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African Laughter: Four Visits to Zimbabwe
In this portrait of Doris Lessing's homeland, the author recounts the visits she made to Zimbabwe in 1982, 1988, 1989 and 1992, after being banned from the old Southern Rhodesia for 25 years for her political views and opposition to the minority white Government. The visits constitute a journey to the heart of a country whose history, landscape, people and spirit are evoked by the author in a narrative of detail. She embraces every facet of life in Zimbabwe from the lost animals in the bush to political corruption, from AIDS to a successful communal enterprise created by rural blacks, and notes the kind of changes that can only be appreciated by one who has lived there before.
442 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
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1067 people want to read
About the author
Doris Lessing
476 books3,195 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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December 1, 2014
I read this book in February 2013.
Doris Lessing describes the country she left in 1947 and then revisited four times after 1980 when Robert Mugabe took over government. She experiences the anger, numbness and shock of traumatized people - looking in from the outside. Although she lived there for 25 years, she never made a capital investments in the country: meaning that she had nothing to lose when the shitzzzzos hit the fan, and couldn't care less what happened to those people who did invest in the country. During these visits she relives the time she was part of the freedom movement handing out Marxist pamphlets and promising a better dispensation if all the whites, including her own family, could be chased out of the country.
Now the results are in: all wild animals were destroyed, erosion and overgrazing have caused the fertile soil to wash away, thousands of squatters invaded farms that cannot carry the number of people, blacks kill blacks, white people were murdered, others fled, famine is everywhere, AIDS have become a silent killer and chaos rules where inexperienced uneducated supporters of Mugabe replace the white civil servants in government offices. Individual rights is frowned upon as anti-Marxist.
The country settles down in the new dispensation and hope emerges but is soon dashed by the reality of Mugabe's reign of terror. She gets involved in Writers Association but must watch how it is destroyed by the government.
Doris Lessing writes with candor, experience, and brilliance a much detailed, comprehenive book about the Zimbabwean landscape and all its people. But, in my humble opinion, she did not have the guts in the end to resettle in the country ruled by an ideology she helped promoted, yet turned her back on, probably when the reality of communism hit home for her. England was a much safer place where she could sit on the stand and watch the bloody game played on the field below. A field very far away from her where she does not have to personally experience any of its pain and losses.
It is a good African read(it becomes a bit tedious to finish),by a person who knows how to criticize from the outside and benefit financially from the situation without being directly involved in it. She uses the country to keep her England nest feathered. She might be a good writer and selling many books, but that is not good enough, sorry.
Given her age, she cannot be involved in it anymore, although she should have come back after 1980 and be in the country she claims to love deeply.
I know I am a bit harsh here, but I often wonder how people find communism so attractive if many intellectuals, educated as well as ordinary inhabitants of those countries flee those places, even dying in the process to get away. It is the -ism that got more people killed than all the wars in the world combined. Communist countries also do not have refugee camps for people leaving their capitalist countries to seek a new life in Stalinism or Maoism. South Africa has a serious problem with literary millions of Zimbabweans fleeing their country.
For this reason I am not impressed with Doris Lessing's book since it does not cover in detail the true atrocities that happened after 1980 as well. But I do appreciate her description of the inhabitants, their energy, optimism, hope and willingness to try and make it work. She describes their feeling of elation to be finally free from oppression very well indeed.
She has gone to a lot of trouble to write a detailed account of the country, although cannot get away from her own subjective prejudices, which, in my humble opinion, lessen the value of the her effort somewhat.
I also detect an aversion to particularly the white farmers and attribute it to her own life as a poor farmer's daughter who were criticized, perhaps discriminated against, humiliated, and looked down upon by them. Her family were regarded as similar to 'white trash', and that by her own (British) people! She never forgave them and clearly had an ax to grind which she constantly does in her writings. So much so, that it unbalance her thinking in her writings to some extend. It is a pity really, since the book could have been of more value to more people if she was able to be more objective in her approach. It's still a good account of the life in Zimbabwe after 1980.
