Author's brief introduction Doris Lessing (19 19-) is one of the most important contemporary British writers. 19 19 was born in Iran, originally named Taylor. Parents are British. When Lessing was 5 years old, her family moved to Rhodesia, and her family was poor for more than 20 years. When she was 15 years old (or 12- 13 years old), she dropped out of school to study at home because of eye diseases. /kloc-started working at the age of 0/6, and worked as an operator, nanny, stenographer, etc. In her youth, she took an active part in the left-wing political movement against colonialism and participated in * * *. Lessing has been married twice, divorced and has three children. 1949 When she moved to England with her young son, her hands were empty and her wallet was clean. All her things are a draft novel in her purse. This book was soon published under the title of Grass Singing (1950), which made Lessing famous. It focuses on the case of a black footman killing a white hostess with poor family and unbalanced mentality, and focuses on psychological portrayal, showing the racial oppression and racial contradictions in African colonies. Since then, Lessing has published five series of violent children, namely Martha Quest (1952), Beautiful Marriage (1954), Aftershock of Storm (1958) and Surrounded by Land (65438). During this period, she also finished The Golden Notebook (1962), which is recognized as her masterpiece. Since 1960s, Lessing's interest in contemporary psychology and Islamic mysticism has been reflected in her works from time to time, but she still pays attention to major social issues. In the mid-1970s, she wrote "A Brief Introduction to Hell" (197 1) about personal mental breakdown and "Memoirs of Survivors" (1974) about the future of human civilization. Summer before dark (1973) tells the story of a middle-aged housewife's mental crisis. Since then, she has taken a different approach and launched a series of so-called "space novels" with the general title of "The Old Man in South Sagittarius: Archives"; Including Casta (1979), the marriage between the third, fourth and fifth districts (1980), Sirius experiment (198 1), and the generation of the representative of Planet 8 (1982). Lessing is a prolific writer. Besides novels, she also writes poems, essays, plays and many excellent short stories. In recent years, new works are still coming out. The Diary of Jane Summers (1984), The Kind Terrorist (1985) and other works seem to be a return to the author's early realism in terms of theme and style.
First of all, the content summary should explain that it is almost impossible to distinguish the content summary from the analysis and appreciation because the Golden Notebook (its Chinese translation is "The Crisis of Women") has no plot in the traditional sense and it is difficult to repeat its story summary. In this work, Lessing breaks the traditional writing method of chronological narration and shows the life of the heroine Anna Freeman Woolf from several different angles and sides. Names are symbolic, just as Martha Quest's surname stands for "pursuit" and the "free man" in Anna's name stands for "free man". The book is based on a third-person novella called Free Women. The story is divided into five parts, telling the life and career of Anna and her girlfriend Molly; There are a series of so-called "notebooks" between each section, and the contents are taken from Anna's four notebooks (namely, black, red, yellow and blue). Repeat it four times, and insert an independent "Golden Notebook" section before the last section "Free Women". Among them, the black notebook records Anna's life in Africa when she was young, especially her activities in a local left-wing small group, as well as her fantasies, * * * and disappointments. Her first novel, Forbidden Love, is the product of this life. The little red book records things related to political events and activities. Huang Benzhong is a pile of drafts, describing a fictional character named Ella's love affair with youth and his writing career. The blueprint is Anna's diary, which includes her work in a publishing house in England, her painful feelings before and after leaving England, and the loneliness caused by the departure of her boyfriend Michael who has been with her for many years. This book presents an elaborate kaleidoscope of chaos. Readers can read in the order of the original book, or they can break the original arrangement and regroup, such as reading all the fragments and chapters of Free Women or Black Notebook together. The multiple structures of the novel correspond to the multiple themes of the work and show the contradictory spiritual world of modern westerners. Anna and Molly are divorced single parents, each with a job (Anna is a writer and Molly is an actress, raising children independently. They often meet in Molly's Kitchen in every issue of Free Women to discuss life and thoughts. They have been trying hard to find, unwilling to blindly follow, and unwilling to take pleasure in it. However, women like them are not "free", on the contrary, they are trapped in many difficulties. The first thing to bear the brunt is the ideological crisis. Like many western left-wing intellectuals who grew up in the "Red" 1930s, Anna devoted herself enthusiastically to political activities seeking change, but was later puzzled and tortured by deep disappointment and suspicion for various reasons. On the other hand, they still criticize the present situation of capitalism. They can't ignore the exploitation and oppression, conflicts and turmoil in the world and eat a middle-class bread and butter with peace of mind. There is still an emotional connection between the ideal of world harmony and the leftist cause. Because of ideological confusion, their confidence in work and career is almost exhausted, which is especially reflected in Anna's "writing psychological obstacle". Anna despised her first novel, thinking that such a best-selling work distorted and whitewashed the truth of life and turned the cruel and plain reality about racial oppression into an old-fashioned sentimental and romantic story. She doesn't trust language so much that she can't write any more. In private life, "free women" are also in a dilemma. Ella, who falls in love with married men in Anna's novels, doesn't want to be a good wife and mother of the old school, and has not got rid of the desire for protection and support; We should not only deal with the jealousy and loss when our boyfriends leave or are unfaithful, but also deal with those "decent" men who have made great achievements with their wives and children as an alternate pastime. Raising children is another challenge. Anna's daughter is determined to go against her mother's path, go to boarding school and be a "normal person" who follows the crowd and follows the rules. Molly's son not only inherited the radical thoughts and critical spirit of mothers, but also inherited their fears and doubts. Sometimes he was cynical, sometimes he was negative and desperate, and even tried to commit suicide, which led to blindness. Anna deeply felt trapped in many contradictions, split personality and at a loss, so she turned to a psychologist nicknamed "Sweet Aunt" to tell her about her anxiety, describe various dreams and listen to her analysis. The reason why she uses four notebooks at the same time to divide her experiences into past and present, politics and private life, reality and fiction is to find some order in the chaotic life. However, this practice of dividing life into many "classes" undoubtedly deepened her schizophrenia. In this case, Anna met a new boyfriend, that is, American Saul, whose experience and ideological status are similar to hers. They love each other, support each other, torture each other, hate each other and experience some kind of mental breakdown. The Golden Notebook section seems to show that they have gained new "integrity" and some new strength from this almost crazy experience. Inspired by each other, they decided on the title of their next work and decided to "continue fighting". In the last section "Free Women", Anna and Molly meet in the kitchen as usual. Until the end of the novel, they only imagined some compromises and expedient measures: Molly was going to marry a "progressive" businessman; Her son decided to inherit the capitalist father's legacy and do something useful in the form of property; Anna plans to go to night school to teach juvenile delinquents and join the Labour Party. For these, they themselves are cynical and skeptical. This is a kind of "cold treatment" of the hope revealed in the fantasy of the Golden Notebook. Obviously, Anna's problems and crises have not been finally solved.
Appreciating Lessing's early works are deeply influenced by the realistic narrative tradition in the19th century. The carefully conceived multi-ensemble composite structure in The Golden Notebook is in sharp contrast with this, which has attracted the attention of many critics. This work is usually regarded as Lessing's rethinking of literature and novels. It emphasizes the gap and contradiction between rational language and objective existence. Language always tries to approach an order, an explanation, and life is essentially a chaotic whole. It is not clear whether it is this way or that way. As a result, the contents of Anna's four notes have become a mockery of her original intention: for example, her attention to politics has not been detained in the Red Notebook, and Anna's personal crisis described in the blueprint is intertwined with the political problems in the red book, echoing each other. Her personal notes sometimes become scrapbooks for newspapers and news reports. In this novel, the "story" is broken into pieces and divided into many pieces of records and narratives, none of which is authoritative. Free Women describes Anna and Molly's lives in the third person narrative way from the traditional omniscient perspective, but Anna's four notes show that people's thoughts and activities are so multifaceted and full of contradictions that net profit can't fall into any omniscient narrative. The boundary and relationship between "illusion" and "reality" has also become difficult to determine. Ella in The Yellow Notebook is a fictional character. But her situation and mentality are very similar to Anna herself. No wonder Anna said in another place: Ella is Anna. Those who try to be "realistic" are doomed to deviate from the truth. Anna was horrified to find that not only her novel Forbidden Love was distorted, but even her personal diary (Blue Notebook) which was supposed to be the most authentic was "equally false". Sometimes she records the activities and psychological feelings of the day in great detail in her diary, but she doesn't think the sum of these details is the "truth" of her life. So she crossed it out and replaced it with "an ordinary day" and "everything is the same as before", which also made her uneasy. In The Blue and Gold Notebook, Anna's hysterical American boyfriend is called Saul, but when such a character is mentioned in the last section of Free Women, his name is not Saul at all, and he is not that crazy. The narrative of "free women" has the authoritative tone of traditional novels and seems objective and credible. However, other parts of the novel suggest that this is just another work of Anna. The book contains many overlapping narratives that sometimes confirm each other and sometimes contradict each other, but nothing is absolutely positive or negative, and it is impossible to judge which is "true" and which is "false". On the other hand, in Lessing's works, form and content are integrated, and the doubts and problems of art are also those of life. As the "protagonist", Anna's thoughts are in crisis, and there is no ready-made plot model that can be used as a blueprint for life. Whether in social activities or private life, she doesn't know how to control her own destiny. The fragmented "story" just tells the story of this fragmented and chaotic life. In a sense, all the fragmented descriptions in the notebook are "true": they all reflect or express the spiritual dilemma of the protagonist (and sometimes the narrator) in different ways. As an independent and uninhibited "free woman" with a sense of justice, Anna has no refuge in thought and practice, but she refuses to give up her beliefs completely and is depressed and desperate. Anna's notes recorded their painful thoughts. Although this novel pays attention to art form, it is obviously not just for art. Lessing still cares about society and life as always. For this reason, The Golden Notebook has not only attracted the attention of literary critics, but also aroused considerable repercussions among left-wing (or former left-wing) intellectuals and many women with feminist tendencies.