The Nobel Prize in Literature 2007 The Nobel Prize in Literature 2007 Doris Lessing The Nobel Prize in Literature 2007 Photo: U. Montan Doris Lessing Prize share: 1/1 The Nobel Prize in Literature 2007 was awarded to Doris Lessing "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny". Photos: Copyright © The Nobel Foundation Share this: To cite this page MLA style: "The Nobel Prize in Literature 2007". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 17 Jan 2017. < Doris Lessing wins Nobel prize | Books | The Guardian Doris Lessing wins Nobel prize Close This article is 9 years old The British author Doris Lessing has won the 2007 Nobel prize for literature. Lessing, who is only the 11th woman to win literature's most prestigious prize in its 106-year history, is best known for her 1962 postmodern feminist masterpiece, The Golden Notebook.

Announcing the award, the Swedish Academy described Lessing as an "epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny". It singled out The Golden Notebook for praise, calling it "a pioneering work" that "belongs to the handful of books that informed the 20th-century view of the male-female relationship." Lessing, who was shopping at the time of the Nobel announcement, was typically irreverent in her response to the news. "I've won all the prizes in Europe, every bloody one. I'm delighted to win them all, the whole lot," she said to the reporters gathered outside her home in north London. "It's a royal flush." Lessing was born in Iran (then Persia) in 1919 to British parents and grew up in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia). Self-educated from the age of 15, she moved to England in 1949. In 1950 she published her first novel, The Grass is Singing, an exploration of the relationship between a married white Rhodesian woman and her black houseboy.

Her razor-sharp dissection of the fear and power that she saw as underlying the white colonial experience made the book an instant success. She continued to draw on the experiences of her childhood in her series Children of Violence (1952-1969, better known as the Martha Quest books), which is also set largely in Africa. In these five novels, the themes which would later come to dominate her work come strongly to the fore. The series provides a portrait of the awakening and development of its central character, Martha Quest, over the course of an imagined 20th century which ends with the globe in the grip of a third world war. By combining literary science fiction with a stringent, pioneering brand of feminism, Lessing gave a glimpse of the qualities for which she was to become famous. After following The Golden Notebook with several other novels dealing with similar themes of social pressure and personal disintegration, Lessing turned her attention to science fiction with her 'Canopus in Argos' series, in which she traces the development and decline of species and societies on the space-age stage.

In 1984, irritated by the limitations of writing under her own name, she sent a novel (If the Old Could ...) to her publisher under the pseudonym Jane Somers, and was reportedly delighted when it met with only cursory attention in the press. Her more recent fiction has been punctuated with the two volumes of her critically acclaimed autobiography; a third volume was long believed to be in the offing, but she announced in 2001 that she had finally abandoned it as she did not want to offend so "many great and eminent people by reminding them of their silliness. I just can't be bothered, to be honest". Her longtime agent, Jonathan Clowes, was "absolutely delighted" at the news of the award, worth £766,000, which was, he said, "very well-deserved". Speaking to Reuters, her editor at Fourth Estate, Nicholas Pearson, called it "thrilling" and claimed that her early books "changed the face of literature through the description of the inner lives of women". Jane Friedman, chief executive of HarperCollins (of which Fourth Estate is a division), described her as "an icon for women".

The veteran US literary critic Harold Bloom has so far provided the only voice of dissent. Describing the academy's decision as "pure political correctness", he said to the Associated Press today that "although Ms Lessing at the beginning of her writing career had a few admirable qualities, I find her work for the past 15 years quite unreadable ... fourth-rate science fiction." In recent years, Lessing has certainly moved away from the feminism and social realism for which she was celebrated in the 1960s and 70s, both in ideological and literary terms. Her latest novel, The Cleft (2007), a pre-historical fable which depicts women as slothful and complacent and men as adventurous innovators, was greeted with horror by sections of her fan base, while its critical reception was decidedly mixed. She herself, however, has made no secret of her desire to distance herself from the iconic status she acquired after the publication of The Golden Notebook, which she has described in the past as her "albatross".

Her appearance at the 2001 Edinburgh festival, in which she criticised elements of 21st-century feminist culture as "lazy and insidious" and claimed to be "increasingly shocked at the unthinking and automatic rubbishing of men which is now so part of our culture", caused uproar. Just 11 days shy of her 88th birthday, Lessing is now the oldest person to have been awarded the prize - a title previously held by Theodor Mommsen, who was 85 when he won the award in 1902. Lessing's laureateship makes this the second time in three years that the award has gone to a British author, following Harold Pinter's in 2005. The prize was awarded last year to the Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk. The Nobel Prize in Literature 2007 - Bio-bibliography Bio-bibliography The Nobel Prize in Literature 2007 Doris Lessing Biobibliographical Notes Doris Lessing was born on 22 October 1919 to British parents in Kermanshah in what was then known as Persia (now Iran) as Doris May Taylor.

Her father, Alfred Cook Taylor, formerly a captain in the British army during the First World War, was a bank official. Her mother, Emily Maude Taylor, had been a nurse. In 1925 the family moved to a farm in what was then Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) hoping to improve their income. Lessing described her childhood on the farm in the first part of her autobiography, Under My Skin (1994). At the age of seven, she was sent to a convent boarding school but later moved to a girls' school in Salisbury. When 14 she independently ended her formal schooling. In the following years she worked as a young nanny, telephonist, office worker, stenographer and journalist and had several short stories published. In 1939 she married Frank Charles Wisdom with whom she had a son, John, and a daughter, Jean. The couple divorced in 1943. In 1945 Doris married Gottfried Lessing, a German-Jewish immigrant she had met in a Marxist group mainly concerned with the race issue. She became involved with the Southern Rhodesian Labour Party. She and Gottfried had a son, Peter.

When the couple divorced in 1949, she took Peter and moved to London, quickly establishing herself as a writer. Between 1952 and 1956 she was a member of the British Communist Party and was active in the campaign against nuclear weapons. Because of her criticism of the South African regime, she was prohibited entry to that country between 1956 and 1995. After a brief visit to Southern Rhodesia in 1956, she was banned there as well for the same reason. In African Laughter: Four Visits to Zimbabwe (1992) she described going back in 1982 to the country where she had grown up. She now lives in London. Doris Lessing made her debut as a novelist with The Grass is Singing (1950), which examines the relationship between a white farmer's wife and her black servant. The book is both a tragedy based in love-hatred and a study of unbridgeable racial conflicts. Even the semi-autobiographical Children of Violence series, usually called the Martha Quest series for its main character, is largely set in Africa.