Doris Lessing describes the country she left in 1947 and then revisited four times after 1980 when Robert Mugabe took over government. She experiences the anger, numbness and shock of traumatized people - looking in from the outside. Although she lived there for 25 years, she never made a capital investments in the country: meaning that she had nothing to lose when the shitzzzzos hit the fan, and couldn't care less what happened to those people who did invest in the country. During these visits she relives the time she was part of the freedom movement handing out Marxist pamphlets and promising a better dispensation if all the whites, including her own family, could be chased out of the country.
Now the results are in: all wild animals were destroyed, erosion and overgrazing have caused the fertile soil to wash away, thousands of squatters invaded farms that cannot carry the number of people, blacks kill blacks, white people were murdered, others fled, famine is everywhere, AIDS have become a silent killer and chaos rules where inexperienced uneducated supporters of Mugabe replace the white civil servants in government offices. Individual rights is frowned upon as anti-Marxist.
The country settles down in the new dispensation and hope emerges but is soon dashed by the reality of Mugabe's reign of terror. She gets involved in Writers Association but must watch how it is destroyed by the government.
Doris Lessing writes with candor, experience, and brilliance a much detailed, comprehenive book about the Zimbabwean landscape and all its people. But, in my humble opinion, she did not have the guts in the end to resettle in the country ruled by an ideology she helped promoted, yet turned her back on, probably when the reality of communism hit home for her. England was a much safer place where she could sit on the stand and watch the bloody game played on the field below. A field very far away from her where she does not have to personally experience any of its pain and losses.
It is a good African read(it becomes a bit tedious to finish),by a person who knows how to criticize from the outside and benefit financially from the situation without being directly involved in it. She uses the country to keep her England nest feathered. She might be a good writer and selling many books, but that is not good enough, sorry.
Given her age, she cannot be involved in it anymore, although she should have come back after 1980 and be in the country she claims to love deeply.
I know I am a bit harsh here, but I often wonder how people find communism so attractive if many intellectuals, educated as well as ordinary inhabitants of those countries flee those places, even dying in the process to get away. It is the -ism that got more people killed than all the wars in the world combined. Communist countries also do not have refugee camps for people leaving their capitalist countries to seek a new life in Stalinism or Maoism. South Africa has a serious problem with literary millions of Zimbabweans fleeing their country.
For this reason I am not impressed with Doris Lessing's book since it does not cover in detail the true atrocities that happened after 1980 as well. But I do appreciate her description of the inhabitants, their energy, optimism, hope and willingness to try and make it work. She describes their feeling of elation to be finally free from oppression very well indeed.
She has gone to a lot of trouble to write a detailed account of the country, although cannot get away from her own subjective prejudices, which, in my humble opinion, lessen the value of the her effort somewhat.
I also detect an aversion to particularly the white farmers and attribute it to her own life as a poor farmer's daughter who were criticized, perhaps discriminated against, humiliated, and looked down upon by them. Her family were regarded as similar to 'white trash', and that by her own (British) people! She never forgave them and clearly had an ax to grind which she constantly does in her writings. So much so, that it unbalance her thinking in her writings to some extend. It is a pity really, since the book could have been of more value to more people if she was able to be more objective in her approach. It's still a good account of the life in Zimbabwe after 1980.
January 4, 2021
Not much is written about Zimbabwe during the decade following the Bush War in which the black majority overthrew the white minority British government, especially by white expatriate women who were thrown out of the country years before the war for opposing that white government. Doris Lessing, a British citizen, immigrated to Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) at age 5 with her family, and was exiled in 1949 at age 35 for her anti-government activities. After the long and bloody war for independence was won in 1980, she returned to her homeland four times between 1982 and 1992. This personal memoir contains reflections of her childhood and young adulthood, and chronicles the dramatic changes both since her childhood and during the postwar decade. Many of these changes revolve around race relations or the natural environment. Note that Lessing was in her 70s when she made these journeys, and approaching 80 when she wrote this book. She is extremely insightful about both people and places.
Lessing’s storytelling is somewhat uneven because she includes interactions with many sorts of individuals, and the reader is left to piece these diverse stories together into a whole. Also, many of these characters undergo great changes during the time in which she is writing. From interactions with her estranged brother who eventually “takes the gap” (moves to South Africa where apartheid is still in place), to conversations with black people to whom she offers “lifts” in her rental car, to interactions with white landowners and their black servants “on verandahs,” to meetings with black schoolteachers trying to educate children within a corrupt system, many of the stories have an uncomfortable edge. Still, the book project, where women, who have traditionally not been allowed to speak out in black society, come together to share and record stories is one of the more hopeful themes.
