DL/A-Z//NORTHE - [Correspondence with Sally Jacobsen of Northern Kentucky University]

DL/A-Z//NORTHE

File

[Correspondence with Sally Jacobsen of Northern Kentucky University]

1997

2 Letters (typescript)

Northern Kentucky University
Lessing, Doris May, 1919-2013

2 items, highlighted. Correspondence between Sally A. Jacobsen of Northern Kentucky University and Doris Lessing, regarding Margaret Atwood and Lessing evaluating her work.

DL/A-Z//NORTHE/001 [from Sally A. Jacobsen to Doris Lessing, 08/01/1997]

Letter, 1 leaf, typed.
Asks if Lessing will support the nomination of Margaret Atwood as an Honorary Fellow. Asks Lessing that if she does support the nomination then could she write a "short, pithy evaluation" on Atwood's work. Praises Lessing's own body of work, writing that her students enjoyed The Nice and the Good, and that her favourite is The Good Apprentice. Mentions hearing Lessing read from The Book and the Brotherhood at Charleston Festival in 1994. Mentions Nadine Gordimer, Richard Wilbur, Adrienne Rich and Jay Macpherson as contributors already in support of Atwood.

DL/A-Z//NORTHE/002 [from Doris Lessing to Sally A. Jacobsen, 12/01/1997]

Letter, 1 leaf, typed.
Writes that she admires Atwood's work, but is "mildly surprised" that she needs an evaluation, as "her fame should make that unnecessary". Writes that she has "never heard of" The Nice and the Good, and she "certainly didn't write it". Writes that she has "never been to Charleston" so Jacobsen couldn't have heard her read. Also mentions that she didn't write The Good Apprentice (all three were Iris Murdoch). Ends the letter by writing that she is "rather reluctant to be associated with this degree of incompetence".