At 87 Doris Lessing is the eleventh woman, and the oldest person, to win the prize. During an interview for the BBC's Radio 4 programme "The World at One" she said: "They can't give a Nobel to someone who's dead, so I guess they were thinking they'd better give it to me now before I popped off." When asked how she would use the prize she said: "Don't worry, a lot of people will be writing to me instantly demanding some of it."
Early Days and Family Life
Lessing was born Doris May Tayler in Persia (now Iran) in October 1919 to English parents. Her mother was a nurse and her father a bank clerk, formerly a captain in the British army. He lost a leg serving in World War I, an experience that left him with bitter memories that would influence Lessing throughout her life.
Lessing spent her early childhood in Kermanshah and later Tehran. In 1925 the Taylers moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Mr Tayler, attracted by rich pickings to be made from farming, purchased 1000 acres of land. The expected wealth did not materialise because he did not adapt to his new lifestyle and failed to develop the land.
The family's life in the settlement was extremely hard and Lessing's childhood was mostly unhappy. Her relationship with her mother was particularly difficult. Mrs Tayler struggled to maintain the high standards of her British lifestyle amidst a savage landscape.
School Life and Marriage
At the age of seven Lessing was sent to a convent school where children were indoctrinated with the bible, religion and threats of hell and damnation. This was followed by an all-girls high school in Salisbury (now Harare). Lessing left school at thirteen taking various jobs: nanny, telephonist, stenographer and journalist.
Lessing spent her formative years seeking refuge from her unhappy existence. There seems to be a parallel here with writers such as Enid Blyton, also the victim of an unhappy childhood. Both became fiction writers. Lessing's fertile imagination was satisfied with books by Rudyard Kipling, Charles Dickens and Robert Louis Stevenson. Later she enjoyed Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Stendhal and D.H. Lawrence.
In 1937 Lessing married but hated the demands of motherhood and subsequently left her husband and two children. She married a second time and had a son with Gottfried Lessing. Her marriage to Lessing ended in 1949 and she and her son moved to London.
Novels
Her first novel, The Grass is Singing (1950), exposes the shallowness of white colonial society in South Africa. Lessing's portfolio now includes short stories, plays, poetry, operas, her autobiography and at least twenty novels. These novels cover several genres including feminism and political injustice in South Africa - something that got her into trouble with the governments of Rhodesia and South Africa who, in 1956, labelled her a "prohibited alien".
Her novel The Golden Notebook (1962), inspired women around the world and linked her firmly to the feminist movement. Lessing has since severed her links to the feminist movement. Her latest novel, The Cleft (HarperCollins 2007) explores a mythical community of women who bear only female babies. When a boy is born the community's existence is challenged. The Cleft brought a mixed reaction from both fans and critics.
Lessing is said to be one of the most important post-war writers in England and winning the Nobel Prize is further confirmation of her literary status.
