DL/A-Z//MITCHI - [Correspondence with Naomi Mitchison]
Reference code
DL/A-Z//MITCHI
Level of description
File
Title
[Correspondence with Naomi Mitchison]
Date/s
??/05/1972-22/08/1997
Quantity & Format
1 Article
1 Invitation
6 Letters (typescript and MS)
1 Invitation
6 Letters (typescript and MS)
Corporate name
William Heinemann Ltd
Authors' World Peace Appeal
Authors' World Peace Appeal
Creator
Mitchison, Naomi
Scope and content
[1972]
001 is a biography of Naomi Mitchison [written presumably by Doris Lessing] outlining her literary, political and personal life. Mentions socialism, communism and the Authors' World Peace Appeal (AWPA), which sponsored a tour of the USSR which Lessing and Mitchison attended. Mentions that Mitchison became an adopted member of the Bakgatla tribe in Botswana. The document, written in an unfinished style, is on paper with a William Heinemann Ltd letterhead.
[1985]
002 is a letter from Lessing to Mitchison, responding to a request regarding an article she wrote about her AWPA trip. She states that she feels very differently about her trip then she did when she first wrote about it. Now she remembers it with shame.
"We blundered about, quacking and braying, like a parcel of spoiled children, among people only just surviving under one of the most brutal and arbitrary tyrants the world has seen."
She recalls numerous embarrassing details of the trip. She states that the very presence of foreign visitors put the Russian handlers in mortal danger.
She advises Mitchison to think very carefully before writing more about the AWPA trip, especially with respect to the other attendees. She mentions Philip Mason and Douglas Young.
003 is a letter from Mitchison to Lessing. She states that she has read Lessing's "Canadian lectures" and has some challenges regarding her representation of the AWPA tour of the USSR. She also challenges Lessing's ideas about slavery in Ancient Greece. She states that modern democracy is "so entangled that it doesn't really represent the people's will", blaming pressure groups who influence politicians and the public using "techniques learned from commercial advertising". She reflects on religion, stating that belief in heaven was important "when babies were more likely to die than not".
[1986]
004 is a letter from Lessing, responding to an evidently strongly worded letter of Mitchison's. She states that she "doesn't give a damn" if Mitchison destroys her letter and she is not interested in "covering her traces". She states that she is happy to talk about her AWPA trip when people ask, but is not willing to write a seious article about it, because her perspective is so different from other attendees and she feels the "fellow traveller syndrome" has been adequately covered already.
[1990s?]
004 is an incompletely dated letter from Mitchison to Lessing, commiserating her for some misfortune. She comments on Lessing's most recent collection of stories and describes the relationship between dreams and inspiration. She describes the positive benefits of being an adopted member of the Bakgatla: "For instance when I had a broken leg in Edinburgh they somehow and unexpectedly, mended it, to the great interest and surprise of the Scottish surgeon."
005 is an incompletely dated letter from Mitchison to Lessing, referring to a piece of writing she is producing that may include references to the AWPA tour of the USSR. She states that she wants to find out whether attendees thought it had "any good results" or whether it affected their writing or behaviour. She hand writes on the bottom that she will tear up the letter Lessing sent her, "advising against going to this next conference" to keep it away from "prying biographers".
006 is an incompletely dated letter from Mitchison to Lessing, enclosing another letter with an earlier date, accidentally unsent. The August letter apologises for forgetting to post the July letter: "the difficulty of your books is that they are constantly taking me elsewhere". Musing that she may have posted the July letter after all, she state: "I am waggling along towards dark and dreaming." The July letter thanks Lessing for sending a book of hers. She praises the book, and states that it made her dream of Botswana. She recalls watching a sunset in Botswana and determining that she must see it again, but acknowledges that she never will.
007 is an undated letter from Mitchison to Lessing, responding to a "story" [novel?] of Lessing's that Mitchison has recently read. She questions Lessing's representation of the 1960s and discusses socialism in England and Scotland.
[1994]
008 is a letter from Jenni Calder to Lessing, stating that she is writing a biography of Mitchison and that she would like Lessing to contribute her memories of the AWPA tour of the USSR. She also asks whether Mitchison and Lessing share memories of Africa. Lessing has typewritten a note for Brie Burkeman on the top of the letter, stating that she will be addressing the AWPA tour in Walking in the Shade, and "until then I haven't anything to say".
