Doris Lessing ‘On not winning the Nobel Prize’ 
Nobel Lecture 7  December 2007

Speaker: 
  • her publisher, Nicholas Pearson on behalf of Doris Lessing  (she was no longer allowed to travel)
  • Lessing was born in Iran and later moved to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)
  • She did not finish school and left at 13/14.
  • She was married on two occasions (divorcing both times) and had 3 children.
  • Moved to London in 1949 with her youngest child, Peter
  • Was a Communist supporter until 1956
  • Was a vocal objector to nuclear armament and Apartheid (being banned from entering South Africa and Zimabwe)
  • Some common topics and issues in her work include: championing the development of a female voice in literature; the politics of nuclear arms;  the effects of post-colonialism (including racism) on African nations; spiritual notions to name a few, and wrote in genres such as Science Fiction.  Much of her writing is semi-autobiographical
Audience: 
  • the immediate audience is the Swedish Academy (the body responsible for selecting the Nobel Prize winners
  • there was also an International Audience, because of the emphasis and prestige associated with the award, as well as the reputation of Lessing as a renowned author
Context:
  • The speech was delivered on 7th December, 2007
  • In the speech she highlights the ideas of having two homes, London and Zimbabwe
Ideas:
  • inequality of opportunity (especially in terms of education) "the gap"
  • all people should have access to education and books (especially the impoverished)
  • changing reading habits
  • notions of storytelling and the process and purpose of writing
Common techniques used:
  • Humour (Irony, Sarcasm)
  • Anecdotes
  • Juxtaposition and contrast
Picture
Doris Lessing
What do the below interivews tell us about Lessing?

Lessing links