The series comprises Martha Quest (1952), A Proper Marriage (1954), A Ripple from the Storm (1958), Landlocked (1965) and The Four-Gated City (1969). It describes Martha Quest's awakening to greater awareness on every level and was pioneering in its depiction of the mind and circumstances of the emancipated woman. With these books Lessing created a modern equivalent of the Bildungsroman of women writers of the 19th century. The Children of Violence, despite its emphatic liberation theme, is characterised by an almost fatalistic outlook. The story is told with the mild despair of someone seeing her younger self from the heavens of an afterlife, unable to intervene. The masterpiece is the final volume of the series, The Four-Gated City, a period frescoe apparently enveloping all of England – indeed our entire culture – illuminated by the author’s empathy and incivility. The Golden Notebook (1962) was Doris Lessing’s real breakthrough. The burgeoning feminist movement saw it as a pioneering work and it belongs to the handful of books that informed the 20th-century view of the male-female relationship.

It used a more complex narrative technique to reveal how political and emotion conflicts are intertwined. The style levels of differing documents and experiences mix: newspaper cuttings, news items, films, dreams and diaries. Anna Wulf, the main character, has five notebooks for her thoughts about Africa, politics and the communist party, her relationship to men and sex, Jungian analysis and dream interpretation. The disjointed form reflects that of the main character's mind. There is no single perspective from which to capture the entirety of her life experience. Books published in the 1970s included Briefing for a Descent into Hell (1971), inspired by R. D. Laing. Lessing has characterised her novel from this period as "inner-space fiction": an attempt in the spirit of Romanticism to expand human knowledge to encompass regions beyond the control of reason and the ego. In the novel series Canopus in Argos: Archives (vol. 1–5, 1979–1984) Lessing expanded the science fiction genre. The series studies the post-atomic war development of the human species. Lessing varies thoughts about colonialism, nuclear war and ecological disaster with observations on the opposition between female and male principles.

Among inspirations for the work was the Idries Shah’s school of Sufism that she discovered in the 1960s. Doris Lessing revisited her interest in Sufism in the Time Bites (2004) collection of essays. Lessing returned to realistic narrative in The Good Terrorist (1985), providing a satirical picture of the need of the contemporary left for total control and the female protagonist’s misdirected martyrdom and subjugation. Her analysis of the greenhouse for the terrorist mind in generation hatred and an Übermensch attitude retains currency. The autobiographical Under My Skin (1994) and Walking in the Shade (1997) represented a new peak in her writing. Lessing recalls not only her own life but the entire epoch: England in the last days of the empire. Her novel The Sweetest Dream (2001) is a stand-alone sequel in fictive form. Perhaps her unsparing view of the polical antics of friends and lovers necessitated such discretion. Her other important novels are The Summer Before the Dark (1973) and The Fifth Child (1988).

In the former, the reader at first infers a liberation motif: a woman finally about to fulfil her gift and sexual desires. After a first reading, the contours of the real novel take shape: a ruthless study of the collapse of values in middle age. The Fifth Child is a masterfully realised psychological thriller, where a woman’s repressed or denied aggression against family life is incarnated in a monstrous boy child. The vision of global catastrophe forcing mankind to return to a more primitive life has had special appeal for Doris Lessing. It reappears in some of her books of recent years: the fantasy novel Mara and Dann (1999) and its sequel The Story of General Dann and Mara's Daughter, Griot and the Snow Dog (2005). From collapse and chaos emerge the elementary qualities that allow Lessing to retain hope in humanity. Literary Prizes: Somerset Maugham Award (1954), Prix Médicis étranger (1976), Österreichischer Staatspreis für Europäische Literatur (1981), Shakespeare-Preis der Alfred Toepfer Stiftung F. V. S., Hamburg (1982), W. H.

Smith Literary Award (1986), Palermo Prize (1987), Premio Internazionale Mondello (1987), Premio Grinzane Cavour (1989), James Tait Black Memorial Book Prize (1995), Los Angeles Times Book Prize (1995), Premio Internacional Catalunya (1999), David Cohen British Literary Prize (2001), Companion of Honour from the Royal Society of Literature (2001), Premio Principe de Asturias (2001), S.T. Dupont Golden PEN Award (2002). Works in English The Grass is Singing. – London : M. Joseph, 1950 ; New York : Crowell, 1950 This was the Old Chief's Country. – London : M. Joseph, 1951 ; New York : Crowell, 1952 Martha Quest. – London : M. Joseph, 1952. – (Children of Violence; 1) Five : Short Novels. – London : M. Joseph, 1953 A Proper Marriage. – London : M.

Joseph, 1954. – (Children of Violence; 2) A Retreat to Innocence. – London : M. Joseph, 1956 ; New York : Prometheus, 1959 The Habit of Loving. – London : MacGibbon & Kee, 1957 ; New York : Crowell, 1958 Going Home. – London : M. Joseph, 1957 ; New York : Ballantine, 1968 A Ripple from the Storm. – London : M. Joseph, 1958 ; New York : Simon & Schuster, 1966. – (Children of Violence; 3) Fourteen Poems. – Northwood : Scorpion Press, 1959 In Pursuit of the English : a Documentary. – London : MacGibbon & Kee, 1960 ; New York : Simon & Schuster, 1961 Play with a Tiger : a Play in Three Acts. – London : M. Joseph, 1962 The Golden Notebook. – London : M.

Joseph, 1962 ; New York : Simon & Schuster, 1962 A Man and Two Women. – London : MacGibbon & Kee, 1963 ; New York : Simon & Schuster, 1963 Martha Quest and A Proper Marriage. – New York : Simon & Schuster, 1964 African Stories. – London : M. Joseph, 1964 ; New York : Simon & Schuster, 1965 Landlocked. – London : MacGibbon & Kee, 1965 ; New York : Simon & Schuster, 1966. – (Children of Violence; 4) A Ripple from the Storm and Landlocked. – New York : Simon & Schuster, 1966 The Black Madonna. – London : Panther, 1966 Winter in July. – London : Panther, 1966 Particularly Cats. – London : M. Joseph, 1967 ; New York : Simon & Schuster, 1967 The Four-Gated City.

