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Five
Contains A home for the highland cattle, The other woman, Eldorado, The antheap and Hunger.
396 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1954
6 people are currently reading
151 people want to read
About the author
Doris Lessing
462 books3,223 followersDoris Lessing was born into a colonial family. both of her parents were British: her father, who had been crippled in World War I, was a clerk in the Imperial Bank of Persia; her mother had been a nurse. In 1925, lured by the promise of getting rich through maize farming, the family moved to the British colony in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Like other women writers from southern African who did not graduate from high school (such as Olive Schreiner and Nadine Gordimer), Lessing made herself into a self-educated intellectual.
In 1937 she moved to Salisbury, where she worked as a telephone operator for a year. At nineteen, she married Frank Wisdom, and later had two children. A few years later, feeling trapped in a persona that she feared would destroy her, she left her family, remaining in Salisbury. Soon she was drawn to the like-minded members of the Left Book Club, a group of Communists "who read everything, and who did not think it remarkable to read." Gottfried Lessing was a central member of the group; shortly after she joined, they married and had a son.
During the postwar years, Lessing became increasingly disillusioned with the Communist movement, which she left altogether in 1954. By 1949, Lessing had moved to London with her young son. That year, she also published her first novel, The Grass Is Singing, and began her career as a professional writer.
In June 1995 she received an Honorary Degree from Harvard University. Also in 1995, she visited South Africa to see her daughter and grandchildren, and to promote her autobiography. It was her first visit since being forcibly removed in 1956 for her political views. Ironically, she is welcomed now as a writer acclaimed for the very topics for which she was banished 40 years ago.
In 2001 she was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize in Literature, one of Spain's most important distinctions, for her brilliant literary works in defense of freedom and Third World causes. She also received the David Cohen British Literature Prize.
She was on the shortlist for the first Man Booker International Prize in 2005. In 2007 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
(Extracted from the pamphlet: A Reader's Guide to The Golden Notebook & Under My Skin, HarperPerennial, 1995. Full text available on www.dorislessing.org).
In 1937 she moved to Salisbury, where she worked as a telephone operator for a year. At nineteen, she married Frank Wisdom, and later had two children. A few years later, feeling trapped in a persona that she feared would destroy her, she left her family, remaining in Salisbury. Soon she was drawn to the like-minded members of the Left Book Club, a group of Communists "who read everything, and who did not think it remarkable to read." Gottfried Lessing was a central member of the group; shortly after she joined, they married and had a son.
During the postwar years, Lessing became increasingly disillusioned with the Communist movement, which she left altogether in 1954. By 1949, Lessing had moved to London with her young son. That year, she also published her first novel, The Grass Is Singing, and began her career as a professional writer.
In June 1995 she received an Honorary Degree from Harvard University. Also in 1995, she visited South Africa to see her daughter and grandchildren, and to promote her autobiography. It was her first visit since being forcibly removed in 1956 for her political views. Ironically, she is welcomed now as a writer acclaimed for the very topics for which she was banished 40 years ago.
In 2001 she was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize in Literature, one of Spain's most important distinctions, for her brilliant literary works in defense of freedom and Third World causes. She also received the David Cohen British Literature Prize.
She was on the shortlist for the first Man Booker International Prize in 2005. In 2007 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
(Extracted from the pamphlet: A Reader's Guide to The Golden Notebook & Under My Skin, HarperPerennial, 1995. Full text available on www.dorislessing.org).
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 8, 2011
Years ago I made vows I would disregard Nobel Prize in literature and its winners until it was awarded to Mario Vargas Llosa. I just couldn't bear it, that that Fidel-loving, loco-going, commie - Gabriel Garcia Marquez had it and my beloved Llosa didn't.
I was very adamant in my indignation, so finally the Swedish Academy gave in and awarded Llosa the Nobel price last year (that is in 2010, in case you are reading it in distant future). Therefore I could now allow myself to read Doris Lessing.
'Five Short Novels' is one of her lesser known works and reads more like a prelude to something bigger that you can glimpse between the pages. There is just so much potential there and Lessing seems to be teasing you by rationing her talent.