[1997]
009 is an invitation for Lessing to attend the launch of Calder's biography of Mitchison, The Nine Lives of Naomi Mitchison.
001 is a biography of Naomi Mitchison [written presumably by Doris Lessing] outlining her literary, political and personal life. Mentions socialism, communism and the Authors' World Peace Appeal (AWPA), which sponsored a tour of the USSR which Lessing and Mitchison attended. Mentions that Mitchison became an adopted member of the Bakgatla tribe in Botswana. The document, written in an unfinished style, is on paper with a William Heinemann Ltd letterhead.
[1985]
002 is a letter from Lessing to Mitchison, responding to a request regarding an article she wrote about her AWPA trip. She states that she feels very differently about her trip then she did when she first wrote about it. Now she remembers it with shame.
"We blundered about, quacking and braying, like a parcel of spoiled children, among people only just surviving under one of the most brutal and arbitrary tyrants the world has seen."
She recalls numerous embarrassing details of the trip. She states that the very presence of foreign visitors put the Russian handlers in mortal danger.
She advises Mitchison to think very carefully before writing more about the AWPA trip, especially with respect to the other attendees. She mentions Philip Mason and Douglas Young.
003 is a letter from Mitchison to Lessing. She states that she has read Lessing's "Canadian lectures" and has some challenges regarding her representation of the AWPA tour of the USSR. She also challenges Lessing's ideas about slavery in Ancient Greece. She states that modern democracy is "so entangled that it doesn't really represent the people's will", blaming pressure groups who influence politicians and the public using "techniques learned from commercial advertising". She reflects on religion, stating that belief in heaven was important "when babies were more likely to die than not".
[1986]
004 is a letter from Lessing, responding to an evidently strongly worded letter of Mitchison's. She states that she "doesn't give a damn" if Mitchison destroys her letter and she is not interested in "covering her traces". She states that she is happy to talk about her AWPA trip when people ask, but is not willing to write a seious article about it, because her perspective is so different from other attendees and she feels the "fellow traveller syndrome" has been adequately covered already.
[1990s?]
004 is an incompletely dated letter from Mitchison to Lessing, commiserating her for some misfortune. She comments on Lessing's most recent collection of stories and describes the relationship between dreams and inspiration. She describes the positive benefits of being an adopted member of the Bakgatla: "For instance when I had a broken leg in Edinburgh they somehow and unexpectedly, mended it, to the great interest and surprise of the Scottish surgeon."
005 is an incompletely dated letter from Mitchison to Lessing, referring to a piece of writing she is producing that may include references to the AWPA tour of the USSR. She states that she wants to find out whether attendees thought it had "any good results" or whether it affected their writing or behaviour. She hand writes on the bottom that she will tear up the letter Lessing sent her, "advising against going to this next conference" to keep it away from "prying biographers".
006 is an incompletely dated letter from Mitchison to Lessing, enclosing another letter with an earlier date, accidentally unsent. The August letter apologises for forgetting to post the July letter: "the difficulty of your books is that they are constantly taking me elsewhere". Musing that she may have posted the July letter after all, she state: "I am waggling along towards dark and dreaming." The July letter thanks Lessing for sending a book of hers. She praises the book, and states that it made her dream of Botswana. She recalls watching a sunset in Botswana and determining that she must see it again, but acknowledges that she never will.
007 is an undated letter from Mitchison to Lessing, responding to a "story" [novel?] of Lessing's that Mitchison has recently read. She questions Lessing's representation of the 1960s and discusses socialism in England and Scotland.
[1994]
008 is a letter from Jenni Calder to Lessing, stating that she is writing a biography of Mitchison and that she would like Lessing to contribute her memories of the AWPA tour of the USSR. She also asks whether Mitchison and Lessing share memories of Africa. Lessing has typewritten a note for Brie Burkeman on the top of the letter, stating that she will be addressing the AWPA tour in Walking in the Shade, and "until then I haven't anything to say".
[1997]
009 is an invitation for Lessing to attend the launch of Calder's biography of Mitchison, The Nine Lives of Naomi Mitchison.
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DL - Doris Lessing Archive
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DL/2008 - Doris Lessing Archive 2008 deposit
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DL/A-Z - [A-Z Correspondence of Doris Lessing]
- DL/A-Z//MITCHI - [Correspondence with Naomi Mitchison]
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DL/A-Z - [A-Z Correspondence of Doris Lessing]
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DL/2008 - Doris Lessing Archive 2008 deposit