The Story of a Non-marrying Man and Other Stories

by Doris Lessing

A collection of 13 short stories which offer a humorous study of humanity. The subject matter ranges from a tale of adultery to an analysis of self-doubt and a story on the banality of existence.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Nobel Prize, Literature

Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Doris 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).

Reviews

[Ole Pogie]

Doris Lessing was an amazing writer. This collection of stories wasn't her best work but it was still quite good. Reading her stories and books I get the impression of someone of high intellect and someone who is in total command of her medium.

[Eoin]

My first exposure to Lessing and while overall the book left me lukewarm, at it's best it is among the best literature I've read. The descriptions of Regent's Park are exquisite and the story of the old destitute woman is beautifully poignant.
however the final (and longest) story in the collection is perhaps somewhat dated now and doesn't really hit the mark and some of the stories didn't do it for me at all.
Well worth reading but best to be selective in which stories are read

[Tommie]

I think the danger in becoming such a celebrated writer, is people feel drawn to compile everything you've ever touched up into some collection or another, to the point where even points that are shining are buried in a plodding anthology.

[James F]

A collection of thirteen stories, some of which are duplicates of other collections -- in fact it is identical with The Temptation of Jack Orkney and other stories, which I read twenty years ago, except for containing two more stories, "The Other Garden" and "Not a Very Nice Story. Since both collections were published the same year, perhaps they are the American and British editions, or the Hardcover and Paperback, under different titles, as used to be the norm.

Very well written, as one would expect from Doris Lessing; not quite as consistent as The Habit of Loving -- in these stories she is experimenting with different styles, and so there is a certain unevenness. The stories include three which are not really stories so much as descriptions, perhaps influenced by the nouvelle roman, all three set in a park (or parks?) in London; "Report on the Threatened City", a social-criticism-as-science-fiction story which was my favorite; "Not a Very Nice Story", one of the few good stories I have read on the common theme of adultery (concentrating on the psychology rather than the sex); and "The Temptation of Jack Orkney" on the self-doubts of an aging socialist activist, which struck me as much more insightful than when I read The Temptation of Jack Orkney and other stories.

[Kaplumbağa Felsefecisi]

Öykülerinden oluşan bu kitap son öyküsüyle beni benden almıştır. Diğer öykülerine çok ısınamadım açıkçası..

[rania]

individual story breakdown - let's go!

Out of the fountain: promising but fell short; reminds me of d.h. lawrence ! (5/10)

An unposted love letter: i'm kind of absolutely obsessed with this one i won't lie (8/10)

A year in regent's park: what was the point. why did i read this. (3/10)

Mrs. Fortescue: psychosexual and confusing ... basically i liked it (7/10)

Side benefits of an honourable profession: some of these were so 3 ... others were ... (7/10)

An old woman and her cat: ms lessing, with all due respect, wtf :-( (9/10)

Lions, leaves, roses... : if this were written completely differently it would have been a favourite (2/10)

Spies I have known: rhodesia was a mistake [shockingly hot take i know!] (7/10)

Report on the threatened city: started off feeling trite,, soon became intriguing ! (7/10)

Not a very nice story: Wowie wow wow i am never getting married (6/10)

The other garden: now THIS is pretty prose <3 (9/10)

The story of a non-marrying man: this guy lowkey fucks (8/10)

The temptation of Jack Orkney: jack gets it. lessing gets it. walter does not get it :/ (8/10)

[Rachel Minshull]

3.5 overall. This is based on the range of short stories in this collection. Some I loved - The Old Woman and Her Cat, A Not Very Nice Story and Out of the Fountain (5 stars) - and most I did enjoy. However, a couple just did not resonate with me and one I didn’t finish (Report on the Threatened City). Nonetheless, having never read any Doris Lessing previously, this was a good find in the free little library and I look forward to exploring her novels. Her insights of the human condition are remarkable and the variety of topics and behaviours covered in this book are both impressive and provocative.Certainly, plenty to think about after reading these.

[Emma Paulet]

My book's cover is worlds more appealing than the cover listed by Goodreads. In fact, I wouldn't have given the book a second look if it had the cover it does on here. Bloody hell. I've admired Dor Les from afar for a long time and this, I believe, is my first actual experience of her work (The Golden Notebook has been on my shelf, unread, for a decade probably), and I enjoyed it on the whole. I particularly enjoyed the stories about parks.

[Elaine]

This is difficult to review . I can recognise Doris Lessing is an excellent writer, very observant of human behaviour and social constructs. Her stories are clever, often dark, interesting but not enjoyable to me. They engaged me while reading them but I wouldn't say I enjoyed this book and I probably won't read any more by her as I find her hard work. This is definitely a me problem as she's excellent

[Jesse Kessler]

(rating for "Out of the Fountain")
A good exploration of gifts: what is more real, the object, or the essence? And is the value of an object beyond its market value?

The hook is near the front of the story, and the plot and metaphysics are both captivating thereafter. Reading this kind of story out loud with others is the best way to kick off thinking through these kinds of ideas.

[Erin]

I have concluded after reading half the stories in this collection, that i just dont care for her style of writing. I found this when i tried to read another of her books.

The stories can be nebulous and not ver concrete. They encompass the entirety of time rather than focusing in on a particular event or series of events.

[Aimèe Mortensen]

My first ever reading of Lessing and I was enchanted by her writing style and totally drawn in through her interesting story telling. Highly recommend for anyone looking for some historical (but fun to read) fiction of the latter 1900s.

[Jen Well-Steered]

Found this in a little free library. So much more accessible than her longer fiction.

[Kate]

A few good stories, some I could only bear to skim - but maybe this just isn’t a fair compilation

[Ruby Jensen]

I think I liked 1 story. Zoned out for the rest sorry

[crank]

Sometimes you are rewarded when you go in raw on things at used book stores

[Persephone Abbott]

Perhaps I had higher expectations, perhaps I didn't like reading stories that could be perceived as making me uncomfortable, but really, when I think of it, the stories didn't make me uncomfortable it was the lilting manner in which they were described that made me anxious. I wasn't surprised by any of the tales, although interesting material was presented, that I managed to read, in fact mainly I knew where the plots were going. The perspectives of the characters were not intriguing enough to capture my attention, and somehow the undertow that was supposed to shock, titillate, eke some empathy out of me or charm me failed, and that's what made me jittery and impatient.

[Alan]

my first Doris Lessing book - picked it up in a bookshop in Cheltenham in 1975 (maybe 76) when I was just starting out as a student. I was very impressed, stories that took me places and into people's heads and were engaging. Set me off on a Lessing jag though I didn't really get on with her sci-fi series and stopped reading her apart from the odd one or two (eg The Fifth Child, her autobiography).

[Catherine]

This a fascinating collection of stories with an extraordinary mixture of themes and settings. From the Non-Marrying Man and his rejection of stultifying white African society, to an alien perspective on human nature and behaviour in the face of impending apocalypse, each story is written with Doris Lessing's piercing insight. Going to go back and re-read.

[Patricia H-f]

Doris Lessing never fails to impress me with her storytelling about her extraordinay life.

[Stephen Barker]

Some good ones, but perhaps not the best place to be reaquainted with Doris!