– London : MacGibbon & Kee, 1969 ; New York : Knopf, 1969. – (Children of Violence; 5) Briefing for a Descent into Hell. – London : Cape, 1971 ; New York : Knopf, 1971 The Story of a Non-Marrying Man and Other Stories. – London : Cape, 1972. – Republ. as The Temptation of Jack Orkney and Other Stories. – New York : Knopf, 1972 Collected African stories. Vol. 1, This was the Old Chief's Country. – London : M. Joseph, 1973 Collected African stories. Vol. 2, The Sun Between Their Feet. – London : M. Joseph, 1973 The Summer Before the Dark. – London : Cape, 1973 ; New York : Knopf, 1973 The Memoirs of a Survivor. – London : Octagon, 1974 ; New York : Knopf, 1975 Stories.

– New York : Knopf, 1978 To Room Nineteen : Collected Stories Volume One. – London : Cape, 1978 The Temptation of Jack Orkney : Collected Stories Volume Two. – London : Cape, 1978 Shikasta : Re: Colonised Planet 5. – London : Cape, 1979 ; New York : Knopf, 1979. – (Canopus in Argos: Archives; 1) The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five. – London : Cape, 1980 ; New York : Knopf, 1980. – (Canopus in Argos: Archives; 2) The Sirian Experiments. – London : Cape, 1981 ; New York : Knopf, 1981. – (Canopus in Argos: Archives; 3) The Making of the Representative for Planet 8. – London : Cape, 1982 ; New York : Knopf, 1982.

– (Canopus in Argos: Archives; 4) Documents Relating to the Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire. – London : Cape, 1983 ; New York : Knopf, 1983. – (Canopus in Argos: Archives; 5) The Diary of a Good Neighbour. – London : M. Joseph, 1983 ; New York : Knopf, 1983 If the Old Could ... – London: M. Joseph, 1984 ; New York : Knopf, 1984 The Diaries of Jane Somers. – London : M. Joseph, 1984 ; New York : Knopf, 1984 The Good Terrorist. – London : Cape, 1985 ; New York : Knopf, 1985 Prisons We Choose to Live Inside. – London : Cape, 1987 ; New York : Harper & Row, 1987 The Wind Blows Away Our Words. – London : Picador, 1987 ; New York : Vintage, 1987 The Fifth Child.

– London : Cape, 1988 ; New York : Knopf, 1988 The Real Thing : Stories and Sketches. – Republ. as London Observed : Stories and Sketches. – London : HarperCollins, 1992 African Laughter : Four Visits to Zimbabwe. – London & New York : HarperCollins, 1992 Shadows on the Wall of the Cave : a talk by Doris Lessing delivered 19 January 1994. – London : The British Library, 1994 Conversations / edited by Earl G. Ingersol. – Princeton, N.J. : Ontario Review Press, 1994 A Small Personal Voice : Essays, Reviews, Interviews / Edited by Paul Schlueter. – London : Flamingo (HarperCollins), 1994 Under My Skin : Volume One of My Autobiography, to 1949. – London & New York : HarperCollins, 1994 Spies I Have Known and Other Stories. – Glasgow : Collins Educational, 1995 Playing the Game.

– London : HarperCollins, 1995 Love, Again. – London : Flamingo, 1996 ; New York : HarperCollins, 1996 Play with a Tiger, and Other Plays. – London : Flamingo, 1996 Walking in the Shade : Volume Two of My Autobiography, 1949-1962. – London & New York : HarperCollins, 1997 Mara and Dann : an Adventure. – London & New York : HarperCollins, 1999 Ben, in the World. – London & New York : HarperCollins, 2000 The Sweetest Dream. – London : Flamingo (HarperCollins), 2001 ; New York : HarperCollins, 2002 On Cats. – London : Flamingo (HarperCollins), 2002 The Grandmothers : Four Short Novels. – London : Flamingo (HarperCollins), 2003 ; New York : HarperCollins, 2004 Time Bites : Views and Reviews.

– London : Fourth Estate, 2004 ; New York : HarperCollins, 2004 The Story of General Dann and Mara's Daughter, Griot and the Snow Dog. – London : Fourth Estate (HarperCollins), 2005 ; New York : HarperCollins, 2006 The Cleft. – London : Fourth Estate (HarperCollins), 2007 ; New York : HarperCollins, 2007 Works in French Vaincue par la brousse / traduit de l'anglais par Doussia Ergaz. – Paris : Plon, 1953. – Traduction de: The Grass is Singing Martha Quest / traduit de l'anglais par Doussia Ergaz et Florence Cravoisier. – Paris : Plon, 1957. – Traduction de: Martha Quest Un homme, deux femmes / traduit par Jacqueline Marc-Chadourne. – Paris : Plon, 1967. – Traduction de: A Man and Two Women Le carnet d'or / traduit de l'anglais par Marianne Véron.

– Paris : A. Michel, 1976. – Traduction de: The Golden Notebook Les enfants de la violence. – Paris : A. Michel, 1978. – Réunit "Martha Quest" et "Un Mariage comme il faut" L'écho lointain de l'orage. – Paris : A. Michel, 1979 Nouvelles africaines / traduit de l'anglais par Marianne Véron. – Paris : A. Michel, 1980. – Traduction de: This was the Old Chief's Country Shikasta / traduit de l'anglais par Paule Guivar'ch. – Paris : Seuil, 1981. – Traduction de: Shikasta : Re: Colonised Planet 5 L'été avant la nuit / traduit de l'anglais par Marianne Véron. – Paris : A. Michel, 1981. – Traduction de: The Summer Before the Dark La cité promise / traduit de l'anglais par Marianne Véron. – Paris : A.

