I grew up in the 70s and am struck by how many memories of my mother and friends’ mothers this instantly evokes - the stockings (!), wearing dresses around the house, the casual sexism, the feeling that mothers acted one way around us kids/other women and another way completely when men were in the room. I think the “carefully tended images” idea captures a lot of that era.
Thanks for this fun opportunity to collaboratively explore Lessing's story!
Cari, you wrote: As I read, I wondered if this is all a little too heavy-handed. Or does it just seem that way to me reading now, fifty years after the novel was first published?
I'm curious what exactly makes the story feel dated. There are still women "trapped" in relationships/situations similar to Kate's, even though that's less predominant today. How would the story look if written today? How would her stuckness be conveyed? Maybe her self-discovery would happen earlier, when her children were younger (although I like that the protagonist is a more mature woman.)
I like that you've primed us to watch for the recurring "a woman." I wonder if they will continue to pop up when she has less pressure in her life and more time to observe herself.
And I love the rich dreams! My expectations are set to see the seal heal and return to the freedom of the sea. I like the idea that the seal, in the first dream inspiring both anxiety and joy, is Kate's core Self that has been ignored for so long. The seal moans and seems to be dying and she wants to save it. In dream 2, Kate's unclear what direction to take to help the seal, but she remains committed, even though she makes mistakes. The seal has scars old and new and is bleeding, but is already healing. She nurtures the seal (her Self?) with a balm. In dream 3, the turtle (her old self, devoted only to family and mothering?) leaves her eggs and goes off to die. Kate seeks the seal (her "new" Self?), the being that she sees as important.
I have never read Lessing and always wanted to, so am really enjoying this. Cari, your explanation of the close-third person perspective helps me understand the beginning. I wasn't sure what I thought of it the first few pages in, but then that sentence about growing old-- "…following the fashions carefully so that she would be smart but not mutton dressed as lamb....."--gaa! brutal! Totally hooked. Regarding the seal dreams, they kind of threw me out of the story, like I found I did not believe that these dreams belonged to this character. I don't know why.
This is great. Thanks for doing this. (I liked reading your take literally minutes after I finished reading the section.)
Worth noting: I knew almost nothing about this book going into it (other than it’s shorter than _The Golden Notebook_ and so possibly a friendlier entry point to Lessing). Also worth noting: I grew rather more self-conscious of being, a, uhm, _guy_, the further into this first section I read. Ahem!
Ahem, that said: I do sincerely appreciate when a novel calls me out on my BS. Those opening fifteen pages or so sure felt like they were filling a mold with “serviceable” mother-wife. But then I’m hit over the head with the fact that she’s got this intellectual powerhouse of a talent for languages and the mold shatters in my mind. Of _course_ I don’t know her, yet. Of course I need to check my assumptions at the door...
So on the one hand she kind of has to be amazing at it to make that moment work; on the other, it is another kind of service role, isn't it? She becomes a conduit; she’s erasing herself, when she’s translating, isn’t she? So this (amazing!) thing she can do (which I am so jealous of), which helps push her out of her home and changes her perspective on how she’s dealing with the fact that her "time" is moving on, casts her in another role, one of subservience. And then of course she doesn’t even get to keep doing that because, well, all these folks need a mommy, huh.
Speaking of time, I love the way Lessing actively squiggles time throughout this section. She slows it down over pages then speeds it up across paragraphs. Mental time flows at its own pace; there’s little sense of a steady linear narrative time throughout the section. Oh gosh does that feel familiar and correct the older I get.
I’ve never read Lessing before, so thanks for the insight that subtlety isn’t her thing. I never quite felt like the novel was heavy-handed, it’s clearly too complex for that, but I did kind of get curious about, like, situating it against other feminist writing and thinking, of the time and of the time since...which would obviously be a whole project unto itself.
I love your thoughts and take on both Lessing and the novel. I hit this novel and bounced. Hard. Too late I recalled that I've never been able to get all the way through anything she wrote. Her prose is impeccable, perception and articulation of same razor sharp, always. But the 'remove,' the distance feels stilted and unappealing. Lessing creates such a wall around the main character, and the entire story, at least in these beginning pages, that it almost doesn't matter whether or not I find anything likeable or relatable in any of the characters, much less Kate. It's not necessary but without any relatable connection, it does make for tedious reading. The beautiful craft is ice cold. Let's see if I mellow on this as we go? I will hang in.
Excellent, Cari. Loving this. Particularly your observation here: "And then there is the 'carefully tended image of the marriage' rather than the marriage itself carefully tended." This mirroring of the acts of authentic living versus the authentic life itself is so Lessing to me.
I'm struck by how great her sentences are. Which, she won the Nobel Prize! So it's not like this is unexpected, but, wow. She makes everything count.