'Five Short Novels' were realeased in a new edition in Poland after Lessing won the Nobel Prize in 2007 and that's what I read. My only complaints about the book have nothing to do with Lessing and all to do with the translation. Unfortunately, the new edition was based on the old translation and while it wasn't straight out bad, it was definitely odd. One thing that irked me in particular was the translation of the characters' names into their Polish equivalents. A very annoying habit that was abandonded by translators a long ago. The translator of 'Five Short Novels' seems to have abandonded it partially as some of the names were translated, some were left in their original form and some were left as in the original but spelled according to Polish spelling rules. I could not make any sense of this.
Another bizarre ocurrence was the translator's insistence on using diminutives in the story 'The Other Woman'. I have no clue where she got that idea from, as diminutives as such don't exist in English. I even asked my goodreads friend Alan who has an original version of the book at home to send me some scans, so I can try to figure it out. But there was nothing there to justify the diminutives that were used both in the dialogues and the narrative. As a result we had two grown up people discussing the parents of one of them using the words 'Mummy' and 'Daddy'.
Enough about the translator, back to Lessing. I think the biggest strength of the book is Lessing's amazing emotional intelligence. She focuses on emotional nuances and describes them with such precision that you can do nothing but admire. It doesn't matter whether it is a teenage Native from the Reserve in South Africa going on his big adventure in the city or a young English woman trying to find love in London during the wartime blitz - the emotional portraits are profund and strikingly authentic.
Lessing moves around themes like colonisation, racism, feminism with dexterity but her focus is with people, not with ideas. You don't get the nagging feeling while reading that the author has an agenda and is trying to shove something down your throat. Anyway, Lessing usually brushes off all the claims that she is a feminist writer. And she would most likely laugh at my use of the term 'emotional intelligence' because I suspect such buzz words don't sit well with her.
All in all, I will be adding more of Doris to my never ending to-read list while hoping some serious advancements in medicine are made so I can live up 300 at least and read all those books.
I was very adamant in my indignation, so finally the Swedish Academy gave in and awarded Llosa the Nobel price last year (that is in 2010, in case you are reading it in distant future). Therefore I could now allow myself to read Doris Lessing.
'Five Short Novels' is one of her lesser known works and reads more like a prelude to something bigger that you can glimpse between the pages. There is just so much potential there and Lessing seems to be teasing you by rationing her talent.
'Five Short Novels' were realeased in a new edition in Poland after Lessing won the Nobel Prize in 2007 and that's what I read. My only complaints about the book have nothing to do with Lessing and all to do with the translation. Unfortunately, the new edition was based on the old translation and while it wasn't straight out bad, it was definitely odd. One thing that irked me in particular was the translation of the characters' names into their Polish equivalents. A very annoying habit that was abandonded by translators a long ago. The translator of 'Five Short Novels' seems to have abandonded it partially as some of the names were translated, some were left in their original form and some were left as in the original but spelled according to Polish spelling rules. I could not make any sense of this.
Another bizarre ocurrence was the translator's insistence on using diminutives in the story 'The Other Woman'. I have no clue where she got that idea from, as diminutives as such don't exist in English. I even asked my goodreads friend Alan who has an original version of the book at home to send me some scans, so I can try to figure it out. But there was nothing there to justify the diminutives that were used both in the dialogues and the narrative. As a result we had two grown up people discussing the parents of one of them using the words 'Mummy' and 'Daddy'.
Enough about the translator, back to Lessing. I think the biggest strength of the book is Lessing's amazing emotional intelligence. She focuses on emotional nuances and describes them with such precision that you can do nothing but admire. It doesn't matter whether it is a teenage Native from the Reserve in South Africa going on his big adventure in the city or a young English woman trying to find love in London during the wartime blitz - the emotional portraits are profund and strikingly authentic.
Lessing moves around themes like colonisation, racism, feminism with dexterity but her focus is with people, not with ideas. You don't get the nagging feeling while reading that the author has an agenda and is trying to shove something down your throat. Anyway, Lessing usually brushes off all the claims that she is a feminist writer. And she would most likely laugh at my use of the term 'emotional intelligence' because I suspect such buzz words don't sit well with her.
All in all, I will be adding more of Doris to my never ending to-read list while hoping some serious advancements in medicine are made so I can live up 300 at least and read all those books.
August 22, 2022
Două nuvele foarte diferite ca temă și scriitură, chiar. Deși am putea spune că în ambele este vorba despre eliberare/emancipare.