Michel, 1981. – Traduction de: The Four-Gated city Mémoires d'une survivante / traduit de l'anglais par Marianne Véron. – Paris : A. Michel, 1982. – Traduction de: The Memoirs of a Survivor Mariages entre les zones trois, quatre et cinq : narration des chroniqueurs de la zone trois / traduit de l'anglais par Robert Pépin. – Paris : Seuil, 1983. – Traduction de: The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five Les chats en particulier / traduit de l'anglais par Marianne Véron. – Paris : A. Michel, 1983. – Traduction de: Particularly cats Journal d'une voisine / traduit de l'anglais par Marianne Fabre. – Paris : A. Michel, 1984. – Traduction de: The Diary of a Good Neighbour Si vieillesse pouvait / traduit ... par Natalie Zimmermann. – Paris : A. Michel, 1985.

– Traduction de: If the Old Could La terroriste / traduit de l'anglais par Marianne Véron. – Paris : A. Michel, 1986. – Traduction de: The Good Terrorist Le vent emporte nos paroles. – Paris : A. Michel, 1987. – Traduction de: The Wind Blows Away Our Words La Madone noire / traduit de l'anglais par Marianne Véron. – Paris : A. Michel, 1988. – (Nouvelles africaines; 2). – Traduction de: The Sun Between Their Feet Descente aux enfers / traduit de l'anglais par Pierre Alien. – Paris : A. Michel, 1988. – Traduction de: Briefing for a Descent into Hell Le cinquième enfant / traduit de l'anglais par Marianne Véron. – Paris : A. Michel, 1990.

– Traduction de: The Fifth Child L'habitude d'aimer : nouvelles / traduit de l'anglais par Marianne Véron. – Paris : A. Michel, 1992. – Traduction de: To Room Nineteen Rire d'Afrique : voyages au Zimbabwe / traduit de l'anglais par Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat. – Paris : A. Michel, 1993. – Traduction de: African Laughter : Four Visits to Zimbabwe Notre amie Judith / traduit de l'anglais par Marianne Véron / traduit de l'anglais par Marianne Véron. – Paris : A. Michel, 1993. – Traduction de: The Temptation of Jack Orkney Dans ma peau : 1919-1949 / traduit de l'anglais par Anne Rabinovitch. – Paris : A. Michel, 1995.

– Traduction de: Under My Skin : Volume One of My Autobiography, to 1949 L'amour, encore / traduit de l'anglais par Anne Rabinovitch. – Paris : A. Michel, 1996. – Traduction de: Love, Again Nouvelles de Londres / traduit de l'anglais par Anne Rabinovitch. – Paris : A. Michel, 1997. – Traduction de: London Observed La marche dans l'ombre : 1949-1962 / traduit de l'anglais par Anne Rabinovitch. – Paris : A. Michel, 1998. – Traduction de: Walking in the Shade : Volume Two of My Autobiography, 1949-1962 Mara et Dann / traduit de l'anglais par Isabelle D. Philippe. – Paris : Flammarion, 2001. – Traduction de: Mara and Dann Le monde de Ben / traduit de l'anglais par Marianne Véron. – Le Mans : Éd.

Libra diffusio, 2002. – Traduction de: Ben, in the World Le rêve le plus doux / traduit de l'anglais par Isabelle D. Philippe. – Paris : Flammarion, 2003. – Traduction de: The Sweetest Dream Les grand-mères / traduit de l'anglais par Isabelle D. Philippe. – Paris : Flammarion, 2005. – Traduction de: The Grandmothers Un enfant de l'amour / traduit de l'anglais par Isabelle D. Philippe. – Paris : Flammarion, 2007. – Traduction de: The Grandmothers Works in Swedish Gräset sjunger : roman / till svenska av Gunvor och Bertil Hökby. – Stockholm : Hökerberg, 1951. – Originaltitel: The Grass is Singing Flickan Martha / till svenska av Gunnar Frösell. – Stockholm : Hökerberg, 1953. – (Våldets barn ; 1).

– Originaltitel: Martha Quest Den femte sanningen / övers. av Mårten Edlund. – Stockholm : Forum, 1964. – Originaltitel: The Golden Notebook En man och två kvinnor : noveller / övers. av Harriet Alfons och Jadwiga P. Westrup. – Stockholm : Forum, 1965 Vanan att älska : noveller / översättning av Harriet Alfons och Jadwiga P. Westrup. – Stockholm : Forum, 1966. – Originaltitel: The Habit of Loving; A Man and Two Women Katter / övers. av Harriet Alfons och Jadwiga P. Westrup. – Stockholm : Forum, 1968. – Originaltitel: Particularly Cats Ingen trolldom till salu / urval och övers. av Harriet Alfons och Jadwiga P. Westrup. – Stockholm : Forum, 1969 Den femte sanningen. D. 1-2. – Ny utg. / övers. av Mårten Edlund. – Stockholm : Forum, 1970.

– Originaltitel: The Golden Notebook Staden med fyra portar / övers. av Kjell Ekström. – Stockholm : Forum, 1970. – (Våldets barn ; 5). – Originaltitel: The Four-Gated City Instruktion för nedstigning i helvetet / översättning av Sonja Bergvall. – Stockholm : Trevi, 1971. – Originaltitel: Briefing for a Descent into Hell Inte den typ som gifter sig och andra noveller / övers. av Sonja Bergvall. – Stockholm : Trevi, 1972. – Originaltitel: The Story of a Non-Marrying Man and Other Stories Sommaren före mörkret / översättning av Sonja Bergvall. – Stockholm : Trevi, 1973. – Originaltitel: The Summer Before the Dark Bra gift / översättning av Sonja Bergvall. – Stockholm : Trevi, 1973. – (Våldets barn ; 2).

– Originaltitel: A Proper Marriage En fläkt av stormen / övers. av Sonja Bergvall. – Stockholm : Trevi, 1974. – (Våldets barn ; 3). – Originaltitel: A Ripple from the Storm Instängd / översättning av Sonja Bergvall. – Stockholm : Trevi, 1975. – (Våldets barn ; 4). – Originaltitel: Landlocked En överlevandes minnen / övers. av Sonja Bergvall. – Stockholm : Trevi, 1975. – Originaltitel: The Memoirs of a Survivor Martha / övers. av Sonja Bergvall. – Stockholm : Trevi, 1977. – (Våldets barn ; 1). – Originaltitel: Martha Quest Shikasta : Re: koloni 5 : personliga psykologiska historiska dokument i samband med besök av Johor (George Sherban) : 87:e sändebudet (klass 9) : de sista dagarnas period / övers.: Sonja Bergvall.

