Lessing - ‘On not winning the Nobel Prize’ - Mr Chedra: The Quiddity Page

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:

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: