Items related to The Golden Notebook
Synopsis
The experiences of two women provide the framework for this intense literary study of liberated womanhood
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Review
Much to its author's chagrin, The Golden Notebook instantly became a staple of the feminist movement when it was published in 1962. Doris Lessing's novel deconstructs the life of Anna Wulf, a sometime-Communist and a deeply leftist writer living in postwar London with her small daughter. Anna is battling writer's block, and, it often seems, the damaging chaos of life itself. The elements that made the book remarkable when it first appeared--extremely candid sexual and psychological descriptions of its characters and a fractured, postmodern structure--are no longer shocking. Nevertheless, The Golden Notebook has retained a great deal of power, chiefly due to its often brutal honesty and the sheer variation and sweep of its prose.
This largely autobiographical work comprises Anna's four notebooks: "a black notebook which is to do with Anna Wulf the writer; a red notebook concerned with politics; a yellow notebook, in which I make stories out of my experience; and a blue notebook which tries to be a diary." In a brilliant act of verisimilitude, Lessing alternates between these notebooks instead of presenting each one whole, also weaving in a novel called Free Women, which views Anna's life from the omniscient narrator's point of view. As the novel draws to a close, Anna, in the midst of a breakdown, abandons her dependence on compartmentalization and writes the single golden notebook of the title.
In tracking Anna's psychological movements--her recollections of her years in Africa, her relationship with her best friend, Molly, her travails with men, her disillusionment with the Party, the tidal pull of motherhood--Lessing pinpoints the pulse of a generation of women who were waiting to see what their postwar hopes would bring them. What arrived was unprecedented freedom, but with that freedom came unprecedented confusion. Lessing herself said in a 1994 interview: "I say fiction is better than telling the truth. Because the point about life is that it's a mess, isn't it? It hasn't got any shape except for you're born and you die."
The Golden Notebook suffers from certain weaknesses, among them giving rather simplistic, overblown illustrations to the phrase "a good man is hard to find" in the form of an endless parade of weak, selfish men. But it still has the capacity to fill emotional voids with the great rushes of feeling it details. Perhaps this is because it embodies one of Anna's own revelations: "I've been forced to acknowledge that the flashes of genuine art are all out of deep, suddenly stark, undisguiseable private emotion. Even in translation there is no mistaking these lightning flashes of genuine personal feeling." It seems that Lessing, like Anna when she decides to abandon her notebooks for the single, golden one, attempted to put all of herself in one book. --Melanie Rehak
About the Author
doris lessing is widely recognized as one of the greatest writers of the second half of the twentieth century.
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- PublisherSimon & Schuster
- Publication date1984
- ISBN 10 0671287702
- ISBN 13 9780671287702
- BindingHardcover
- LanguageEnglish
- Number of pages553
- Rating
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The Golden Notebook
Seller: Shakespeare Book House, Rockford, IL, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Condition: Acceptable. Item in acceptable condition including possible liquid damage. As well answers may be filled in. May be missing DVDs, CDs, Access code, etc. 100%Money-Back Guarantee! Ship within 24 hours!! This is a ex library book, stickers and markings accordingly. Seller Inventory # 570XQX0002V9_ns
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THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK.
Seller: Bookfever, IOBA (Volk & Iiams), Ione, CA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: VERY GOOD. Book club edition. The author's most important work, called a 'trumpet for women's liberation' when it was first published in 1962, with a new introduction in 1971 by the author. Dustjacket praise from writers ranging from Gwendolyn Brooks (who called it 'an overwhelming book'), Irving Howe, Granville Hicks and others. . xxi, 553 pp. Very good in a good dust jacket (large chip to upper corner of back cover of dj, closed tear, some wear to ends of spine, but a tight clean copy overall). Seller Inventory # 89878
Quantity: 1 available
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The Golden Notebook
Seller: Twice Sold Tales, Ashfield, MA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1984 Simon & Schuster hard cover - 5th printing - minor wear to edge of dust jacket - tanning minor staining and ink mark to closed page edge - otherwise cover fine binding strong contents clean - enjoy. Seller Inventory # 2403160006
Quantity: 1 available
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The Golden Notebook
Published by
Simon & Schuster, New York, N.Y., 1984
ISBN 10: 0671287702
ISBN 13: 9780671287702
Used
Hardcover
Seller: Goulds Book Arcade, Sydney, Newtown, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. The dust jacket has a bit of wear, with a few small scuffs and foxing on the edges. The page edges are a bit tanned and foxed. 568 pages. Books listed here are not stored at the shop. Please contact us if you want to pick up a book from Newtown. Seller Inventory # 171983
Quantity: 1 available
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The Golden Notebook Lessing, Doris May
Seller: Twice Sold Tales, Ashfield, MA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. original 1962 Michael Joseph (UK) hard cover - 1st edition 4th printing - ex-library whose only evidence is stamp inside front and back cover - envelop inside back cover and minor label on dust jacket spine - 2 inch tear on dust jacket at spine - slight general wear to dust jacket (now in mylar cover) some staining to page edge - minor tape residue to cover - 1 inch patch of cover surface off due to tape removal - otherwise cover fine binding strong contents clean - enjoy. Seller Inventory # E6-2DBY-Y6P0
Quantity: 1 available
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The Golden Notebook
Published by
Simon and Schuster, New York, 1984
ISBN 10: 0671287702
ISBN 13: 9780671287702
Used
Hardcover
Seller: funyettabooks, Bloomington, MN, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Clean and tight and square with sharp corners. 5th printing of this reissue of this 1962 classic. Light tan boards with gold lettering on the spine. Appears unread. Light soiling to the tiptops of the pages. Publisher's logo stamped on the bottom ends of the pages. The dust jacket has a little wear and tear along the edges and a spot of color loss near the top corner of the front panel. The color are still strong. The jacket is in new mylar. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Fiction. Seller Inventory # 050587
Quantity: 1 available
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The Golden Notebook
Seller: Toscana Books, AUSTIN, TX, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: new. Excellent Condition.Excels in customer satisfaction, prompt replies, and quality checks. Seller Inventory # Scanned0671287702
Quantity: 1 available
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The Golden Notebook Lessing, Doris May
Seller: Twice Sold Tales, Ashfield, MA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1962 Simon & Schuster hard cover - BCE - some stain and wear to edge of dust jacket (now in mylar cover - staining on page edge - owner's name whited out - otherwise cover and binding fine contents clean - enjoy. Seller Inventory # SK-T6RP-F3GH
Quantity: 1 available
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The Golden Notebook Lessing, Doris May
Seller: Twice Sold Tales, Ashfield, MA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Good. original 1962 Simon & Schuster hard cover - no dust jacket - some staining to cover and page edge - webbing showing at front leaf - some minor underlining - otherwise binding strong contents fine - enjoy. Seller Inventory # N1-6PY9-YDM0
Quantity: 1 available
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The Golden Notebook: a Reissue of the Classic
Seller: Callaghan Books South, New Port Richey, FL, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 5th. Large, heavy, sturdy book, smooth gray covers, very bright gilt lettering on spine, 568 pages.Simon & Schuster remainder mark at pages' bottom edge. DJ glossy beneath mylar, gray and white background with colorful illustration of books in pile on front. DJ has very light wear at top front edge, tiny creases at spine top edge, very tiny tear at top back edge, micronick at back bookfold edge. Very Good DJ/Very Fine book. Seller Inventory # 53132
Quantity: 1 available