DL/A-Z//GOLDI - [Correspondence with Gillian Golding]

DL/A-Z//GOLDI

File

[Correspondence with Gillian Golding]

1988

2 Letters (typescript)

Eliot, George
Schreiner, Olive

Golding, Gillian
Lessing, Doris May, 1919-2013

2 items, highlighted . Correspondence between Gillian Golding and Doris Lessing, regarding George Eliot.

DL/A-Z//GOLDI/001 [from Gillian Golding to Doris Lessing, 20/07/1988]

Letter, 1 leaf, typed.

Writes to Lessing asking her to elaborate on a comment she was reported to make about George Eliot: "George Eliot is as good as far as she goes... but there is a great deal she does not understand because she is moral."

DL/A-Z//GOLDI/002 [from Doris Lessing to Gillian Golding, 08/08/1988]

Letter, 1 leaf, typed.
Lessing explains her position on Eliot, stating that Eliot was writing under great pressure to be moral. She refers to her treatment as a female author when The Golden Notebook was published, and the need to suppress her gut reaction, which was to behave in a more feminine way. Mentions Olive Shreiner. Lessing wonders what kind of work Eliot might have produced if she had not experienced such pressure to be "moral, good, a force for ethical values and so on".