I've read not a single one of Lessing's books -- but now, like a true trend-o-morph, I might seek one out.
Did anyone read the Yahoo interview with her yesterday? It had me laughing out loud, especially her initial reaction ("Oh Christ -- I couldn't care less").
Doris Lessing - 2007 Nobel Prize Winner
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Lessing's a complete cat fanatic, which is good enough for me for her winning the prize. The only thing of her's I've read is the introduction she wrote for a 1985 book of cat photographs I own by Thomas Wester. She described felines as "the mysterious, beautiful creatures who fortuitously share so mant of our own lives." That's about right.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
Funny. One could say the same thing about Bloom's career, especially if you replace "political correctness" with "cowing to patriarchy", replace "fourth rate science fiction" with "sexist and archaic" and replace "American literary critic" with "disgusting pervert, sexual harasser, and why the hell hasn't Yale fired his ass yet?" Shut up Bloom.Franz Ferdinand wrote:American literary critic Harold Bloom called the academy's decision "pure political correctness. Although Ms. Lessing at the beginning of her writing career had a few admirable qualities, I find her work for the past 15 years quite unreadable ... fourth-rate science fiction."
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Let the booing begin!
American literary critic Harold Bloom called the academy's decision "pure political correctness. Although Ms. Lessing at the beginning of her writing career had a few admirable qualities, I find her work for the past 15 years quite unreadable ... fourth-rate science fiction."
Anyone here ever read any of Lessing's works?
American literary critic Harold Bloom called the academy's decision "pure political correctness. Although Ms. Lessing at the beginning of her writing career had a few admirable qualities, I find her work for the past 15 years quite unreadable ... fourth-rate science fiction."
Anyone here ever read any of Lessing's works?
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Doris Lessing wins Nobel literature prize
Stockholm (dpa) - Doris Lessing won this year's Nobel Prize for Literature, the Royal Swedish Academy announced in Stockholm on Thursday, becoming the 11th woman author to win the prestigious award since 1901.
Reacting to the news, Lessing, 87, said in London: "It's a royal flush" - a reference to her many other literary honours.
"The Nobel Prize is the most prestigious and glamorous of all the prizes and I am absolutely delighted," Lessing said through her literary agents, Jonathan Clowes Ltd.
Reporters, literary agents and others cheered and gave a round of applause when the decision was announced just after 1 pm (1100 GMT) at the Academy headquarters in Stockholm's Old Town.
The Academy cited British author Lessing as "that epicist of the female experience who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny."
Permanent Secretary Horace Engdahl told reporters that from from his "personal view" it was "an easy choice."
Lessing's name had been mentioned for years, but "decisions have to mature," Engdahl said, adding that "it was probably one of the most deliberated (decisions) in the Academy's history."
Meanwhile Lessing, who had been out shopping when the prize was announced, said in London: "This has been going on for 30 years. I've won all the prizes in Europe, every bloody one, so I'm delighted to win them all. It's a royal flush."
Lessing was born Doris May Taylor to British parents in Kermanshah in then Persia, today's Bakhtaran in Iran, and the family moved 1925 to Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.
At 14 she left school and worked as a nanny, office worker, stenographer and journalist.
She described her childhood in her 1994 autobiography Under My Skin, which along with Walking in the Shade from 1997 "represented a new peak in her writing," the Academy said.
Engdahl said that "a writer whose literary debut was in 1950 has to be considered from a long-term perspective," referring to The Grass is Singing from 1950, where Lessing examines the relationship between a white farmer's wife and her black servant.
The Golden Notebook from 1962 marked her real breakthrough, the Academy said of a book that played a role in the emerging feminist movement.
During the 1970s she published Briefing for a Descent into Hell, Collected African Stories and explored the science fiction genre in the series Canopus in Argos: Archives.
The Good Terrorist from 1985 was "a satirical picture of the need of the contemporary left for total control," the Academy said.
Lessing married Frank Charles Wisdom in 1939 with whom she had a son and a daughter. They divorced in 1943 and two years later she married German-Jewish immigrant Gottfried Lessing with whom she had a son.
The couple divorced in 1949, and she moved to London where she was active in the British Communist Party 1952-1956.
She was banned from entering South Africa and neighbouring Southern Rhodesia over her criticism of the then South African government and minority-ruled Southern Rhodesia.
In 1982 she revisited Zimbabwe, which she described in the 1992 book African Laughter: Four Visits to Zimbabwe.
Engdahl said that while Lessing this year had published The Cleft, "I will not say if that was the one that was the decisive one."
The prize is worth 10 million Swedish kronor (1.53 million dollars). Last year the award went to Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, the 2005 award was given to British playwright Harold Pinter and in 2004 Austria's Elfriede Jelinek won the award.
The Swedish Academy's decision to award the literature prize to Lessing surprised many pundits and cultural editors, whose tips had ranged from Korean poet Ko Un to US author Philip Roth.
"I guess we caught you out," Permanent Secretary Horace Engdahl joked with reporters in Stockholm.
The Academy stunned critics with its 1997 choice of Italian playwright Dario Fo and also surprised experts when it selected Austrian Elfriede Jelinek in 2004 and British playwright Harold Pinter the following year.