Prima este cea care dă titlul cărții în română (volumul original din 1953 se numește Five short novels) și mi-a plăcut mult. Cealaltă femeie nu este deloc clișeul la care ne-am putea gândi, este o tânără londoneză care știe, în anii '30-'40, că independența este singura existență acceptabilă pentru o femeie. Tandră și dornica de dragoste, Rose e, mai presus de orice, determinată. Spre deosebire de bărbatul pe care-l iubește, un veșnic nehotărât, care-i alină, pentru un timp, singurătatea adusă de război, cu pierderile lui.
A doua nuvelă, Mușuroiul, are acțiunea plasată într-o exploatare minieră din Africa de Sud. Ca de obicei în povestirile africane, Lessing duce un război literar anti-colonialism și anti-rasism demn de admirație, raportat la timpul în care au fost scrise prozele. Dar scriitura ei mi s-a părut aici mai chinuită decât primele sculpturi stângace în lemn ale personajului ei, copilul, apoi adolescentul Tommy. Trăsaturile personajelor și discursul moralizator sunt sculptate fără subtilitate, cu tușe prea evidente.
O notă comică, daca n-ar tine de tragicul unei jumătați de secol de comunism, e însemnarea editorului român (sau traducătorului? Nu știm) acestei ediții din 1959:
"Autoarea [scriitoarea progresistă engleză Doris Lessing] nu vede încă faptul că singura posibilitate de rezolvare până la capăt a acestor probleme [poziția de inferioritate a femeii in cadrul familiei burgheze și colonialismul și discriminarea rasială] este schimbarea revoluționară a orânduirii sociale". Aferim! realismului socialist 🙄
Prima este cea care dă titlul cărții în română (volumul original din 1953 se numește Five short novels) și mi-a plăcut mult. Cealaltă femeie nu este deloc clișeul la care ne-am putea gândi, este o tânără londoneză care știe, în anii '30-'40, că independența este singura existență acceptabilă pentru o femeie. Tandră și dornica de dragoste, Rose e, mai presus de orice, determinată. Spre deosebire de bărbatul pe care-l iubește, un veșnic nehotărât, care-i alină, pentru un timp, singurătatea adusă de război, cu pierderile lui.
A doua nuvelă, Mușuroiul, are acțiunea plasată într-o exploatare minieră din Africa de Sud. Ca de obicei în povestirile africane, Lessing duce un război literar anti-colonialism și anti-rasism demn de admirație, raportat la timpul în care au fost scrise prozele. Dar scriitura ei mi s-a părut aici mai chinuită decât primele sculpturi stângace în lemn ale personajului ei, copilul, apoi adolescentul Tommy. Trăsaturile personajelor și discursul moralizator sunt sculptate fără subtilitate, cu tușe prea evidente.
O notă comică, daca n-ar tine de tragicul unei jumătați de secol de comunism, e însemnarea editorului român (sau traducătorului? Nu știm) acestei ediții din 1959:
"Autoarea [scriitoarea progresistă engleză Doris Lessing] nu vede încă faptul că singura posibilitate de rezolvare până la capăt a acestor probleme [poziția de inferioritate a femeii in cadrul familiei burgheze și colonialismul și discriminarea rasială] este schimbarea revoluționară a orânduirii sociale". Aferim! realismului socialist 🙄
June 16, 2015
1953
"Hunger", the last of these short novels, is mind boggling. In-depth minute-by-minute account of a few weeks in the life of a 19-year-old villager who has always dreamed of 'making it' in the city and finally takes off, walking, and has to learn everything the hard way.
How does Lessing manage to write so much from his perspective that you feel you are right there experiencing it?
And how excruciatingly painful, the consequences of well-established racism, the poverty, the criminality, and how inevitable that a newcomer -- especially a young person all on his own -- will get into all kinds of trouble.
"Hunger", the last of these short novels, is mind boggling. In-depth minute-by-minute account of a few weeks in the life of a 19-year-old villager who has always dreamed of 'making it' in the city and finally takes off, walking, and has to learn everything the hard way.
How does Lessing manage to write so much from his perspective that you feel you are right there experiencing it?
And how excruciatingly painful, the consequences of well-established racism, the poverty, the criminality, and how inevitable that a newcomer -- especially a young person all on his own -- will get into all kinds of trouble.