– Stockholm : Trevi, 1979. – Originaltitel: Shikasta : Re: Colonised Planet 5 Giftermålen mellan zonerna tre, fyra och fem : berättat av krönikörerna i zon tre / övers.: Sonja Bergvall. – Stockholm : Trevi, 1980. – Originaltitel: The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five Planeten Sirius' experiment : rapport från Ambien II / övers.: Sonja Bergvall. – Stockholm : Trevi, 1981. – Originaltitel: The Sirian Experiments Planet 8 : representanternas lärotid / övers.: Sonja Bergvall. – Stockholm : Trevi, 1982. – Originaltitel: The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 De känslosamma agenterna i imperiet Volyen / övers.: Sonja Bergvall. – Stockholm : Trevi, 1984. – Originaltitel: Documents Relating to the Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire En god grannes dagbok / övers.: Kerstin Hallén.

– Stockholm : Trevi, 1985. – Originaltitel: The Diary of a Good Neighbour Om de gamla kunde och de unga visste / övers.: Kerstin Hallén. – Stockholm : Trevi, 1985. – Originaltitel: If the Old Could Den goda terroristen / översättning: Annika Preis. – Stockholm : Trevi, 1986. – Originaltitel: The Good Terrorist Våra ord blåser bort med vinden : rapportbok från Afghanistan / översättning: Lars Hansson. – Stockholm : Trevi, 1987. – Originaltitel: The Wind Blows Away Our Words Det femte barnet / översättning: Annika Preis. – Stockholm : Trevi, 1988. – Originaltitel: The Fifth Child Rufus : berättelsen om en okuvlig katt / översättning: Solveig Nellinge. – Stockholm : Trevi, 1989. – Originaltitel: Rufus the Survivor Äkta vara : noveller / översättning: Britt Arenander och Solveig Nellinge.

– Stockholm : Trevi, 1991 Under huden : del 1 av min självbiografi fram till 1949 / översättning: Annika Preis. – Stockholm : Trevi, 1994. – Originaltitel: Under My Skin : Volume One of My Autobiography, to 1949 Kärlekens teater / översättning: Kerstin Hallén. – Stockholm : Trevi, 1996. – Originaltitel: Love, Again Vandra i skugga : del 2 av min självbiografi : 1949-1962 / översättning: Inger Johansson. – Stockholm : Forum, 1998. – Originaltitel: Walking in the Shade : Volume Two of My Autobiography, 1949-1962 Mara och Dann / översättning: Annika Preis. – Stockholm : Forum, 2000. – Originaltitel: Mara and Dann Ben, ute i världen / översättning: Annika Preis. – Stockholm : Forum, 2001.

– Originaltitel: Ben, in the World Ljuvaste dröm / översättning: Inger Johansson. – Stockholm : Forum, 2003. – Originaltitel: The Sweetest Dream Kärleksbarnet / översättning: Annika Preis. – Stockholm : Forum, 2005. – Originaltitel: The Grandmothers Om katter. – Stockholm : Forum, 2006. – Innehåll: Katter / översättning: Harriet Alfons och Jadwiga P. Westrup; Rufus / översättning: Solveig Nellinge; El Magnifico / översättning: Annika Preis Works in German Afrikanische Tragödie : Roman / Übers.: Ernst Sander. – Gütersloh : Bertelsmann, 1953. – Originaltitel: The Grass is Singing Die andere Frau : Erzählung / Übers. Aus dem Engl. von Ernst Sander. – Gütersloh : Bertelsmann, 1954.

– Originaltitel: The Other Woman Der Zauber ist nicht verkäuflich : 5 Erzählungen aus Afrika / Aus dem Engl. von Lore Krüger. – Berlin : Tribüne, 1956 Der Sommer vor der Dunkelheit : Roman / Dt. von Jürgen Abel. – Reinbek bei Hamburg : Rowohlt, 1975. – Originaltitel: The Summer Before the Dark Hunger / Aus dem Engl. von Lore Krüger. – Zürich : Diogenes, 1976. – Originaltitel: Hunger Das goldene Notizbuch : Roman / Aus dem Engl. von Iris Wagner. – Frankfurt am Main : Goverts, 1978. – Originaltitel: The Golden Notebook Die Memoiren einer Überlebenden : Roman / Aus dem Engl. von Rudolf Hermstein. – Frankfurt am Main : Goverts, 1979. – Originaltitel: The Memoirs of a Survivor Der Mann, der auf und davon ging / Aus dem Engl. übers. von Adelheid Dormagen. – (Erzählungen; 1).

– Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta, 1979 Martha Quest : Roman / Aus dem Engl. übers. von Karin Kersten u. Iris Wagner. – Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta, 1981. – (Kinder der Gewalt; 1). – Originaltitel: Martha Quest Doris Lessings Katzenbuch / Die Übers. Aus dem Engl. besorgte Ursula von Wiese. – Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta, 1981. – Originaltitel: Particularly Cats Anweisung für einen Abstieg zur Hölle : Roman / Aus dem Engl. von Iris Wagner. – Frankfurt am Main : Fischer-Goverts, 1981. – Originaltitel: Briefing for a Descent into Hell Die Frau auf dem Dach / Aus dem Engl. übers. von Adelheid Dormagen. – (Erzählungen; 2) – Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta, 1982 Eldorado / Aus dem Engl. von Adelheid Dormagen. – Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta, 1982 Eine richtige Ehe / Aus dem Engl. übers.

von Karin Kersten und Iris Wagner. – Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta, 1982. – (Kinder der Gewalt; 2). – Originaltitel: A Proper Marriage Spiel mit einem Tiger : Theaterstück in 3 Akten / Aus dem Engl. von Manfred Ohl und Hans Sartorius. – Bad Homburg v.d.H. : Hunzinger, Bühnenverlag, 1982. – Originaltitel: Play with a Tiger Sturmzeichen / Aus dem Engl. übers. von Karin Kaersten und Iris Wagner. – Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta, 1983. – (Kinder der Gewalt; 3). – Originaltitel: A Ripple from the Storm Shikasta / Aus dem Engl. von Helga Pfetsch. – Frankfurt am Main : S. Fischer, Goverts. – (Canopus im Argos: Archive; 1). – Originaltitel: Shikasta : Re: Colonised Planet 5 Landumschlossen / Aus dem Engl. übers. von Karin Kersten und Iris Wagner. – Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta, 1983.

