{"product_id":"doris-lessing-carey-kaplan-9780821408919","title":"Doris Lessing: The Alchemy of Survival","description":"\u003cp\u003eLong neglected by the academic world because of her rejection of belletristic values and resistance to convenient literary taxonomy, Doris Lessing has nonetheless built an international following of serious, dedicated readers. Acknowledging the difficulties posed by the multiple dimensions of Lessing's work, Kaplan and Rose have gathered eleven essays that address her artistic, philosophical, political, and psychological complexity, and so provide a welcome introduction to the extraordinary depth and diversity of this important contemporary novelist.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLessing has been described as an \"alchemical\" writer, in that her work is directed toward changing people's lives and perceptions rather than simply recording experience. Accordingly, the contributors examine her various postures and tactics for the purpose of discovering how the alchemical elements inform her various personae. Frederick C. Stern discusses Lessing's commitment to radical humanist thought, while Carey Kaplan examines how Lessing's imperialist past has shaped her futuristic fiction. Elizabeth Abel offers a feminist interpretation of the pattern of brother-sister incest in Lessing's work, showing how Lessing has established Antigone as a female alternative to the Oedipal myth of male incest. Particularly insightful is Eve Bertelsen's report of her interview with Lessing, demonstrating how Lessing's often evasive style of adversarial dialogue works in concert with her refusal to be conveniently pigeonholed by academic analysis.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor those readers new to her work, \u003ci\u003eDoris Lessing: The Alchemy of Survival\u003c\/i\u003e will serve as a useful introduction to Lessing's concerns and techniques. Those who have long admired her writing will find in this collection new keys to understanding Lessing's philosophical, political, and psychological complexity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Carey Kaplan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0821408917\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780821408919\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Ohio University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/15\/1988\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 187\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.80d","brand":"Carey Kaplan","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48086964338943,"sku":"9780821408919","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_a2af21b7-53bb-490d-8326-60dae1f9517a.jpg?v=1769097517","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/doris-lessing-carey-kaplan-9780821408919","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}