Doris Lessing - Less Than Thrilled with Nobel Lit Prize

She sounds like a real pistol. I give a bit of a pass for being 88. Still, would a "That's nice" kill you? They say she's "strident and eccentric."

Interesting article--and such a different slant taken with it than in the articles in the British press, in which Lessing is obviously pleased as punch. I'm a long-time Lessing fan, and the coverage, quotes and pictures which I saw today pleased me immensely.

http://arts.independent.co.uk/books/news/article3052351.ece

http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2188747,00.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2638056.ece

It should be added that she found out about the award from the press photographers who were waiting for her when she returned from taking her son to hospital, and ambushed her on her front doorstep (check out the photos on that last link I posted--she's sitting there, holding court). She was caught on the hop, and it seems to me that her comments have been selectively edited in some of the coverage.

Interesting to read the different views. Thanks for posting the links, Old Hack!

I wish I could do that.

I can't imagine anyone not pleased with winning a Nobel. That's like the highest of high honor, not to mention the $1.5 mil.

Well, they did badmouth her in the 60s. Why should she roll over and play nice now?

scarletpeaches said:

Well, they did badmouth her in the 60s. Why should she roll over and play nice now?

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That would be a 40-year-old grudge... that's $37500 a year to compensate for the badmouthing...

She did say something about the deflationary aspect of being up for the thing some forty years in a row. Which I can see. And she *is* 88. And the doorstep ambush with her son in hospital. I might have been cranky too.

maestrowork said:

That would be a 40-year-old grudge... that's $37500 a year to compensate for the badmouthing...

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Not a grudge. Just a reluctance to be sweetness and light to an organisation who didn't have a good word to say about her forty years ago. She probably said what she did in a "You think you can buy me with a prize?" kinda way.

And she probably earns more than that in a year anyway. Someone like Lessing won't be too worried about sales.

Maybe now she'll win the Booker after being up three previous times. I mean, if Atwood can get a body-of-work Booker...

Do you honestly think that wouldn't happen without the Laureateship?

scarletpeaches said:

Well, they did badmouth her in the 60s. Why should she roll over and play nice now?

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(assuming she did show attitude... not that she really did...)

It's still a grudge, however we want to justify it. But the point is, it's the NOBEL! How many Nobel Literary Laureates are there, still alive? She's among the most elite of elite. It's good to set personal vendetta aside and show some grace.

who cares is what i say too. let her have her bitterness and contempt. she's earned it. being alive today, we have all earned it. when she's dead it will just be another meaningless award to have alongside the others in her obit. who cares...she has the right attitude.

I think the words 'grudge' and 'vendetta' are way too strong here.

I hardly think she spent her whole life hating the Nobel people.

Perhaps - and maybe this is a very British attitude - the Laureateship just doesn't matter that much to her? So she didn't jump through hoops and skip and sing songs when she found out? So what?

That doesn't mean she bears a grudge. It just means there are more important things to think about - like getting her son to hospital. And her sales are already quite good. Oh, they'll improve, but I very much doubt she was begging in the streets before this.

And to be honest, there's one literary prize I'd want to win more than the Nobel. To me, it doesn't seem that big. Congratulations to the people who win it, but my eyes are set - rather ambitiously but meh - on another prize.

maestrowork said:

(assuming she did show attitude... not that she really did...)

It's still a grudge, however we want to justify it. But the point is, it's the NOBEL! How many Nobel Literary Laureates are there, still alive? She's among the most elite of elite. It's good to set personal vendetta aside and show some grace.

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ray, ray, ray...you don't have to show grace when you are given an award you didn't ask for. As Judas said...and Christ God, I hate it when I agree with that freak...they had nothing good to say about her before. I don't see that as a vendetta...her disregard...I see it as the way it should be.

you don't have to give a flying shit if someone gives you an award. You just don't.

Don't know about you. I would love to win a Nobel. Call me shallow.

Better than a kick in the teeth, sure, but not the glittering prize I'm aiming for.

KTC said:

you don't have to give a flying shit if someone gives you an award. You just don't.

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Of course you don't. But it's "grace" I'm talking about. Saying "big deal" is not very graceful, IMHO -- doesn't mean it's wrong, just not very graceful.

I'd like to see her give away the $1.5 mil then.

I don't think there's any lack of grace in expressing confusion at a body who previously disliked you, suddenly deciding to give you an award. Especially in this:

Doris Lessing said:

I've won it. I'm very pleased and now we're going to have a lot of speeches and flowers and it will be very nice.

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scarletpeaches said:

Better than a kick in the teeth, sure, but not the glittering prize I'm aiming for.

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Easy for you to say, Snookum. I guess I grew up believing that the Nobel means you're the best of the best of the best in the whole wide world... sort of like an Olympic gold medal. I just don't think I would trivialize it like you do.

maestrowork said:

Of course you don't. But it's "grace" I'm talking about. Saying "big deal" is not very graceful, IMHO -- doesn't mean it's wrong, just not very graceful.

I'd like to see her give away the $1.5 mil then.

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I'd be annoyed by the glare myself too. Kudos to her. I don't believe in grace...I really don't. If it happened to be, it would depend on the mood I was in that day. If it was a shit day, they'd get the same response. "Feck off...I'm weeding my garden."

maestrowork said:

Don't know about you. I would love to win a Nobel. Call me shallow.

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Shallow.

scarletpeaches said:

I don't think there's any lack of grace in expressing confusion at a body who previously disliked you, suddenly deciding to give you an award. Especially in this:

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I have put up a disclaimer saying if she did in fact give an "who cares, you suck anyway" attitude. If she didn't, it remains a hypothetical discussion about grace vs. bitterness.

I wonder though about how much might be a generational thing. All the people I've known and do know within that age range, they just don't get carried away about things, no matter how momentous. Granted none of them won the Nobel. But maybe we're too used to the Sally Field Syndrome (You Really Like Me !!!!!), people just going apedoody-gaga over every little thing these days. Maybe we expect that without realizing that we do.

Too, Lessing is an intelligent woman, and the Nobels and their selection process are not perfect, so maybe that's a factor. Just speculating. Who knows. Being overlooked for a million years, maybe it's like Peter O'Toole wishing he could have won an Oscar for a role rather than being considered for a Lifetime Achievement thingy. I don't know.

I actually got a kick out of her reactions to it all. Seemed kind of healthy.