Of course, another theme is politics. Robert Mugabe has been in power in Zimbabwe for decades now, and it is interesting to hear stories of his first decade, and the power struggle that led to his election. The first inklings of his corruption in terms of wealth distribution are recorded, as well as a few hints that white farmers might someday be forced to give up their land (90% were in the early 2000s). In addition, there is a fair bit of history about ancient wars and subsequent mistrust between Ndebele and Shona tribes, a bitterness that has pretty much resolved itself during the years since the book was published. In fact, it’s quite fascinating how fast history evolves during the decade that Lessing records, as the postwar generation grows up thinking that war stories are “old men’s stuff,” not unlike what postwar children think of their fathers’ stories in America.
Although there are lots of interesting details, this is not a particularly fun read. There is much to rebuild after the Bush War, and not all is rebuilt. The bush itself, which held all manner of bird and beast during Lessing’s childhood, was forever changed. It is rather fascinating to read of the creatures that used to live there. Chapters and sections vary in length, like a true memoir. It’s a worthwhile read for history buffs and those who, like myself, are interested in traditional and modern Zimbabwean music and art.
Lessing’s storytelling is somewhat uneven because she includes interactions with many sorts of individuals, and the reader is left to piece these diverse stories together into a whole. Also, many of these characters undergo great changes during the time in which she is writing. From interactions with her estranged brother who eventually “takes the gap” (moves to South Africa where apartheid is still in place), to conversations with black people to whom she offers “lifts” in her rental car, to interactions with white landowners and their black servants “on verandahs,” to meetings with black schoolteachers trying to educate children within a corrupt system, many of the stories have an uncomfortable edge. Still, the book project, where women, who have traditionally not been allowed to speak out in black society, come together to share and record stories is one of the more hopeful themes.
Of course, another theme is politics. Robert Mugabe has been in power in Zimbabwe for decades now, and it is interesting to hear stories of his first decade, and the power struggle that led to his election. The first inklings of his corruption in terms of wealth distribution are recorded, as well as a few hints that white farmers might someday be forced to give up their land (90% were in the early 2000s). In addition, there is a fair bit of history about ancient wars and subsequent mistrust between Ndebele and Shona tribes, a bitterness that has pretty much resolved itself during the years since the book was published. In fact, it’s quite fascinating how fast history evolves during the decade that Lessing records, as the postwar generation grows up thinking that war stories are “old men’s stuff,” not unlike what postwar children think of their fathers’ stories in America.
Although there are lots of interesting details, this is not a particularly fun read. There is much to rebuild after the Bush War, and not all is rebuilt. The bush itself, which held all manner of bird and beast during Lessing’s childhood, was forever changed. It is rather fascinating to read of the creatures that used to live there. Chapters and sections vary in length, like a true memoir. It’s a worthwhile read for history buffs and those who, like myself, are interested in traditional and modern Zimbabwean music and art.
April 9, 2015
A long time ago, Africa was an idyllic place where people lived in harmony with Nature and their deities. Then came the angel with the flaming sword... um, I mean the European colonists, taking away their lands and riches, enslaving and outlawing them. After the colonists had pulled out, the Africans were unable to adapt to the system and infrastructure they had inherited, but they were also unable to go back to their old ways. Many countries slipped into anarchy, and they have not recovered since.
In African Laughter, Doris Lessing presents the tough post-colonial years of Zimbabwe (former Southern Rhodesia) through a series of vignettes. She visits the country four times in ten years, mostly being a passive observer, though she helps locals now and then.
The first visit presents the chaotic scenery of the first years after Mugabe came to power; Lessing spends most of her time revisiting old places and talking with her brother. The outlook is bleak; there is bitterness and enmities, many people have fled. The African countries are heading for crisis, and they are continuously sabotaged by South Africa, the last bastion of white supremacy.
The second visit paints a more optimistic picture. Against all odds, Zimbabwe is finding its feet after a decade of struggle, unlike its neighbours that had slipped further into chaos and violence. There is still a lot to do though, especially in education and healthcare. The third visit revolves more or less around the same themes, though it is more melancholic and philosophical.
