Lessing, Doris (Vol. 1) - Lessing, Doris 1919–
Lessing, Doris 1919–
A British novelist, poet, and playwright, Mrs. Lessing was born in Persia and grew up in Southern Rhodesia, the setting of many of her novels. She is best known for The Golden Notebook and the five-volume "Children of Violence." (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 9-10.)
[The] three novels [of "Children of Violence"] after a promising start have declined into trivia. The main line of the narrative has become lost in details, the characterization drowned in inconsequential acts. When Miss Lessing moves away from what she knows best—the land, family relationships, the frustration of meaningless affections—then she loses her vigor and becomes tedious. The three novels of the series do not maintain the standard set by The Grass Is Singing, which whips itself into a fury and provides as fine a first novel as any in the fifties.
Frederick R. Karl, in his A Reader's Guide to the...
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