DL/A-Z//GOTT/3 - [Correspondence with Robert Gottlieb, 1990-2000]

DL/A-Z//GOTT/3

Sub-file

[Correspondence with Robert Gottlieb, 1990-2000]

1990-2000

1 Invitation
15 Letters (typescript)

Knopf, Alfred A.

Gottlieb, Robert

[1990]

021 is a letter from Bob Gottlieb to Doris Lessing, thanking her for her article "Unwritten Novels". He mentions extant novels that fit her theme: Tony Godwin's Tussie Marx and Theodore Dreiser's The Financier, The Titan, Sister Carrie and An American Tragedy, and Frank Norris's The Pit: A Story of Chicago.

[1992]

022 is a letter from Lessing to Gottlieb, complaining about his description of her in a BBC radio programme. She discusses their professional relationship, in terms of giving and receiving criticism. She focuses on characterisations of herself as stubborn and difficult. She criticises Gottlieb's personality, calling him a "tyrant".

023 is a reply from Gottlieb to Lessing, apologising for the hurt that Lessing is feeling. He states that he was interviewed over the telephone, in what felt like an informal manner, and among the positive things he said about Lessing he included the word "stubbornness" without due attention to its impact. He addresses the deficiencies of his own character.

024 is a reply from Lessing to Gottlieb striking a note of reconciliation. She mentions editing African Laughter and starting to write Under My Skin. Mentions the political situation and drought in Zimbabwe and Ethiopia.

025 is a letter from Lessing to Gottlieb, backing out of publishing an abridged selection of excerpts from African Laughter. She states that the abridged versions misrepresent her position on the present state of Zimbabwe, and would be seized upon by "the ill-wishing whites who are this moment gleefully running about saying, about the blacks, We told you so!". Discusses problematic western representations of Africa.

[1993]

026 is a letter from Larissa MacFarquhar to Lessing. MacFarquhar is writing an article on the art of editing for The Paris Review and requests Lessing fill out a 12-question questionnaire about Bob Gottlieb's editing technique and style. The questionnaire is attached.

027 is a reply from Lessing to MacFarquhar responding to each of the questions in the questionnaire. She discusses Gottlieb's talents and character [see 022]. She states that there has been a decline in editorial quality in publishing, which she blames on politicisation of reading habits. She mentions Shikasta, The Sirian Experiments, the Four-Gated City, and The Sentimental Agents. She does not answer a question which includes a misspelling of the word 'anecdotes'.

028 is a reply from MacFarquhar to Lessing, thanking her for her input and apologising for her bad spelling.

029 is a letter from Lessing to MacFarquhar requesting an edit to the editing article. She wants to insert a qualifying statement to soften her claims about the lack of great editors.

[1994]

030 is a letter from Lessing to Gottlieb updating him on progress with editing Walking in the Shade. She describes editorial suggestions and discussions involving Stuart Proffitt, Jonathan Clowes and Terry Karten. She describes the experience of being required to explain her decision to become a communist to the new generation: "Suddenly the zeigeist [misspelling of zeitgeist] of then, which had seemed comprehensible if crazy, became something that had to be explained." She describes her recent Christmas, spent in Somerset with Michael Holroyd and Margaret Drabble.

031 is a letter from Nina Bourne of Alfred A. Knopf to Lessing, enclosing an article from the New York Review about Lessing's cats and Elizabeth Marshall Thomas's dogs [missing].

032 is a letter from Lessing to Gottlieb [responding to a request for 1994 end-of-year choices]. She recommends Bao Ninh's The Sorrow of War, comparing it to All Quiet on the Western Front; Michael Holroyd's Lytton Strachey: The New Biography [see 030]; and Fatima Mernissi's Islam and Democracy, Fear of the Modern World.

[1995]

033 is an incompletely dated letter from Lessing to Gottlieb. She mentions personal health details about "Jonathan" and "Christopher". The states that Jack Mayer has died. She mentions starting work on Walking in the Shade. @What rubbish it all is. Who cares, anyway."

034 is a letter from Carol Brown Janeway of Alfred A. Knopf to Lessing, enclosing a copy of Kay Jamison's The Unquiet Mind and requesting a short review.

035 is a reply from Lessing to Janeway, stating that she found The Unquiet Mind "very useful". She includes a short review. Mentions depression.

036 is an invitation from Robert and Maria Gottlieb for Doris Lessing to attend the wedding of their daughter Elizabeth Alice.