The fourth and last visit is in 1992; dreams are shattered as Zimbabwe is on the brink of collapse.
A good book for those who wish to learn about the post-colonial history and society of an African country.
In African Laughter, Doris Lessing presents the tough post-colonial years of Zimbabwe (former Southern Rhodesia) through a series of vignettes. She visits the country four times in ten years, mostly being a passive observer, though she helps locals now and then.
The first visit presents the chaotic scenery of the first years after Mugabe came to power; Lessing spends most of her time revisiting old places and talking with her brother. The outlook is bleak; there is bitterness and enmities, many people have fled. The African countries are heading for crisis, and they are continuously sabotaged by South Africa, the last bastion of white supremacy.
The second visit paints a more optimistic picture. Against all odds, Zimbabwe is finding its feet after a decade of struggle, unlike its neighbours that had slipped further into chaos and violence. There is still a lot to do though, especially in education and healthcare. The third visit revolves more or less around the same themes, though it is more melancholic and philosophical.
The fourth and last visit is in 1992; dreams are shattered as Zimbabwe is on the brink of collapse.
A good book for those who wish to learn about the post-colonial history and society of an African country.
August 30, 2015
Reading Lessing’s fascinating accounts of modern Zimbabwe made me first glad, then ashamed, that I have not been back to Angola. I lived and worked there in the early 1980s, since when it has turned from a pseudo-Marxist idealistic basket case into a run-of-the-mill kleptocracy drowning in corruption. The parallels with Zimbabwe as Lessing describes it, are many, but Lessing goes beyond the obvious and the political to look at how people are transforming their own lives and their society irrespective of politics. You end up thinking that Zimbabwe will make good thanks to the sheer vigour of its people, and that means there is hope for everyone else. Lessing brings lightness and humour to the heaviest of matters; she is never patronizing, and her prose is magnificent. If you want to understand today’s world, or just one part of it, together with the best and worst of the human spirit, read this book.
September 15, 2014
Doris Lessing detailes the differences between the Zimbabwe she knew as Southern Rhodesia in her childhood, and the country she visits several times, after the African majority win the Bush war over the Whites. She's a Noble Prize winner and I suppose is good at story telling, but I found this book very repetitive and poorly written sometimes. I had a hard time telling when she is talking about somebody's else opinion and when it was her own opinion. She does not use punctuations in the usual way we are used to and she threw me off with her way of writing. However, I must give her credit for chronicling that era in the history of Zimbabwe. I also think her book is a good chronicle of the environmental changes. Not only in Zimbabwe, but in the whole continent of Africa. I think environmentalists must benefit from her insights on that topic
March 4, 2010
An excellent narration of Zimbabwean history. Lessing takes the reader from the colonial times of Rhodesia to Zimbabwe of today.
She gives insight on how the Rhodesians looked at indepence and black rule. The attitudes and the mass exodus that follow to South Africa. She describes the loss felt and shows other families choosing to return. She depicts the difficulties they face when they leave to other places. She also looks at he Zimbabweans after independence their views hopes and frustrations. I truly loved the book. I love her works
She gives insight on how the Rhodesians looked at indepence and black rule. The attitudes and the mass exodus that follow to South Africa. She describes the loss felt and shows other families choosing to return. She depicts the difficulties they face when they leave to other places. She also looks at he Zimbabweans after independence their views hopes and frustrations. I truly loved the book. I love her works
April 15, 2020
Powerful book. The visits of Doris after being banned from the country for 25 years for her voice against minority rule. It depicts the struggles that Zimbabwe faced after her Bush War, the plight of the blacks and also the effects of the War it had on the people. His brother Harry being an ex-combatant is really struggle and keeps it to himself about the challenges he faced being in the war. It clearly highlights the struggles of the blacks government inheriting the Rhodesian system. It seems much has not changed from the policies of Ian Smith regime into the Mugabe regime.
September 21, 2012
Decided to read her non-fiction as a prelude to her fiction. Really enjoyed this, but have yet to open that Golden Notebook. One day.
