autobiography

charm

co-production

envy

fish

growing up

learning

literature

moral indignation

movement

nickname

political correctness

shape

story

trifle

occupation / innovator as

poet

nationality

British

novelist

intellectual movement

literary realism

screenwriter

essayist

playwright

autobiographer

innovator in the field of

poetry

scientific organization

Modern Language Association

science fiction writer

essay

Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts

Royal Society of Literature

An interim report'that is what an autobiography is.

is the best place for reading, thinking, or doing nothing.

is a diagram and pattern of subtle air, just as the fish is the movement of water embodied, given shape.

If a fish is the movement of water embodied, given shape, then cat is a diagram and pattern of subtle air. Doris Lessing

is an animal which to have is to have the feel of the beast under one's palm. In that lonely stalk you see leopard or even panther.

What a luxury a cat is, the moments of shocking and startling pleasure in a day, the feel of the beast, the soft sleekness under your palm, the warmth when you wake on a cold night, the grace and charm even in a quite ordinary workaday puss. Cat walks across your room, and in that lonely stalk you see leopard or even panther, or it turns its head to acknowledge you and the yellow blaze of those eyes tells you what an exotic visitor you have here, in this household friend, the cat who purrs as you stroke, or rub his chin, or scratch his head. Doris Lessing

is the free giving of a grace, the spending of something given by nature in her role of spendthrift ... something extra, superfluous, unnecessary, essentially a power thrown away.

 has always hidden behind moral indignation.

*All art is a kind of confession, more or less oblique.

is the movement of water embodied, given shape.

*Since films and television have staged everything imaginable before it happens, a true event, taking place in the real world, brings to mind the landscape of films.

is the understanding that one unique and incredible experience is what everyone shares.

is suddenly understanding something you've understood all your life, but in a new way.

is a thing behind which envy has always hidden.

*Boxing as a public spectacle is akin to pornography: in each case the spectator is made a voyeur, distanced, yet presumably intimately involved, in an event that is not supposed to happening as it is happening.

is a potent way of cutting people down to size.

Nicknames are potent ways of cutting people down to size.

is a heritage of communism (and not in a good way) in that it is a self-appointed group of vigilantes imposing their views on others.

Political correctness is the natural continuum from the party line. What we are seeing once again is a self-appointed group of vigilantes imposing their views on others. It is a heritage of communism, but they don't seem to see this. - Doris Lessing

is well intentioned (in that it makes us re-examine our attitudes which is always useful) but the problem is that the lunatic fringe so quickly ceases to be a fringe, and just because they see themselves as anti-racist or feminist or whatever does not mean their real motive is not desire for power over others.

Does political correctness have a good side' Yes, it does, for it makes us re-examine attitudes, and that is always useful. The trouble is that, with all popular movements, the lunatic fringe so quickly ceases to be a fringe... the tail begins to wag the dog. For every woman or man who is quietly and sensibly using the idea to examine our assumptions, there are 20 rabble-rousers whose real motive is desire for power over others, no less rabble-rousers because they see themselves as anti-racist or feminist or whatever. Doris Lessing

is positive in that it makes us re-examine attitudes, and that is always useful, however, for every woman or man who is quietly and sensibly using the idea to look carefully at our assumptions, there are twenty rabble-rousers whose real motive is a desire for power over others.

Does political correctness have a good side? Yes, it does, for it makes us re-examine attitudes, and that is always useful. The trouble is that, as with all popular movements, the lunatic fringe so quickly ceases to be a fringe; the tail begins to wag the dog. For every woman or man who is quietly and sensibly using the idea to look carefully at our assumptions, there are twenty rabble-rousers whose real motive is a desire for power over others. The fact that they see themselves as antiracists or feminists or whatever does not make them any less rabble-rousers.

is how we construct our experiences and its template (i.e. The structure of our mind) is likely nothing other than the very simple: They were born, lived, died... (i.e. Beginning, middle, end).

Humanity's legacy of stories and storytelling is the most precious we have. All wisdom is in our stories and songs. A story is how we construct our experiences. At the very simplest, it can be: 'He/she was born, lived, died.' Probably that is the template of our stories a beginning, middle, and end. This structure is in our minds. Doris Lessing

A story is how we construct our experiences. Doris Lessing

is our phoenix, that, say, after a flood or war or fire, is there, shaping our imaginations which in turn shape us, keep us, create us, and recreate us, when we are torn, hurt, even destroyed.

The storyteller is deep inside everyone of us. The story-maker is always with us. Let us suppose our world is attacked by war, by the horrors that we all of us easily imagine. Let us suppose floods wash through our cities, the seas rise . . . but the storyteller will be there, for it is our imaginations which shape us, keep us, create us for good and for ill. It is our stories that will recreate us, when we are torn, hurt, even destroyed. It is the storyteller, the dream-maker, the myth-maker, that is our phoenix, that represents us at our best, and at our most creative. Doris Lessing

is best neglected --- Small things amuse small minds.

Doris LessingThinkers

Doris Lessing