Product Description: Using texts ranging from the writings of Schlegel to the speeches of the fiftieth-anniversary commemoration of D-Day, these essays explore the ways in which nostalgia brokers the relations between the master narratives of gender and the master narratives of nationalism...read more

Over her 40 year career, Doris Lessing has dealt with a variety of themes of extraliterary importance, such as race issues, colonialism, the relations between men and women, the consequences of the nuclear arms race, the evolution of humanity, and of old age. "Understanding Doris Lessing" introduces readers to a body of work that through a variety of techniques attempts to enlarge our understanding of the literary enterprise of history, and of humanity's relationship to the universe. Included in the discussion are Lessing's earlier works, "The Grass is Singing", "Children of Violence", "The Golden Notebook" and her more recent books, "The Good Terrorist" and "The Fifth Child".