February 20, 2021
African Laughter; Four visits to Zimbabwe
By Doris Lessing
History is important. Books that describe event in history are likely to fall short of how the people who lived during the events reacted to the events. This is why athrolopoligical books are good.
In this Book Doris visited Zimbabwe in 4 different times. What is particularly interesting about this book is how zimbabweans reacted to what was happening in their country. From their first President (Banana not Mugabe) to when Mugabe became the head of state.
It shows how people were at first hopeful, then sympathetic, then frustrasted, then oblivious. In the ealier times people were separating the political failures from Mugabe himself.
Mugabe is good, but his chefs are bad. Mugabe is good but the climate and the ITCZ are bad.
The author herself is a terrific writer. She knows her way with the pen.
By Doris Lessing
History is important. Books that describe event in history are likely to fall short of how the people who lived during the events reacted to the events. This is why athrolopoligical books are good.
In this Book Doris visited Zimbabwe in 4 different times. What is particularly interesting about this book is how zimbabweans reacted to what was happening in their country. From their first President (Banana not Mugabe) to when Mugabe became the head of state.
It shows how people were at first hopeful, then sympathetic, then frustrasted, then oblivious. In the ealier times people were separating the political failures from Mugabe himself.
Mugabe is good, but his chefs are bad. Mugabe is good but the climate and the ITCZ are bad.
The author herself is a terrific writer. She knows her way with the pen.
June 8, 2025
Chiaramente non era il libro che immaginavo ma comunque interessante. Il colonialismo è stato sempre un problema perché ha soffocato i colonizzati, senza garantire l’evoluzione, senza prepararli ad un modo di gestirsi imposto da culture completamente diverse. Per poi abbandonarli a se stessi. Doris Lessing descrive accuratamente i cambiamenti che ha trovato in Zimbabwe nei suoi viaggi, cambiamenti non sempre positivi, ma anche tanta resilienza che mi sembra non basti mai.
May 9, 2018
A rather long series of essays on the culture and events of Zimbabwe since the Liberation War. Lessing is a keen observer with an eye for detail and a broad understanding of the complexities of this country.
July 9, 2022
As someone whose introduction to African history was Wilbur Smith, I always wanted to read about it from the perspective of the people who suffered under colonialism. Doris Lessing does a wonderful job of taking us through a newly independent country with its hope and challenges.
June 13, 2019
Hard to believe that my son will be there this summer. Quite an adventure for a 14 year old. Very well written and absorbing.
July 18, 2022
The authors' observations of a changing Zimbabwe
Read
February 25, 2025Dnf
May 20, 2011
Doris Lessing grew up in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). This book describes four trips she took to her former homeland in the 80s/early 90s. Each of the sections leans heavily on her impressions of the people and places she visits. There are numerous long quotations and descriptions of things she is seeing and hearing as she eavesdrops in cafes or interviews strangers.
Trip one describes visiting her brother and remembering her past. This is right when the white people have had to relinquish control and are not happy about it. This trip has a lot to say about Doris' upbringing in Africa. She paints a magical picture of her childhood 'in the bush' while still accurately discussing the environmental and political consequences of the way her family (and other families) lived. She also has lively, and sometimes angry, conversations with her brother who is angry about the loss of white control over Zimbabwe.
Trip two is more about the political situation in Zimbabwe - which is better than the rest of Africa but not great. It is also full of what I would call vignettes. Each very short section includes a long quotation or piece of an interview, followed by diary-style commentary from Doris that feels very authentic, but also spur-of-the-moment. Some vignettes were more interesting than other, but I missed the way the first section flowed and framed itself around interesting themes, like memory.
Trip three continues the political story but goes into more detail as things begin to fall apart for President Mugabe. Trip three also finds Doris spending a great deal of time with a very interesting group who are visiting villages all over Zimbabwe to put together books that will help the people. I found this trip more interesting. The vignettes became more interconnected, the political situation was more deeply described, and the trips with the book group were extremely interesting.
Trip four is extremely short and is a sort of "where are they now" of the figures in the book, from dogs to national leaders, and describes the state of Zimbabwe in 1992.
This was an interesting enough read, and an okay snapshot of Zimbabwe (but a great one of Doris!) in the 1980s. I was a little disappointed in the writing - I thought The Golden Notebook was much more polished.