I’m a couple weeks late but I’m here! About to start reading the next section...
I grew up in the 70s and am struck by how many memories of my mother and friends’ mothers this instantly evokes - the stockings (!), wearing dresses around the house, the casual sexism, the feeling that mothers acted one way around us kids/other women and another way completely when men were in the room. I think the “carefully tended images” idea captures a lot of that era.
Hi Cari and all,
Thanks for this fun opportunity to collaboratively explore Lessing's story!
Cari, you wrote: As I read, I wondered if this is all a little too heavy-handed. Or does it just seem that way to me reading now, fifty years after the novel was first published?
I'm curious what exactly makes the story feel dated. There are still women "trapped" in relationships/situations similar to Kate's, even though that's less predominant today. How would the story look if written today? How would her stuckness be conveyed? Maybe her self-discovery would happen earlier, when her children were younger (although I like that the protagonist is a more mature woman.)
I like that you've primed us to watch for the recurring "a woman." I wonder if they will continue to pop up when she has less pressure in her life and more time to observe herself.
And I love the rich dreams! My expectations are set to see the seal heal and return to the freedom of the sea. I like the idea that the seal, in the first dream inspiring both anxiety and joy, is Kate's core Self that has been ignored for so long. The seal moans and seems to be dying and she wants to save it. In dream 2, Kate's unclear what direction to take to help the seal, but she remains committed, even though she makes mistakes. The seal has scars old and new and is bleeding, but is already healing. She nurtures the seal (her Self?) with a balm. In dream 3, the turtle (her old self, devoted only to family and mothering?) leaves her eggs and goes off to die. Kate seeks the seal (her "new" Self?), the being that she sees as important.
So fun to guess about all this.
Until new time,
Denise
I have never read Lessing and always wanted to, so am really enjoying this. Cari, your explanation of the close-third person perspective helps me understand the beginning. I wasn't sure what I thought of it the first few pages in, but then that sentence about growing old-- "…following the fashions carefully so that she would be smart but not mutton dressed as lamb....."--gaa! brutal! Totally hooked. Regarding the seal dreams, they kind of threw me out of the story, like I found I did not believe that these dreams belonged to this character. I don't know why.
This is great. Thanks for doing this. (I liked reading your take literally minutes after I finished reading the section.)
Worth noting: I knew almost nothing about this book going into it (other than it’s shorter than _The Golden Notebook_ and so possibly a friendlier entry point to Lessing). Also worth noting: I grew rather more self-conscious of being, a, uhm, _guy_, the further into this first section I read. Ahem!
Ahem, that said: I do sincerely appreciate when a novel calls me out on my BS. Those opening fifteen pages or so sure felt like they were filling a mold with “serviceable” mother-wife. But then I’m hit over the head with the fact that she’s got this intellectual powerhouse of a talent for languages and the mold shatters in my mind. Of _course_ I don’t know her, yet. Of course I need to check my assumptions at the door...
So on the one hand she kind of has to be amazing at it to make that moment work; on the other, it is another kind of service role, isn't it? She becomes a conduit; she’s erasing herself, when she’s translating, isn’t she? So this (amazing!) thing she can do (which I am so jealous of), which helps push her out of her home and changes her perspective on how she’s dealing with the fact that her "time" is moving on, casts her in another role, one of subservience. And then of course she doesn’t even get to keep doing that because, well, all these folks need a mommy, huh.
Speaking of time, I love the way Lessing actively squiggles time throughout this section. She slows it down over pages then speeds it up across paragraphs. Mental time flows at its own pace; there’s little sense of a steady linear narrative time throughout the section. Oh gosh does that feel familiar and correct the older I get.
I’ve never read Lessing before, so thanks for the insight that subtlety isn’t her thing. I never quite felt like the novel was heavy-handed, it’s clearly too complex for that, but I did kind of get curious about, like, situating it against other feminist writing and thinking, of the time and of the time since...which would obviously be a whole project unto itself.
I love your thoughts and take on both Lessing and the novel. I hit this novel and bounced. Hard. Too late I recalled that I've never been able to get all the way through anything she wrote. Her prose is impeccable, perception and articulation of same razor sharp, always. But the 'remove,' the distance feels stilted and unappealing. Lessing creates such a wall around the main character, and the entire story, at least in these beginning pages, that it almost doesn't matter whether or not I find anything likeable or relatable in any of the characters, much less Kate. It's not necessary but without any relatable connection, it does make for tedious reading. The beautiful craft is ice cold. Let's see if I mellow on this as we go? I will hang in.
Excellent, Cari. Loving this. Particularly your observation here: "And then there is the 'carefully tended image of the marriage' rather than the marriage itself carefully tended." This mirroring of the acts of authentic living versus the authentic life itself is so Lessing to me.