The Doris Lessing Reader Year First Published: 1989 First Published by: Jonathan Cape Ltd Category: Novel Short Stories Non-Fiction This Edition: British first edition ISBN: 0-224-02649-6 click on image for larger version

From the book jacket: "When Doris Lessing came to England from Rhodesia almost forty years ago, she brought with her a manuscript: The Grass is Singing. It was immediately recognised as an exceptional first novel and she was soon acclaimed as one of the finest writers in English, producing work which is consistently controversial, entertaining and profound. This volume is the perfect way to encounter a remarkable author in all the facets of her work. Doris Lessing herself has chosen the extracts, from The Grass Is Singing, the two great novel sequences, Children of Violence and Canopus in Argos;The Golden Notebook;Briefing for a Descent into Helll;The Summer Before the Dark; and The Good Terrorist. There are six short stories and a representative selection of non fiction, including a piece from Going Home (a personal account of her return to Africa); an essay, My Father from A Small Personal Voice; and an article describing her interest in Sufism. In the Preface Doris Lessing points out that her readership tends to fall into two categories - those who admire her writing for its realism and those who prefer her space fiction. The Reader shows just how meaningless such divisions can be. Doris Lessings ideas evolve over the years; we see them recur and develop in this generous selection from an extraordinary body of work. Comments I was surprised to find that the contents of this British Edition differ from the American Edition, not only in quantity but the excerpts themselves are also different. This edition also contains a Preface which the American version does not. British Edition Contents: American Edition Contents: Short Stories The Habit of Loving To Room Nineteen Outside the Ministry Spies I Have Known Homage for Isaac Babel A Woman on a Roof Short Stories The Old Chief Mshlanga A Sunrise on the Veld The Habit of Loving The Eye of God in Paradise How I Finally Lost My Heart England versus England Outside the Ministry One Off the Short List Homage for Isaac Babel Between Men To Room Nineteen The Words He Said A Letter from Home The Temptation of Jack Orkney From the Novels The Grass is Singing Martha Quest A Proper Marriage The Golden Notebook Briefing for A Decent into Hell The Summer Before the Dark Shikasta The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four, and Five The Good Terrorist From the Novels The Grass is Singing Martha Quest A Proper Marriage A Ripple from the Storm The Golden Notebook The Four-Gated City Briefing for a Decent into Hell The Summer Before the Dark The Memoirs of a Survivor Shikasta The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four, and Five The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 The Diaries of Jane Somers Reportage Going Home In Pursuit of the English From Asia Various Preface to The Golden Notebook From A Small Personal Voice: My Father Afterword to The Story of an African Farm Allah Be Praised Non-Fiction Going Home My Father Afterword to The Story of an African Farm Preface to the French Edition of Seekers After Truth O T H E R . E D I T I O N S [Current Edition] Grafton British softcover reprint Published March 1991 ISBN: 0586090339