Stories

It is difficult to review a collection of 35 disparate stories, ranging from a few pages to short novellas of up to some 70 pages and covering a multitude of subjects and many different social settings. Except for one or two which are in surrealistic form, they almost all make compelling reading. There is an introduction by Margaret Drabble which traces some of the main themes and the influences on Doris Lessing, and I can only follow her example in my own way. Many of the stories deal with the complicated and often tormented relationships between men and women (recalling the battle of the sexes, as also seen in The Golden Notebooks) and with what they expect of each other, but do not get. The poignancy when, as in three of the stories, the (middle class) people involved are `in a good marriage', `sensible', `rational', and self-analytical. Several times the note is struck that for a woman the all-absorbing task of running a home for husband and children is a kind of slavery. Hardly any of the stories are happy; many, indeed, are tragic. The most haunting of them work towards an almost unbearably inevitable end. Doris Lessing is always compassionate, and occasionally funny, too. Some stories are about lonely people - some of whom are unhappy in their loneliness, while others - women - see it as a sign of their proud independence. The setting is often recognizably and evocatively in the decade or so after the end of the Second World War, mostly in London; but in some of them English people (with the restricted travel allowance of the post-war years, which create their own problems and tensions) are shown on holidays abroad. Some stories have a strong social or political background. The last and longest one, in particular, is, among many other things, a sad and complex meditation of an elderly socialist about the nature of protest movements, perennially repeating itself in each generation, and perennially creating a gulf between the generations. Three pieces in this collection are not really stories at all, but observantly descriptive pieces about London's Regent's Park. All, so the introduction tells us, were originally published between 1957 and 1972, but we are not given the date of each story's first publication. It is a handsome edition and a pleasure to handle.

This book, a large and almost unending collection of her short fiction, is probably the best introduction to the enormous ouevre of Doris Lessing, an incredibly sophisticated and intellectual writer. In it are all her trademarks; a perception of the highs and lows of relationships in rare acuity, private thoughts of joy and sorrow, the awkward social transitions between the classes, the mysteries of attraction. Some stories are deep character studies, some heralds of a bleak future, some mundane descriptions of a park or an ordinary day, some just a few pages of a brief glance among strangers and all that it could entail. Here is a stifled housewife, a desperate homeless person, grey London, a Europe still haunted by the Holocaust. A mere review is difficult in which to encompass all the places and feelings Lessing so masterfully put in this collection. Suffice it to say that it is a must for any Lessing and short fiction fan, as she is just as adept here as in any of her novels. This is a rare collection worth many re-readings.

When I say that Doris Lessing is one of the top published fiction writers still living, you will know to a) take it to the bank, yet b) also go out and get a copy of her stories- preferably her 1980 collection from Vintage Books, simply called Stories, wherein thirty-five of her best tales are housed. Lessing, who was born Doris May Taylor, of British parents, in Persia (now Iran) on October 22, 1919, and grew up in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), is simply one of the best short story writers of the last century. Having recently read the overrated oeuvres of William Trevor and Frank O'Connor, it was a relief to avail myself of the comparatively low-keyed works of Lessing. Of course, she deals with many of the same topics that Trevor, especially (as far more of his tales than O'Connor's are set in England than Ireland), deals with: the bourgeoisie's sloth, the ins and outs of romance, yet she does so in far more daring and experimental forms, even as she does so. And her ear for the upper crust's patois is far more realistic and variegated than Trevor's. Consequently, her tales are more lively and engaging with the characters within. Another area she excels in is with the little details. She understands that `realism' consists not merely of a boring recitation of the diurnal, but a poetic focus on aspects of the real that have been overlooked by most people. Overall, I'd have liked a bit more diversity in her tales, but she has more than most writers, and this helps with the overall quality of her work. Not all her stories succeed, but her body of work is far more `experimental' than that of PoMo poseurs such as David Foster Wallace, Dave Eggers, or Rick Moody. Still, even as her stories stretch form, they all share a very clinical and calculating eye. Lessing really digs underneath the expected, in the best ways of such psychologically based writers as Richard Ford, while also exploring emotion in convincing character portraits that are reminiscent of the best of Russell Banks and Reynolds Price....The final sort of tales are the experiments, such as Not A Very Nice Story, which heavily plays with form and points of view as it details a pair of intertwined marriages, which ends on a very despairing note. This truly postmodern tale (as opposed to the slop that usually has that label applied to it) opens in this provocative and well written way: This story is difficult to tell. Where to put the emphasis? Whose perspective to use? For to tell it from the point of view of the lovers (but that was certainly not their word for themselves- from the viewpoint, then, of the guilty couple) is as if a life were to be described through the eyes of some person who scarcely appeared in it; as if a cousin from Canada had visited, let's say, a farmer in Cornwall half a dozen unimportant times, and then wrote as if these meetings had been the history of the farm and the family. Or it is as if a stretch of years were to be understood in terms of the extra day in Lea

Whether describing an actress in love with an angry married man, the simple pleasures of a public park or the London Blitz, this collection of fine, moving pieces always rings true. Both heartbreaking and in places, disturbing, nonetheless, still rewarding reading. Lessing is more famous for the Golden Notebook, but these showcase her broad range and near flawless gift for making characters come to life. The story with the homeless old woman for example will stay with you forever.