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Today is the 90th birthday of Doris Lessing. Lessing wrote the novel that has influenced me most of anything I've ever read, and that says a lot considering that Virginia Woolf wrote a volume of novels that helped form my mindset. I've read and re-read The Golden Notebook more than any other book . . . probably about 6 times now. It was written in 1962, three years before I was born. In 2007, Lessing won the Nobel Prize in Literature, and became the oldest person to ever win that award. I wrote about it here in the blog and included this:My favorite Doris Lessing quote comes from the character Anna Wulf from The Golden Notebook:
"It seems to me like this. It's not a terrible thing -- I mean, it may be terrible, but it's not damaging, it's not poisoning, to do without something one wants. It's not bad to say: My work is not what I really want, I'm capable of doing something bigger. Or I'm a person who needs love, and I'm doing without it. What's terrible is to pretend that the second-rate is first-rate. To pretend that you don't need love when you do; or you like your work when you know quite well you're capable of better."
3 comments:
Oooo, I'm intrigued. I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm not familiar with The Golden Notebook, but that quote is fabulous and now my curiousity is piqued. Thanks for mentioning it.
Hi Pam, Thanks for stopping by! I will say that The Golden Notebook is one of the toughest books I've read. You can read about it via the hyperlink I've included. I definitely recommend it!
If this had been in facebook I'd have checked "like"! Baautifully stated, and the honesty demanded by that precept is an ambition in itself!
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