DL/A-Z//ALD/3 - [Correspondence with Brian Aldiss, 1995-1999]

DL/A-Z//ALD/3

Sub-file

[Correspondence with Brian Aldiss, 1995-1999]

11/01/1995-08/09/1999

1 Letters (typescript)
1 Invitation

Aldiss, Brian

[1995]

016 is a letter from Brian Aldiss to Doris Lessing. Aldiss refers to Lessing’s Under My Skin, discussing memory. He mentions writing an autobiography. He laments the failure of his recent novels Remembrance Day and Somewhere East of Life: “my novels are now disasters”. He mentions the second world war and the concurrent conflict in Bosnia. He mentions Dark Light Years.

017 is a reply from Lessing. She describes going to funerals: “Large portly men kept coming up and saying, Hello darling, and the last time I’d seen them they were elegant striplings.” Laments the aging of Malcolm McDowell. Discusses truth (“yes, it is like quick silver when you’ve cracked the thermometer and its running everywhere.”) and bearing witness to history. Lists movements from the 1950s. Mentions war and conquest, including the concurrent conflict in Chechnya. Mentions Aldiss’s “Home Life With Cats”. Finishes with “YWA OF COURSE THE HUMAN RACE IS MAD.”

[1996]

019 is a letter from Aldiss to Lessing. Refers to a gift of the poetry of Magtymguly Pyragy [missing], relating to a recent trip to Turkmenistan. Mentions writing an autobiography.

[1997]

022 is a handwritten, unposted card from Aldiss to Lessing 1997. Mentions science fiction fanzine Ansible.

023 is a letter from Aldiss to Lessing. He announces that he has finished his autobiography [The Twinkling of an Eye, or My Life as an Englishman]. He mentions being rejected by HarperCollins and “going to Little Brown”.

024 is a letter from Aldiss thanks Lessing for volunteering to look at his autobiography. He mentions cutting references to sex.

025 is reply from Lessing to Aldiss. She offers a critique of Aldiss’s autobiography. She mentions Salman Rushdie, Midnight’s Children and The Satanic Verses. She disparages the Booker prize. She objects to Aldiss’s representation of her watching The Making of the Representative from the stalls: “There is something a bit “icky” about this bit about me and the stalls and I wish you’d cut it out.” She mentions sex in Aldiss’s work. She advises making a lot of cuts. She discusses the cycles of success and failure for writers [it seems Aldiss is in a trough] and counsels: “Don’t leave in the bit about your never having written better, but your books not reviewed or even noticed. It sounds like whining.” She asks Aldiss to cut a sequence involving [presumably Jungian] “anima”. She provides a “puff” in the form of a short positive review.

026 is a letter from Aldiss to Lessing, responding to her critique. He describes being sick of writing his autobiography. He mentions the “anima”. He describes science fiction as a means of escaping nationality. Lessing hand writes: “Letter on “anima” 4.7.97”.

027 is a letter from Margaret Aldiss to Lessing, responding to Lessing’s commiserations as her “terrible news” [a diagnosis of cancer].

028 is a letter from Aldiss to Lessing. He describes gender roles as they apply to his experience of caring for Margaret: “Margaret has looked after me too well. Now I look after her.” He mentions religion and death: “It’s a relief not having any religious beliefs.”

029 is a letter from Aldiss to Lessing, thanking her for her condolences following the death of Margaret. Mentions guilt, cancer and religion: “A surprising number of people say to me, “Well, you’ll meet her again one day. Oh no, I bloody won’t.”

[1998]

031 is an invitation for Doris Lessing is invited to the launch of Aldiss's autobiography. She hand writes a refusal: “No. Norwich”

[1999]

032 is a letter from Aldiss to Lessing, accepting her invitation to attend her 80th birthday party. Mentions domestic chores and writing.