of colour bar and its disastrous effect on the marginalwhites and the native Africans. The book was overwhelmingly well received both by criticsand the general reading public and it went through seven reprintswithin five months. A masterpiece of social realism, the novel isset in colonized Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and concer The Grass is Singing, Doris Lessing's debut novel published in1950, is regarded as a landmark of twentieth century literature inEnglish. I just can't be bothered, to be honest".The Grass is Singing, Doris Lessing's debut novel published in1950, is regarded as a landmark of twentieth century literature inEnglish. Lessing also revealed she is not going to write a third volume of her autobiography because she did not want to offend so "many great and eminent people by reminding them of their silliness. "We have got the pay but only real equality comes when child care is sorted out and it hasn't been yet, well not for those who really need it anyway". Lessing claimed that much of the "great energy" whipped up by feminism had "been lost in hot air and fine words when we should have been concentrating on changing laws. "Men seem to be so cowed that they can't fight back, and it is time they did." The most stupid, ill-educated and nasty woman can rubbish the nicest, kindest and most intelligent man and no one protests. "It is time we began to ask who are these women who continually rubbish men. "It has become a kind of religion that you can't criticise because then you become a traitor to the great cause, which I am not. She added: "This kind of thing is happening in schools all over the place and no one says a thing. Lessing said the teacher tried to "catch my eye, thinking I would approve of this rubbish". "You could see the little girls, fat with complacency and conceit while the little boys sat there crumpled, apologising for their existence, thinking this was going to be the pattern of their lives." "I was in a class of nine- and 10-year-olds, girls and boys, and this young woman was telling these kids that the reason for wars was the innately violent nature of men. "We have many wonderful, clever, powerful women everywhere, but what is happening to men? Why did this have to be at the cost of men? We now have pretty much equality at least on the pay and opportunities front, though almost nothing has been done on child care, the real liberation. "Great things have been achieved through feminism. "I find myself increasingly shocked at the unthinking and automatic rubbishing of men which is now so part of our culture that it is hardly even noticed," the 81-year-old Persian-born writer said yesterday. Young boys were being weighed down with guilt about the crimes of their sex, she told the Edinburgh book festival, while energy which could be used to get proper child care was being dissipated in the pointless humiliation of men. Lessing, who became a feminist icon with the books The Grass is Singing and The Golden Notebook, said a "lazy and insidious" culture had taken hold within feminism that revelled in flailing men. The novelist Doris Lessing yesterday claimed that men were the new silent victims in the sex war, "continually demeaned and insulted" by women without a whimper of protest.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |