Ever since Doris Lessing won the Nobel for Literature I have been trying to lay my hands on her books but so far I have been unsuccessful. One reason could be that she is a British writer and not many of British books can be found in the second hand stores of Hyderabad. I haven’t seen any book of Irish Murdoch either here. So it has been a long search for me for books written by Doris Lessing. Another reason could be that she hasn’t written any new book lately.
The desire to read her books got more intensified after I read an article on Doris Lessing by Christopher Hitchens in ‘The Week’ dated October 28. In his article titled ‘Grand Dame of Words’ Christopher Hitchens writes about two of her well known stories - 'The Day Stalin Died’ and 'The Temptation of Jack Orkney'. He writes that 'The Day Stalin Died' deserves to be reprinted in any anthology of 20th century prose and the other ‘The Temptation of Jack Orkney’ was a tale that was very good and recommended that one should make a resolution to acquire the volumes in which these two tales appear. Hitchens writes that these two works of Lessing help one determine the gold standard in modern writing.
Such high recommendation has me frantically searching for any book by Doris Lessing. I hope I would get lucky and find something by Lessing soon.
The desire to read her books got more intensified after I read an article on Doris Lessing by Christopher Hitchens in ‘The Week’ dated October 28. In his article titled ‘Grand Dame of Words’ Christopher Hitchens writes about two of her well known stories - 'The Day Stalin Died’ and 'The Temptation of Jack Orkney'. He writes that 'The Day Stalin Died' deserves to be reprinted in any anthology of 20th century prose and the other ‘The Temptation of Jack Orkney’ was a tale that was very good and recommended that one should make a resolution to acquire the volumes in which these two tales appear. Hitchens writes that these two works of Lessing help one determine the gold standard in modern writing.
Such high recommendation has me frantically searching for any book by Doris Lessing. I hope I would get lucky and find something by Lessing soon.
2 comments:
There are four Doris Lessing books available from nbcindia.com, but they are expensive, ranging from 614rs for Miss Understanding to 724 for A Ripple from the Storm, 779 for a Proper Marriage and 1279 for the Four-Gated City. Shipping is free. Maybe this helps.
Cameron, Thanks for the information. But I usually don't spend so much on books. At Abids in Hyderabad if I am lucky I can get her book for far less. Thanks, anyway. I will check nbcindia.
Vinod
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