The Nobel Prize in Literature 2007
October 11th, 2007Congratulations Doris Lessing, “that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism[sic], fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation[sic] to scrutiny,” for winning the The Nobel Prize in Literature 2007! The award recognizes her lifetime of works, which encompass feminist, communist, psychological, and Sufist themes.
I am not personally familiar with her work, but one title that jumped out at me was Canopus in Argos, a five-book science fiction series that deals with “forced evolution” as wikipedia describes it, and “studies the post-atomic war development of the human species” as Doris Lessing’s Bio and Bibliography describes it. All but the first book is currently out of print. You can bet these books will all be back at the presses post haste.
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Her name also has a nice assonance (or is it alliteration?) with the name of another great mind, Lawrence Lessig, but this quote endears her to my heart:
“…in science fiction is some of the best social fiction of our time. I also admire the classic sort of science fiction, like Blood Music, by Greg Bear. He’s a great writer.”
Blood Music is one of my all-time favorite science fiction novels. You rock Lessing!