– (Kinder der Gewalt; 4). – Originaltitel: Landlocked Die Versuchung des Jack Orkney / Aus dem Engl. von Adelheid Dormagen. – Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta, 1983. – Originaltitel: The Temptation of Jack Orkney Katzen : Erzählungen / Die Übers. Aus dem Engl. besorgte Ursula von Wiese. – Frankfurt am Main : Büchergilde Gutenberg. – Originaltitel: Particularly Cats Das Tagebuch der Jane Somers : Roman / Aus dem Engl. übers. von Barbara Schönberg. – Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta, 1984. – Originaltitel: The Diary of a Good Neighbour Winter im Juli : Erzählung / Aus dem Engl. von Manfred Ohl und Hans Sartorius. – Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta, 1984. – Originaltitel: Winter in July Die viertorige Stadt / Aus dem Engl. übers. von Karin Kersten und Iris Wagner. – Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta, 1984. – (Kinder der Gewalt; 5).

– Originaltitel: The Four-Gated City Die Ehen zwischen den Zonen drei, vier und fünf / Aus dem Engl. von Manfred Ohl u. Hans Sartorius. – Frankfurt am Main : S. Fischer, Goverts, 1984. – (Canopus im Argos: Archive; 2). – Originaltitel: The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five Vergnügen : Erzählungen / Dt. von Adelheid Dormagen. – München : Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, 1984 Die Liebesgeschichte der Jane Somers : Roman / Aus dem Engl. übers. von Barbara Schönberg. – Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta, 1985. – Originaltitel: If the Old Could ... Die schwarze Madonna / Aus dem Engl. übers. von Manfred Ohl und Hans Sartorius. – Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta, 1985. – Originaltitel: The Black Madonna Die sirianischen Versuche / Aus dem Engl. von Manfred Ohl und Hans Sartorius. – Frankfurt am Main : S.

Fischer/Goverts, 1985. – (Canopus im Argos: Archive; 3). – Originaltitel: The Sirian Experiments Die Entstehung des Repräsentanten von Planet 8 / Aus dem Engl. von Manfred Ohl und Hans Sartorius. – Frankfurt am Main : S. Fischer/Goverts, 1985. – (Canopus im Argos: Archive; 4). – Originaltitel: The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 Die sentimentalen Agenten im Reich Volyen / Aus dem Engl. von Manfred Ohl und Hans Sartorius. – Frankfurt am Main : S. Fischer/Goverts, 1985. – (Canopus im Argos: Archive; 5). – Originaltitel: The Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire Wie ich endlich mein Herz verlor : Erzählungen. – München : Klett-Cotta im Dt. Taschenbuch-Verl., 1985 Wie ein Taubenschlag oder Jedem seine eigene Wildnis / Dt. von Armin Thorn.

– Bad Homburg : Hunzinger, 1986. – Originaltitel: Each His Own Wilderness Auf der Suche : eine Dokumentation / Aus dem Engl. übers. von Manfred Ohl u. Hans Sartorius. – Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta, 1986. – Originaltitel: In Pursuit of the English Zwischen Männern : Erzählungen / Dt. von Adelheid Dormagen. – München : Klett-Cotta im Dt. Taschenbuch-Verl., 1986 Der Ameisenhügel / Aus dem Engl. von Lore Krüger. – München : Dt. Taschenbuch-Verl., 1986. – Originaltitel: The Antheap Die Terroristin : Roman / Aus dem Engl. von Manfred Ohl und Hans Sartorius. – Frankfurt am Main : Fischer/Goverts, 1986. – Originaltitel: The Good Terrorist Das Leben meiner Mutter : mit Bildern aus Afrika / Aus dem Engl. von Adelheid Dormagen. – Berlin : Wagenbach, 1987.

– Originaltitel: Impertinent Daughters; My Mother's Life Der Wind verweht unsere Worte : Bericht aus Afghanistan / Aus dem Engl. von Elfi Brandenburger. – Frankfurt am Main : Fischer-Goverts, 1987. – Originaltitel: The Wind Blows Away Our Words Nebenerträge eines ehrbaren Berufs : Erzählungen / Dt. von Adelheid Dormagen. – München : Klett-Cotta im Dt. Taschenbuch-Verl., 1987 Das fünfte Kind : Roman / Aus dem Engl. von Eva Schönfeld. – Hamburg] : Hoffmann u. Campe, 1988. – Originaltitel: The Fifth Child Heimkehr / Aus dem Engl. übers. von Karin Kersten. – Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta, 1988. – Originaltitel: Going Home Hunger nach dem grossen Leben / Aus dem Engl. von Lore Krüger. – Zürich : Diogenes, 1988. – Originaltitel: Hunger Ein nicht abgeschickter Liebesbrief : Erzählungen / Dt. von Adelheid Dormagen.

– Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta im Dt. Taschenbuch-Verl., 1989 Mit leiser, persönlicher Stimme : Essays / Aus dem Engl. von Regine Laudann. – Frankfurt am Main : S. Fischer/Goverts, 1989. – Originaltitel: A Small Personal Voice Das Doris-Lessing-Buch. – Hamburg : Hoffmann und Campe, 1989. – Originaltitel: The Doris Lessing Reader Die Höhe bekommt uns nicht : Erzählungen / Dt. von Manfred Ohl u. Hans Sartorius. – München : Dt. Taschenbuch-Verl., 1989 Der Preis der Wahrheit / Aus dem Engl. von Anette Grube. – Hamburg : Hoffmann und Campe, 1991. – Originaltitel: London Observed Bericht über die bedrohte Stadt : vier Erzählungen. – München : Heyne, 1991 Liebesgeschichten / Aus dem Engl. übers. von Adelheid Dormagen ...

– Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta, 1992 Rückkehr nach Afrika / Aus dem Engl. von Anette Grube. – Hamburg : Hoffmann und Campe, 1992. – Originaltitel: African Laughter Katzengeschichten / hrsg. von Jutta Freund und ill. von Andreas Reiner. – München : Heyne, 1993 Rufus : eine Katzengeschichte / Aus dem Engl. übers. von Manfred Ohl und Hans Sartorius. – Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta, 1994. – Originaltitel: Rufus the Survivor Unter der Haut : Autobiographie 1919 – 1949 / Aus dem Engl. von Karen Nölle-Fischer. – Hamburg : Hoffmann und Campe, 1994. – Originaltitel: Under My Skin : Volume One of My Autobiography, to 1949 Und wieder die Liebe : Roman / Aus dem Engl. von Irene Rumler. – Hamburg : Hoffmann und Campe, 1997.

– Originaltitel: Love, Again Schritte im Schatten : Autobiographie ; 1949 – 1962 / Aus dem Engl. von Christel Wiemken. – Hamburg : Hoffmann und Campe, 1997. – Originaltitel: Walking in the Shade : Volume Two of My Autobiography, 1949-1962 Doris Lessing, Gespräche / aus dem Engl. von Sabine Schulte. – Hamburg : Hoffmann und Campe, 1999. – Originaltitel: Conversations Liebhaber meiner Phantasie : Erzählungen / Aus dem Engl. von Adelheid Dormagen ... – Berlin : Wagenbach, 1999 Ben in der Welt : Roman / Aus dem Engl. von Lutz Kliche. – Hamburg : Hoffmann und Campe, 2000. – Originaltitel: Ben, in the World Mara und Dann : Roman / Aus dem Engl. von Barbara Christ. – Hamburg : Hoffmann und Campe, 2001. – Originaltitel: Mara and Dann Ein süßer Traum : Roman / Aus dem Engl.

von Barbara Christ. – Hamburg : Hoffmann und Campe, 2003. – Originaltitel: The Sweetest Dream Ein Kind der Liebe / Aus dem Engl. von Barbara Christ. – Hamburg : Hoffmann und Campe, 2004. – Originaltitel: The Grandmothers Why a Small Black Child in Zimbabwe Stole a Book on Advanced Physics : englisch und deutsch / Übers. von Gabriele Haefs. Mit einem Nachw. von Hermann Schulz. – Hamburg : Internat. Antiquariatsmesse, 2004 Die Geschichte von General Dann und Maras Tochter, von Griot und dem Schneehund : Roman / Aus dem Engl. von Barbara Christ. – Hamburg : Hoffmann und Campe, 2006. – Originaltitel: The Story of General Dann and Mara's Daughter, Griot and the Snow Dog Die Kluft / [Barbara Christ, Übersetzer]. – Hamburg : Hoffmann und Campe, 2007. – Originaltitel: The Cleft Literature Brewster, Dorothy, Doris Lessing.

– New York : Twayne, 1965 Schlueter, Paul, The Novels of Doris Lessing. – Carbondale : Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 1973 Doris Lessing : Critical Studies / ed. by Annis Pratt and L.S. Dembo. – Madison : Wisconsin Press, 1974 Thorpe, Michael, Doris Lessing's Africa. – London : Evans, 1978 Holmquist, Ingrid, From Society to Nature : a Study of Doris Lessing's Children of Violence. – Göteborg : Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, 1980 Notebooks/Memoirs/Archives : Reading and Rereading Doris Lessing / ed. by Jenny Taylor. – Boston, Mass. : Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982 Doris Lessing / edited by Eve Bertelsen. – Johannesburg : McGraw-Hill, cop. 1985 Fishburn, Katherine, The Unexpected Universe of Doris Lessing : a Study in Narrative Technique. – Westport, Conn.

: Greenwood Press, 1985 Doris Lessing / edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom. – New York : Chelsea House, 1986 Doris Lessing : the Alchemy of Survival / edited by Carey Kaplan and Ellen Cronan Rose. – Athens, Ohio : Ohio Univ. Press, cop. 1988 Greene, Gayle, Doris Lessing : the Poetics of Change. – Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, cop. 1994 Rowe, Margaret Moan, Doris Lessing. – London : Macmillan, 1994 Galin, Müge, Between East and West : Sufism in the Novels of Doris Lessing. – Albany, NY: State Univ. of New York Press, 1997 Putting the Questions Differently : Interviews with Doris Lessing 1964-1994 / Edited by Earl G. Ingersoll. – London : Flamingo, 1996 Klein, Carole, Doris Lessing : a Biography. – London : Duckworth, 2000 Lessing, Doris, Doris Lessing : Conversations / edited by Earl G.

Ingersoll. – Princeton, N.J. : Ontario Review Press, 2000 Bücher, Britta, A Wordless Statement : die Rolle der Darstellung in Doris Lessings Space-fiction. – Frankfurt am Main : Peter Lang, 2002 Defining English Literature: British Nobel Prize Winners Defining English Literature: British Nobel Prize Winners Thomas Storey For centuries, English literature has occupied a disproportionately large place on the global stage, with iconic figures such as William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens endowing the English literary tradition with a lustre that it still retains. The British winners of the Nobel Prize for literature embody this, although they may offer surprises even for those well versed in the literary output of the United Kingdom . The diverse list of winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature from the United Kingdom reveal the way in which the contours of English literature have shifted over the course of the 20th century and how it has become more inclusive and more varied. The list includes several writers who were born elsewhere but came to call England their home, and came to have a profound impact on English literature, as well as writers working in the fields of history, philosophy and drama along with poetry and fiction.

What these writers have in common is that they all put forward their own definition of English literature, and by doing so demarcated their own idea of England. Rudyard Kipling (1864-1936) Kipling, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907, was the first winner of the prize from the British Isles and was also the first English language writer to win. For many people, Kipling has become emblematic of a type of late-Victorian Englishness: something which is most apparent in his all-consuming zeal for the British Empire. Indeed Kipling was born in Bombay, then a major centre of the British Raj, and spent much of his life writing about the Empire. Works such as Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), The White Man’s Burden (1899) and If (1910) focused on Imperial exploits and the heroism of British forces in facing down indigenous foes.