February 22, 2022
Five is a collection of five short novels.
A HOME FOR HIGHLAND CATTLE
An English husband, Charlie, and wife, Marina, immigrate to Rhodesia with hopes of purchasing a beautiful home. They end up having to rent a small place in a neighborhood that exposes Marina to the unfamiliar African servants and the racist culture of the ungracious whites. (It’s best to do your research before making a big move.)
THE OTHER WOMAN
(England) Rose breaks off her engagement to George. WWII breaks out and her home is bombed. She is drawn into a relationship with Jimmie, a married man. She longs to adopt George’s little daughter when both her parents are killed. The story has a great ending with Rose finding her footing in an unexpected place.
ELDORADO
Alec and Maggie Barnes leave England and buy a farm in Africa. Their son, Paul grows up there. Alec and Paul go off on a tangent, both looking for gold. I enjoyed reading about Maggie’s divided loyalties between husband and son.
THE ANT TRAP
Mr. MacIntosh, a wealthy owner of a gold mine, dresses raggedy and lives sparsely. He runs a dangerous but extremely lucrative operation. He psychologically father’s Tommy, the son of his engineer, Mr. Clarke and his wife Annie. But Mr. MacIntosh does not even remotely acknowledge Dirk, his actual son with a black woman who lives in the mine compound. Tommy and Dirk are friends, though they struggle with the racially divided social structure. Eventually they manage a victory over Mr. MacIntosh.
HUNGER
Jabavu grows up in a small rural village in Africa with his parents and brother. As he grows older he realizes he wants to leave for the city. He is restless and never feels sure of what he should do or where he belongs. He has to adjust from his boyhood in the village to manhood in a foreign and threatening new world. Lessing gets the reader to see through Jabavu’s eyes, wrestling the internal struggles and external dangers.
A HOME FOR HIGHLAND CATTLE
An English husband, Charlie, and wife, Marina, immigrate to Rhodesia with hopes of purchasing a beautiful home. They end up having to rent a small place in a neighborhood that exposes Marina to the unfamiliar African servants and the racist culture of the ungracious whites. (It’s best to do your research before making a big move.)
THE OTHER WOMAN
(England) Rose breaks off her engagement to George. WWII breaks out and her home is bombed. She is drawn into a relationship with Jimmie, a married man. She longs to adopt George’s little daughter when both her parents are killed. The story has a great ending with Rose finding her footing in an unexpected place.
ELDORADO
Alec and Maggie Barnes leave England and buy a farm in Africa. Their son, Paul grows up there. Alec and Paul go off on a tangent, both looking for gold. I enjoyed reading about Maggie’s divided loyalties between husband and son.
THE ANT TRAP
Mr. MacIntosh, a wealthy owner of a gold mine, dresses raggedy and lives sparsely. He runs a dangerous but extremely lucrative operation. He psychologically father’s Tommy, the son of his engineer, Mr. Clarke and his wife Annie. But Mr. MacIntosh does not even remotely acknowledge Dirk, his actual son with a black woman who lives in the mine compound. Tommy and Dirk are friends, though they struggle with the racially divided social structure. Eventually they manage a victory over Mr. MacIntosh.
HUNGER
Jabavu grows up in a small rural village in Africa with his parents and brother. As he grows older he realizes he wants to leave for the city. He is restless and never feels sure of what he should do or where he belongs. He has to adjust from his boyhood in the village to manhood in a foreign and threatening new world. Lessing gets the reader to see through Jabavu’s eyes, wrestling the internal struggles and external dangers.
November 20, 2020
hunger was the best story
September 28, 2023
Powerful and strong 5 stories, first read of Doris Lessing and hope to read more in future.
March 30, 2011
Kinga - still can't do it.. will get back to this as I have to go on the desk...
June 2, 2012
Interesting book, although her vision on humanity is a sad one...
Read
March 24, 2013Fenomenalna
April 6, 2015
Doris Lessing is one of my absolute favorite authors. Her stories are incredibly honest and raw. They break your heart and stay with you. Beautiful.
July 19, 2016
Największe wrażenie zrobił na mnie Głód, ale wszystko po prostu dobre
January 2, 2021
I enjoyed both stories and how the atmosphere of the times and places were recreated. The endings weren't cliché, but rewarding nonetheless.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews