Doris Lessing: Suffering is the blessing of life
Article/Moving
Born in a poor family in northeastern Iran. Her father worked as a coolie and her mother worked as a domestic helper, barely maintaining the family's survival, so she fell into hardship right after she was born.
Forced to make a living, she moved to Zimbabwe with her parents in Africa when she was six years old. She went to school there and became classmates and playmates with dark-skinned children. She should have been enjoying her childhood carefree, but disaster struck unexpectedly. When she was 12 years old, before she graduated from elementary school, she suddenly contracted an eye disease. The world in her eyes suddenly became blurry, and even the largest words in the book could not be read clearly. That day, when her mother took her away from the campus, she looked back several times and could not clearly see the teachers and classmates she was familiar with. She cried in despair. In the dark world, she struggled in hellish loneliness and pain every day. In order to comfort her emotions, her mother would tell her some outside experiences every night when she came back. During the day, her parents went out to work and no one came to accompany her. In order to pass the time, she made up many touching stories about what she heard. Unexpectedly, her parents were moved to tears after hearing her story.
At the age of 16, her vision gradually returned to normal. Seeing the plight of her family, she took the initiative to ask her parents to go out to work and earn money to support the family. The first job she found was as a telephone operator, working from morning to night, earning enough to buy a loaf of brown bread. She was also very satisfied with a piece of brown bread, because this solved the problem of dinner for the whole family. But the good times didn't last long, and soon she was fired because she answered the wrong important call. So, she started looking for a job again. Finally, she worked as a nanny for a child from a wealthy family. This was a disobedient child. She had no choice but to make him happy. She made up various stories to tell him. , until one day, the child's father accidentally heard her story. The well-read man said to her: "The story you told is very exciting. Which book is it from?" She shyly said that she made it up herself. of. The male host said to her in surprise: "You must record all your stories. One day, you may become a writer." To the 16-year-old, these words were just a joke, because she What we have to face every day is the reality of poverty.
At the age of 20, she got married and had children. She longed for the fact that her life path would be paved with bright sunshine from now on. But she didn't expect that marriage would become a disaster in her life. In the third year after their marriage, the man she thought she could rely on suddenly disappeared. He took away all the family's belongings and left behind her three young sons and a broken home. Thinking about the vast road of life, she was afraid and heartbroken. She didn't know where her future was. In order to relieve her depression, she began to write novels that she called stories. Writing novels became a way for her to escape reality and relieve her pain.
At the age of 31, she found that she could no longer support her three young sons. Looking at the skinny child, she made a bold decision: to leave poverty-stricken Zimbabwe and seek life in the outside world. She left Zimbabwe with her children and took a passenger ship to the UK via Cape Town, South Africa. On the ship that was swaying thousands of miles away, her hands were empty and her bag was empty. At this time, all she owned was a draft of a novel reflecting African life in her backpack.
As soon as we got off the boat, the problem started. There was no food, no shelter, the children were crying for food, and her mother's heart was like a knife. She took her only bargaining chip - the draft of the novel - to some publishing houses to try her luck. As a result, she ran into obstacles everywhere and suffered all the looks and ridicule. No one would believe that a refugee from Africa could write a novel that could be read. But she had no other way to go. She didn't dare to give up because this was the only chance for herself and her children. Within half a month, she knocked on the doors of almost every publishing house in London until one agreed to publish her novel under the title "The Grass Is Singing."
No one, including herself, expected that this African-themed novel would attract countless readers after its publication, and the entire London publishing world would become acquainted with this woman with three children overnight. young mother.
The success of a novel gave her hope and direction in life - to continue writing stories and novels. The hardships and ups and downs she experienced since childhood have become the material for her stories. Her poor background gave her a natural affinity and sympathy for the weak; her deep concern for human nature made her write diligently with a strong sense of social responsibility. As a result, she never stopped on the road of writing and bore numerous fruits.
Starting in 1952, she spent 17 years writing and publishing many novels such as "Children of Violence" and "The Golden Notebook". Her works have attracted more and more attention, but at the same time, some slanders and attacks have also come like a storm. Some people say that her novels are a mixture of narrow-mindedness and extreme thinking, and some people simply say that they are garbage. She was unfazed by the favor and humiliation, resigned herself to it, and continued writing her novel. She believes that as long as she keeps writing, one day people will understand her stories and like them.
As time flies, she, who has been working hard in writing, has changed from a *** to an old woman, and from an old woman to an octogenarian white-haired old woman.
One day, when she came back from buying daily necessities in the supermarket, she saw the door of her house crowded with people with cameras. She curiously asked those people: "Are you going to film a location drama here?" They told her: "You won the Nobel Prize for Literature!" After hearing this, the white-haired old woman had no expression on her face. People chanted her name: Doris Lessing.
The Swedish Academy’s award announcement stated: “She uses doubt, enthusiasm, and the power of imagination to examine a divided civilization and her epic female experience.”
On this day, there are 11 days left before Lessing’s 88th birthday. She is currently the oldest person to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Life’s hard times and good fortune