Martha Quest Triumphant ...
Please take a moment to celebrate. Doris Lessing, superb author, has been awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Ms. Lessing must be a trifle amused. I recently read an interview with her (sorry, can't find the link though I believe the interview was conducted not long ago). Lessing said at one point she had been told by a Nobel judge that Lessing would never be seriously considered for the prize because, simply, the judges didn't like her.
I guess someone changed their mind.
Lessing's short stories are wonderful, her novels thought provoking, her opinions delightfully controversial, and best of all, to quote from Wikipedia:
"Unlike some mainstream authors, she has never hesitated to admit that she writes science fiction."
Ms. Lessing must be a trifle amused. I recently read an interview with her (sorry, can't find the link though I believe the interview was conducted not long ago). Lessing said at one point she had been told by a Nobel judge that Lessing would never be seriously considered for the prize because, simply, the judges didn't like her.
I guess someone changed their mind.
Lessing's short stories are wonderful, her novels thought provoking, her opinions delightfully controversial, and best of all, to quote from Wikipedia:
"Unlike some mainstream authors, she has never hesitated to admit that she writes science fiction."
posted by Todd Wheeler at 10/12/2007 11:19:00 AM
6 Comments:
I haven't read anyting by here (yet), but you gotta like that she does admit to writing genre. So far I've seen several quotes made about her winning that I expect to see in next month's Ansible (David Langford) "As Others See Us" sections.
Her early short stories are great. The Golden Notebook, perhaps her most well known book, I recall being a bit of a challenge.
And the SF books convey a human future as alien as one can imagine.
She's a great choice, and I've got to hand it to the Nobel committee for growing up and admitting their mistake. It didn't hurt that the Nobels have been under pressure to even out their gender ratio a bit. I love that she was out shopping when they announced it and got home to find cameras on her lawn.
Great story, Ian. I hadn't read that.
I looked through the winners list with the same thought, how well is it balanced between men and women? As you say, they seem to be going for some balance there.
I think I read the same article Ian did, which I tried to find just now and couldn't. She apparently said she "couldn't care less" about having been awarded yet another prize for her writing. She said something along the lines of "I guess they figured they couldn't award it to a dead person, so they better hurry up and finally give me this one," or some such.
So cool. I love the cranky.
Very funny, that lady.
Now I have this urge read dozens more of her books.
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