Themes: Africa, Zimbabwe, history, politics, racism, economics, poverty, hunger, aid organizations, memory, disagreement, daily life, regular people, black/white divide, dictatorship
Trip one describes visiting her brother and remembering her past. This is right when the white people have had to relinquish control and are not happy about it. This trip has a lot to say about Doris' upbringing in Africa. She paints a magical picture of her childhood 'in the bush' while still accurately discussing the environmental and political consequences of the way her family (and other families) lived. She also has lively, and sometimes angry, conversations with her brother who is angry about the loss of white control over Zimbabwe.
Trip two is more about the political situation in Zimbabwe - which is better than the rest of Africa but not great. It is also full of what I would call vignettes. Each very short section includes a long quotation or piece of an interview, followed by diary-style commentary from Doris that feels very authentic, but also spur-of-the-moment. Some vignettes were more interesting than other, but I missed the way the first section flowed and framed itself around interesting themes, like memory.
Trip three continues the political story but goes into more detail as things begin to fall apart for President Mugabe. Trip three also finds Doris spending a great deal of time with a very interesting group who are visiting villages all over Zimbabwe to put together books that will help the people. I found this trip more interesting. The vignettes became more interconnected, the political situation was more deeply described, and the trips with the book group were extremely interesting.
Trip four is extremely short and is a sort of "where are they now" of the figures in the book, from dogs to national leaders, and describes the state of Zimbabwe in 1992.
This was an interesting enough read, and an okay snapshot of Zimbabwe (but a great one of Doris!) in the 1980s. I was a little disappointed in the writing - I thought The Golden Notebook was much more polished.
Themes: Africa, Zimbabwe, history, politics, racism, economics, poverty, hunger, aid organizations, memory, disagreement, daily life, regular people, black/white divide, dictatorship
January 10, 2014
I have heard so much about Doris Lessing. She was the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. How I wanted to be enriched by such an acclaimed author! I read halfway through this book and just had to stop. While I did learn about Southern Rhodesia, which turned into the country now known as Zimbabwe, I found that I was trying to read through a dry textbook.
Doris grew up in her beloved Southern Rhodesia. She had the fondest memories of the bush and its cacophony of animal noises. She spent her first visit back to Zimbabwe, talking to her brother about what life had been like, living and loving the bush. She was dismayed to find the dwindling of animal life in the bush, and the silence of the bush.
Doris was also dismayed to find the unhappiness of the Zimbabwe people, both white and black, after ten years of war. The blacks were promised their land back that the whites had taken from them. They expected Paradise, but it did not come. White people, unhappy with how the war ended, left Zimbabwe to live elsewhere, taking away jobs that black people needed. City blacks were moving back to village life, feeling that they were moving backwards, not forwards. Doris was sickened by the consistent "Monologue" of the remaining wealthy whites, including her brother, who claimed that the terrorists of the war, who had assisted the birth of Zimbabwe, acted in treason. "How could it be treason to take back what is rightfully your own?"
When Doris visited Zimbabwe a second time, years later, she described government corruption, discontented, uneducated secondary students, and unemployment. While I really wanted to find out about her future visits, noting the changes, I found her excerpts to be repetitious, and quite frankly, boring. In fairness to Doris, she wrote equitably about the blacks and the whites, and reported accurately what she heard from both races, while giving her own take on the situations she encountered. She is for equality, and has a genuine love and interest in the future of Zimbabwe and Africa.
I may return to this exquisite piece of Zimbabwe history one day...
Doris grew up in her beloved Southern Rhodesia. She had the fondest memories of the bush and its cacophony of animal noises. She spent her first visit back to Zimbabwe, talking to her brother about what life had been like, living and loving the bush. She was dismayed to find the dwindling of animal life in the bush, and the silence of the bush.
Doris was also dismayed to find the unhappiness of the Zimbabwe people, both white and black, after ten years of war. The blacks were promised their land back that the whites had taken from them. They expected Paradise, but it did not come. White people, unhappy with how the war ended, left Zimbabwe to live elsewhere, taking away jobs that black people needed. City blacks were moving back to village life, feeling that they were moving backwards, not forwards. Doris was sickened by the consistent "Monologue" of the remaining wealthy whites, including her brother, who claimed that the terrorists of the war, who had assisted the birth of Zimbabwe, acted in treason. "How could it be treason to take back what is rightfully your own?"