In subsequent decades he was dismissed as a propagandist for British Imperialism who cared little for the rights of the various peoples that populated the Empire, although the literary value of Kipling’s work has rarely been questioned. He is perhaps most fondly remembered for his children’s stories, such as The Jungle Book , which remains widely read. John Galsworthy (1897-1933) The next winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature from the United Kingdom was John Galsworthy, who won in 1932, a year before his death. In his time he was a highly successful novelist and playwright whose novel The Forsyte Saga and its sequels, A Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter , were immensely popular. This series of novels depicted the convoluted lives of an upper class British family who, despite their wealth, are beset by problems. The family is considered nouveaux riche, having come from a farming background, and the novels are partly an acutely observed satire of the complexities of the British class system. Whilst Galsworthy was immensely popular and was recognised for his literary achievements by the Nobel committee, he was also a divisive figure.

The younger generation of modernist writers who came to prominence in the early 20th century dismissed him as an archaic relic of the Victorian era. T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) An American who spent most of his adult life in Britain and who eventually became a naturalised British citizen, T.S. Eliot is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in 20th century literature. Eliot was awarded the prize in 1948, by which time he had become a leading figure in the United Kingdom’s literary establishment and an icon for successive generations of young poets. Eliot was born in St Louis, Missouri, but immigrated to Europe in his early 20s, living first in Paris and then in London, where he met Ezra Pound. Together they would revolutionise 20th century literature, rejecting the staid realism of their predecessors in favour of a modernist stream-of-consciousness style that emphasised the ruptures of individual perspective. Eliot’s most famous works of his early period were The Love Song of J.

Alfred Prufrock , a satire of modern ennui, and The Waste Land , an apocalyptic epic in which Eliot channelled the disillusionment of his generation and the horror of World War One. Eliot’s works, along with other modernist classics such as James Joyce’s Ulysses and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway , changed the trajectory of English literature irrevocably. Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) Bertrand Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950 for his writings in philosophy, rather than fiction. He was one of most influential philosophers of the early 20th century and through his work he developed a new method of philosophical inquiry which he called ‘analytic philosophy’. This placed more of an emphasis on rigorous argument and clarity, formal logic and linguistic analysis. Russell’s most famous philosophical works are On Denoting, which he released in 1905,and Principia Mathematica , written with A.N. Whitehead and published from 1910 to 1913.

Alongside his philosophical career, Russell was involved in political and social activism and campaigned for pacifism and, in his later life, nuclear disarmament. He released A History of Western Philosophy in 1945, a hugely influential compendium of the course of Western philosophy, which was cited when he was awarded the Nobel Prize. Winston Churchill (1874-1965) A towering figure in British history, the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is world-renowned for his wartime leadership of the United Kingdom. Alongside his political career Churchill was an avid historian and a prolific writer. Despite his official responsibilities as Prime Minister, he published several highly acclaimed works during his lifetime. These include Marlborough: His Life and Times , a biography of Churchill’s ancestor the Duke of Marlborough, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples , a four volume history of Britain from Roman times to the early 20th century, and The Second World War , an insider’s account of the British war effort. The latter work was cited when he won the Nobel Prize, although many have suggested that it is compromised by Churchill’s central role in the action.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1953 for, in the words of the Nobel Committee, ‘his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values’. William Golding (1911-1993) Golding was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983, at which time he was considered one of the foremost English writers of the 20th century. He came to prominence in the early 1950s with the publication of his debut novel Lord of the Flies , a harrowing allegorical tale of shipwrecked children that was, at the time, shocking in its bleak depiction of human bestiality. This novel introduced Golding’s stylistic and thematic obsessions: his tendency to use allegory and his relentless pessimism about the nature of civilisation, which would thread its way throughout his work. Lord of the Flies was not a success initially, but was eventually acclaimed as one of the finest works of the 20th century and a perspicacious insight into post war society.

Golding would follow it with several acclaimed works including The Inheritors (1955), The Spire (1964) and Rites of Passage (1980), which won the Man Booker Prize. Golding remains one of the most popular English authors, particularly since Lord of the Flies has become a mainstay of secondary school curricula in the UK and US. Harold Pinter (1930-2008) A dramatist who would come to dominate the world of English theatre over the latter half of the 20th century, Pinter has been credited with reviving British drama. His works were hailed for their psychological insight and their unsettling qualities, and the Nobel Prize committee commented upon awarding him the prize for literature in 2005, that ‘in his plays [he] uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression’s closed rooms’. Pinter’s works also revealed a deep political commitment which he also displayed in other areas of his life; most notably by refusing to do his National Service in the British military in the 1950s, but also by relentless political activism in his later years.

He campaigned vigorously for free speech, an end to international conflict and was a fierce critic of the second Iraq war. Some of Pinter’s most prominent works include The Birthday Party (1957), The Homecoming (1964), and Betrayal (1978). Doris Lessing (1919-2013) Lessing was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007 and at 88 was the oldest person to ever receive the prize. Although born in Iran and raised in Zimbabwe, which at the time was the British colony of Southern Rhodesia, she fled Africa to pursue a writing career, leaving behind her two small children. She moved to London, and in 1950 published her first novel, The Grass is Singing . Drawing from her childhood in Africa, this novel was considered a shocking sensation upon its release because of its frank depiction of race relations in the British colony. Its notoriety, however, would be eclipsed by Lessing’s third novel The Golden Notebook , which she released in 1962. This was a thematic breakthrough for Lessing and its depiction of female sexuality and the woman’s movement was profoundly radical for its time.

Lessing would release several other highly acclaimed works throughout her career, including Memoirs of a Survivor (1974), The Good Terrorist (1985) and The Sweetest Dream (2001). Video: Novelist Doris Lessing reacts to winning the Nobel Prize - Telegraph Culture Video Novelist Doris Lessing reacts to winning the Nobel Prize The outspoken author Doris Lessing is distinctly underwhelmed as a reporter tells her she has won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007. 3:50PM GMT 17 Nov 2013 The Nobel Prize-winning novelist Doris Lessing, one of the most important English-language writers of the late 20th century, has died aged 94, her publisher said on Sunday. Lessing tackled race, ideology, gender politics and the workings of the psyche in a prolific and often iconoclastic career, and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007, only the 11th woman to do so.

Born in what was then Persia, now Iran, on Oct 22, 1919, Lessing was raised in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and moved to Britain at the age of 30. Source: APTN

Question: Which English novelist won the Nobel prize for literature in 2007?
Answer: Doris Lessing