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Her family moved to the British colony of Southern Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe) in 1925, to live a rough life farming maize. Unfortunately, the thousand acres (4 km²) of bush failed to yield wealth, thwarting her mother's desire to live the life of a Victorian in "savage lands".
Despite this difficult and unhappy childhood, Lessing's writings about life in British Africa are filled with a compassion for both the sterile lives of the British colonists and the plight of the indigenous inhabitants.
She was married twice (and twice divorced) and had three children. Her second husband was Gottfried Lessing, a German emigrant. Her first novel, The Grass is Singing , was published in London in 1949, after she had moved to Europe, where she has been living ever since.
In 2001 she was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize in Literature for her works in defense of freedom and Third World causes. She also received the David Cohen British Literature Prize .
Lessing's fiction is commonly divided into three distinct phases: The Communist themeThis article is about communism as a form of society, as an ideology advocating that form of society, and as a popular movement. For issues regarding the organization of the communist movement, see the Communist party article. For issues regarding one-par 1944-1956 when she was writing radically on social issues, The psychological themePsychology is the study of mind, thought, and behaviour. It is largely concerned with humans, although the behaviour and thought of animals is also studied; either as a subject in its own right (see animal cognition), or more controversially, as a way of 1956-1969 and after that The Sufi themeSufism (Arabic tasawwuf is the esoteric aspect of Islam. In modern language it might also be referred to as "Islamic spirituality". Many Sufi practitioners are organized into a very diverse range of brotherhoods and sisterhoods. Although many orders ("tar which was explored in the Canopus series (see below). After the sufist themas Lessing has worked in all three areas.
Her novel The Golden Notebook is considered a feministFeminism is a social theory and political movement primarily informed and motivated by the experience of women. While generally providing a critique of social relations, many proponents of feminism also focus on analyzing gender inequality and the promoti classic among many scholars, but notably not by the author herself. This novel also allegedly made Lessing a candidate for the Nobel prize, but her later science fictionScience fiction generally speaking, is a form of speculative fiction which deals principally with the impact of imagined science and/or technology upon society or individuals. There are, perhaps, exceptions to (or at least, some very unusual examples of) books (The Canopus series) may have discredited her, so that she was removed from the list. Lessing does not like the idea of being recognized as a feminist author. When asked why, Lessing replies ( New York Times, July 25July 25 is the 206th day (207th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 159 days remaining. Events 306 Constantine I proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops. 1261 Constantinople is captured by Nicaean forces under the command of Michael, 1982):
When asked about which of her books she considers most important, Lessing choose the Canopus in Argos series. These books are based partly on sufi concepts, to which Lessing was introduced by Idries Shah. Earlier works of "inner space" fiction like Briefing for a Descent into Hell and Memoirs of a Survivor also connects to this theme.
Apart from this, she has also written several short stories about cats, which are her favourite animals.