FF2 Tribute to Doris Lessing
FF2 Media dedicates this day to the memory of Doris Lessing, one of the great women of the 20th Century. In 2007, Lessing received the Nobel Prize for Literature making her the 11th woman to be so honored. Lessing died Sunday (11/17/13) at the age of 94.
I first read Doris Lessing in 1973, when I plunged headlong into “Children of Violence” aka the Martha Quest books–Martha Quest (1952), A Proper Marriage (1954), A Ripple From the Storm (1958), Landlocked (1965) & The Four-Gated City (1969).
This series of 5 novels, along with “Cities of the Interior” (Anais Nin’s series of 5 novels) shaped me as a young woman coming of age in the early days of what we now call “Second Wave Feminism.”
But unlike Nin’s more poetic and erotic sensibility, Lessing’s work fully engages with politics–with implications for women in particular & advocates of social justice more generally.
By her own choice, very few of Lessing’s novels have been adapted, but just a few months ago French filmmaker Anne Fontaine’s lovely new film Adore (closely based on Lessing’s novella The Grandmothers) was released in American theatres as well as on Video On Demand.
Watch Adore this week in honor of Doris Lessing. I promise, you’ll be glad you did!
Click HERE to stream Anne Fontaine’s film Adore on Amazon today.
Click HERE to purchase Adore from Amazon on DVD.
Click HERE to order Lessing’s novella The Grandmothers from Amazon.
Click HERE for Terry Gross’s remembrance of Doris Lessing on NPR’s Fresh Air.
Click HERE for Helen Verongos’s Obit in the New York Times.
Click HERE for the Doris Lessing page on Wikipedia.
Top Photo Credit: Doris Lessing at the time she wrote the Martha Quest books. No, she wasn’t always the old lady in the obits… © NewsCom Archives (Note Copyright!)
Bottom Photo Credit: Robin Wright (left) & Naomi Watts (right) in Adore. © Matthew Nettheim
PS: Adore definitely passes the Bechdel Test 😉
