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Doris Lessing Awarded Nobel Prize in Literature

Doris Lessing, the author of the classic novel “The Golden Notebook,” won the Nobel Prize for literature today. While announcing the award, the Swedish Academy called Lessing, a prolific author who has written dozens of short stories and novels: “That epicist of the female experience, who with skepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny,” reports the New York Times.

Lessing is only the 11th woman to have won the prize since it was first awarded in 1901. Jane Friedman, chief executive of Lessing’s publisher, Harper Collins, told the Times Online that: “We are very excited. She has been an icon for women for a lifetime.” The Swedish Academy noted the influence of Lessing’s breakthrough novel “The Golden Notebook,” saying: “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,” according to the New York Times.

The awards each come with a 10 million Swedish crown honorarium, about $1.6 million. They will be handed out by Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf at a Stockholm ceremony in December.

Sources:

New York Times 10/11/07; Associated Press 10/11/07; Times Online 10/11/07

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