Tuesday 10 August 2010

Under My Skin - Doris Lessing

The library did have the first volume of Lessing's autobiography after all! I either overlooked it or someone had borrowed it the first time I checked.

I enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed the second volume. The problem with both of them, in terms of what I want them for, is that while they describe a zeitgeist very evocatively, it is hard to pinpoint particular moments within that description. Lessing occasionally describes scenes - prefixing these paragraphs with "A scene: " - and it is definitely incredibly useful to me as background, but I'm not sure yet how much of it I'll be able to use as text for the course.

I earmarked one section - an exchange between the white intellectual Kurt and his black driver, who comes across - to me at least - as the most level-headed, down-to-earth person in the whole book. It's certainly illustrative and interesting, I'm just not sure yet if/how it could be used in a class.

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