When Doris visited Zimbabwe a second time, years later, she described government corruption, discontented, uneducated secondary students, and unemployment. While I really wanted to find out about her future visits, noting the changes, I found her excerpts to be repetitious, and quite frankly, boring. In fairness to Doris, she wrote equitably about the blacks and the whites, and reported accurately what she heard from both races, while giving her own take on the situations she encountered. She is for equality, and has a genuine love and interest in the future of Zimbabwe and Africa.
I may return to this exquisite piece of Zimbabwe history one day...
September 26, 2024
My "To read all Nobel Prize in Literature" project brought me to Africa, Zimbabwe. Doris Lessing got the Nobel Prize in 2003.
This book was published in 1993. You get to see Zimbabwe through the eyes of one of the finest writers of this century. Doris Lessing was raised there after her family moved to Africa from Iran. Being banned for twenty-five years from her homeland, for her opposition to the government of what was then white Southern Rhodesia, she returns to a country she both knows and wants to get to know.
A combined diary, reportage and memoirs writing style keeps the reader entertained. Which is a must, given its 442 page richness.
If you are interested in development studies and history of the region this is a highly enlightening book. Everything from war, regional dimensions, politics, inter-racial relations, class relations, poverty, economics, agriculture, environment, infrastructure to colonialism, aid, education, local traditions, family and inter-personal relations, love, class and personal attitudes, roles of verandas are illustrated in their entire splendor and decadence.
Back to its title, my favorite part in the book is "And he shook with laughter, the marvelous African laughter born somewhere in the gut, seizing the whole body with good-humoured philosophy". Made me want to share more good laughs with friends and family. Enjoy reading and laughing!
This book was published in 1993. You get to see Zimbabwe through the eyes of one of the finest writers of this century. Doris Lessing was raised there after her family moved to Africa from Iran. Being banned for twenty-five years from her homeland, for her opposition to the government of what was then white Southern Rhodesia, she returns to a country she both knows and wants to get to know.
A combined diary, reportage and memoirs writing style keeps the reader entertained. Which is a must, given its 442 page richness.
If you are interested in development studies and history of the region this is a highly enlightening book. Everything from war, regional dimensions, politics, inter-racial relations, class relations, poverty, economics, agriculture, environment, infrastructure to colonialism, aid, education, local traditions, family and inter-personal relations, love, class and personal attitudes, roles of verandas are illustrated in their entire splendor and decadence.
Back to its title, my favorite part in the book is "And he shook with laughter, the marvelous African laughter born somewhere in the gut, seizing the whole body with good-humoured philosophy". Made me want to share more good laughs with friends and family. Enjoy reading and laughing!
August 31, 2023
Whoa.
I'm a longtime fan of Lessing's fiction; this is the first time I've read her nonfiction. Needless to say it's intelligent, thoughtful, with mature political consciousness and heartfelt observation and reminiscences.
Lessing grew up in Southern Rhodesia, her family moving there when she was five years old -- she stayed for twenty years before moving to England.
African Laughter recounts her experiences during several return visits to the land where she grew up after that country's war of independence created the country of Zimbabwe in 1980. Lessing had been banned from Southern Rhodesia for 25 years due to her opposition to the minority white government.
Lessing's warmth for the people there and patience with the birthing of a new nation mixes with her disappointments in naive government policies, petty corruption, and environmental destruction of the bush in this chronicle of post-colonial development.
Her reminiscences of growing up on her parents farm, and relations with them and her brother, provide a touching human substory.
As an ignorant American who's never set foot on the African continent I learned a lot about Zimbabwe's history, people, regional politics, flora & fauna.
All in all a very engaging and human chronicle from an astute observer.
I'm a longtime fan of Lessing's fiction; this is the first time I've read her nonfiction. Needless to say it's intelligent, thoughtful, with mature political consciousness and heartfelt observation and reminiscences.
Lessing grew up in Southern Rhodesia, her family moving there when she was five years old -- she stayed for twenty years before moving to England.
