DORIS LESSING: THE GRASS IS SINGING

Doris Lessing was the recipient of the 2007 Nobel Prize for literature and the citation described her as that “epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny”. The Grass is Singing, published in 1950, is Doris Lessing’s first novel. The story takes place in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), in southern Africa, in the late 1940s. From 1923-1980 Rhodesia was a British colony, with its own white government. The Grass is Singing tells the story of a white woman and her unhappy marriage to Dick, a poor white farmer. The heroine, Mary, falls obsessively in love with her black houseboy. She treats him cruelly, as she treats all black Africans. The story ends with Mary’s madness and murder. The Grass is Singing is a powerful psychological study of an unhappy woman and her marriage. But at the same time, Lessing draws a picture of Rhodesian society; she shows us how badly many white people treated black people during that period. When The Grass is Singing was first published, it was an immediate success, both in America and in Europe. This critical study assesses and analytically examines Lessings hugely successful debut novel, taking into account its themes, social concerns and characterisation for the benefit of university students in India and abroad. Shakti Batra has been Vice-Principal, Dyal Singh† College (University of Delhi). He has also taught at the Kabul University and the International university of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek as well as students from the Tibetan Public Service Commission, Dharamsala, and Kiyushu University, Japan.

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