Referring to the fact that Lessing's name has been mentioned for years, Engdahl said that the Academy's "decisions have to mature."
Nils Schwarz, literary critic in Stockholm tabloid Expressen, said that while Lessing "deserved the prize" she likely "should have received it 25-30 years ago."
The literature prize was the fourth Nobel Prize to be announced this week.
On Monday, Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies of the United States and Martin Evans of Britain shared the Nobel Medicine Prize for their work on stem cells.
Peter Gruenberger of Germany and Albert Fert of France on Tuesday shared the physics prize for discoveries of a key technology used to read data on hard disks.
The chemistry prize was awarded Wednesday to Gerhard Ertl of Germany for groundbreaking studies in surface chemistry.
Nobel Prizes are also awarded for peace (to be announced Friday) and economics. The October 15 announcement of the economics prize laureate, a prize not mentioned in Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel's will, caps the 2007 Nobel announcements.
Stockholm (dpa) - Doris Lessing won this year's Nobel Prize for Literature, the Royal Swedish Academy announced in Stockholm on Thursday, becoming the 11th woman author to win the prestigious award since 1901.
Reacting to the news, Lessing, 87, said in London: "It's a royal flush" - a reference to her many other literary honours.
"The Nobel Prize is the most prestigious and glamorous of all the prizes and I am absolutely delighted," Lessing said through her literary agents, Jonathan Clowes Ltd.
Reporters, literary agents and others cheered and gave a round of applause when the decision was announced just after 1 pm (1100 GMT) at the Academy headquarters in Stockholm's Old Town.
The Academy cited British author Lessing as "that epicist of the female experience who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny."
Permanent Secretary Horace Engdahl told reporters that from from his "personal view" it was "an easy choice."
Lessing's name had been mentioned for years, but "decisions have to mature," Engdahl said, adding that "it was probably one of the most deliberated (decisions) in the Academy's history."
Meanwhile Lessing, who had been out shopping when the prize was announced, said in London: "This has been going on for 30 years. I've won all the prizes in Europe, every bloody one, so I'm delighted to win them all. It's a royal flush."
Lessing was born Doris May Taylor to British parents in Kermanshah in then Persia, today's Bakhtaran in Iran, and the family moved 1925 to Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.
At 14 she left school and worked as a nanny, office worker, stenographer and journalist.
She described her childhood in her 1994 autobiography Under My Skin, which along with Walking in the Shade from 1997 "represented a new peak in her writing," the Academy said.
Engdahl said that "a writer whose literary debut was in 1950 has to be considered from a long-term perspective," referring to The Grass is Singing from 1950, where Lessing examines the relationship between a white farmer's wife and her black servant.
The Golden Notebook from 1962 marked her real breakthrough, the Academy said of a book that played a role in the emerging feminist movement.
During the 1970s she published Briefing for a Descent into Hell, Collected African Stories and explored the science fiction genre in the series Canopus in Argos: Archives.
The Good Terrorist from 1985 was "a satirical picture of the need of the contemporary left for total control," the Academy said.
Lessing married Frank Charles Wisdom in 1939 with whom she had a son and a daughter. They divorced in 1943 and two years later she married German-Jewish immigrant Gottfried Lessing with whom she had a son.
The couple divorced in 1949, and she moved to London where she was active in the British Communist Party 1952-1956.
She was banned from entering South Africa and neighbouring Southern Rhodesia over her criticism of the then South African government and minority-ruled Southern Rhodesia.
In 1982 she revisited Zimbabwe, which she described in the 1992 book African Laughter: Four Visits to Zimbabwe.
Engdahl said that while Lessing this year had published The Cleft, "I will not say if that was the one that was the decisive one."
The prize is worth 10 million Swedish kronor (1.53 million dollars). Last year the award went to Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, the 2005 award was given to British playwright Harold Pinter and in 2004 Austria's Elfriede Jelinek won the award.
The Swedish Academy's decision to award the literature prize to Lessing surprised many pundits and cultural editors, whose tips had ranged from Korean poet Ko Un to US author Philip Roth.
"I guess we caught you out," Permanent Secretary Horace Engdahl joked with reporters in Stockholm.
The Academy stunned critics with its 1997 choice of Italian playwright Dario Fo and also surprised experts when it selected Austrian Elfriede Jelinek in 2004 and British playwright Harold Pinter the following year.
Referring to the fact that Lessing's name has been mentioned for years, Engdahl said that the Academy's "decisions have to mature."
Nils Schwarz, literary critic in Stockholm tabloid Expressen, said that while Lessing "deserved the prize" she likely "should have received it 25-30 years ago."
The literature prize was the fourth Nobel Prize to be announced this week.
On Monday, Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies of the United States and Martin Evans of Britain shared the Nobel Medicine Prize for their work on stem cells.
Peter Gruenberger of Germany and Albert Fert of France on Tuesday shared the physics prize for discoveries of a key technology used to read data on hard disks.
The chemistry prize was awarded Wednesday to Gerhard Ertl of Germany for groundbreaking studies in surface chemistry.
Nobel Prizes are also awarded for peace (to be announced Friday) and economics. The October 15 announcement of the economics prize laureate, a prize not mentioned in Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel's will, caps the 2007 Nobel announcements.