Briton Wins Nobel Literature Prize
British
novelist, Doris Lessing has won the year 2007 Nobel Prize for
literature, for a body of work that delved into human relations
and inspired a generation of feminist writers.
The academy described 87-year-old Lessing as an "epicist of the
female experience, who with skepticism, fire and visionary power
has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny".
Lessing, the oldest Nobel literature laureate since the prizes
began in 1901, was the 34th woman Nobelist and the 11th female
to take the literature award.
"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," the academy said
in its citation, describing her winning work.
The prize goes with a coveted 10 million Swedish crown, or 1.54
million Dollars.
The Awardee
Lessing debuted as a novelist with "The Grass is Singing" in
1950, a book that examined the relationship between a white
farmer's wife and her black servant.
Her 1962 work "The Golden Notebook" was widely considered her
breakthrough.
Lessing was born to British parents in what was then Persia, now
Iran. Her family moved to Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, in
1925.
She ended her formal schooling at 14.
Reaction
Jane Friedman, chief executive of Lessing’s publisher,
HarperCollins, called the award a complete surprise.
"This is such wonderful news. This is absolutely
extraordinary,"…"She has been an icon for women for a lifetime,"
she said, at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Nicholas Pearson, Lessing's editor at HarperCollins division the
Fourth Estate, called the news "thrilling".
"Those early books changed the face of literature -- the
description of the inner lives of women," he said.
This becomes the fourth of this year's crop of Nobel prizes,
handed out annually for achievements in science, literature,
economics and peace.
REU/MIA