African Laughter recounts her experiences during several return visits to the land where she grew up after that country's war of independence created the country of Zimbabwe in 1980. Lessing had been banned from Southern Rhodesia for 25 years due to her opposition to the minority white government.
Lessing's warmth for the people there and patience with the birthing of a new nation mixes with her disappointments in naive government policies, petty corruption, and environmental destruction of the bush in this chronicle of post-colonial development.
Her reminiscences of growing up on her parents farm, and relations with them and her brother, provide a touching human substory.
As an ignorant American who's never set foot on the African continent I learned a lot about Zimbabwe's history, people, regional politics, flora & fauna.
All in all a very engaging and human chronicle from an astute observer.
January 12, 2014
Very good work of memoir/journalism, not as moving or forceful as "Going Home" (to which I gave 5 stars). This book is cautiously ambivalent about Zimbabwe during the time of her visits (1982-1992). I am impressed, as always, by her ability to deflect powerful visceral feelings onto the stories of others: note that any time the journalist is about to turn wistful, the next sentences or paragraphs will abandon this line of feeling and replace it with a different narrative direction. I find it a frustrating but significant technique. The passage in which she returns to her childhood farm (at the end of part 2) is the finest in the book.
December 31, 2015
A bitter-sweet (mostly bitter) memoir of Lessing's return to the country of her childhood. Formerly Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, the country is a disaster: the bush has been destroyed, the animals are gone, the government is corrupt and cruel. I'm not sure where the title comes from because no one is laughing in this book, especially the readers. I found it tedious and repetitious. I chose it to fill a box (set in Africa) in a book bingo game I'm playing, and I wish I had picked a novel instead. All that wonderful Nadine Gordimer I could have been reading instead of this. Ah, well. There's always next year.
Read
June 30, 2011This book was on a lifetime reading list and was actually pretty interesting, but where it is a collection of essays and not necessarily a narrative, it wasn't one that I could easily put down and then pick up again sometime later, which was necessitated by my current situation (new baby). I would say that I would try to read it again some time in the future, but honestly, with all the books out there to read, I doubt that's going to happen.
January 14, 2023
I was very unimpressed with this book. I thought it was going to be a better read but I could barely make it through the book, and the only reason I finished it is because I can't stop reading a book. I'm not going to drag out my dislike for this book. I am going to say that I would much rather of sat down with Doris Lessing and listened to her experiences in Zimbabwe than read her book(s). I do greatly appreciate the history of Zimbabwe and her general story though.
February 13, 2010
I really enjoyed this book about Zimbabwe. It validated all the good feelings I have about the space and the people because they really are special and incredible. It would be interesting if she were to go back today for a follow-up story. She's turning 91 this year so I'm sure it would kill her to see the downfall of the country (and it's people) she so obviously loved.
August 5, 2015
It started off really enlightening and easy to read, but then it kept going on and on in what eventually became an irritating pattern of repetition.
Lessing's earlier strident Communism has been tempered by age, but she is still strongly opinionated and convinced she and she alone is correctly interpreting the situation in Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Lessing's earlier strident Communism has been tempered by age, but she is still strongly opinionated and convinced she and she alone is correctly interpreting the situation in Zambia and Zimbabwe.
October 22, 2015
This was more political than I had expected. I had it in my mind it would be a kind of travel memoir but it is an evaluation of Zimbabwe after colonial rule. Her view seems balanced to me and it is clear she loves the place and respects and cheers for its native people who were reclaiming their country. The book ends with the tragedy of drought and AIDS - sorrows that Africa still bears.
August 20, 2015
I doubt she would have ever believed that Robert Mugabe would have lasted this long. She is almost apologetic in the mid 1990's for the pathetic government--though she acknowledges its ineptitude. I would have liked to see how this book played out if she could have assessed Zimbabwe now.
November 4, 2008
Doris Lessing is one of my favorite authors and this book is a series of anecdotes from visits to Zimbabwe in '82 and then in '96. Her love of the country, and descriptions of Africa are so moving...
April 5, 2009
I am still reading and will reserve my review until the end...but am thoroughly enjoying it!
Want to read
February 4, 2010Recommended by Susan Aylworth
(wife of MormonTimes.com columnist Roger H. Aylworth)
(wife of MormonTimes.com columnist Roger H. Aylworth)
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