Slog - Comments on Doris Lessing to the Nobel Committee: Whatever With You http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/doris_lessing_to_the_nobel_committee_wha Doris Lessing, who is not Philip Roth, won the Nobel Prize for Literature, it was announced today. There's a post on the Guardian's book blog by John Mullan, who interviewed Lessing earlier this year--a gloss of her career, a mention of the fact that she's the oldest writer to ever win and only the eleventh female, etc. And then, toward the end, this sentence: "The prize money and the recognition will both no doubt be welcome." That's not what the Associated Press is reporting. According to this story, Lessing said when she heard the news: "I couldn't care less." And... Copyright 2008 Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:20:30 -0800 Fri, 12 Oct 2007 08:17:55 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Andrew Yeah when I won the nobel prize in economics two years ago everyone kept calling and eventually I had to change my number.

]]> Andrew http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/doris_lessing_to_the_nobel_committee_wha#c823338 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/doris_lessing_to_the_nobel_committee_wha#c823338 Books Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:27:00 -0800 Comment by heywhatsit Let's see Roth be that crotchety!

]]> heywhatsit http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/doris_lessing_to_the_nobel_committee_wha#c823352 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/doris_lessing_to_the_nobel_committee_wha#c823352 Books Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:36:51 -0800 Comment by Jude Fawley Hmm, I thought all she was good for was writing stories about her cats these days, but apparently she can manage a testy interview saying exactly what society does not expect her to say when she wins a snooty prestigious prize. I love that!

I hope when I'm that age I could care less what people think of me too. I hope I'm not a grump though.

Had I been chosen for "Freaky Friday," tomorrow you would have found a post discussing the psychological, spiritual and sociological undertones of Lessing's barely-known Science Fiction series, "Canopus in Argus: Archives" including its Sufi undertones and her connection to the trickster-teacher Idries Shah.
http://www.blaketashi.com/idries_shah.htm

]]> Jude Fawley http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/doris_lessing_to_the_nobel_committee_wha#c823362 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/doris_lessing_to_the_nobel_committee_wha#c823362 Books Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:43:47 -0800 Comment by James Mr. Frizzelle,

Hadn't you better mention her claim that, decades prior, the Nobel Committee basically told her she'd never get a Nobel? I could imagine such a rebuff could make her "rude" (yet highly amusing) tirade a little more understandable.

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7039100.stm
"She recalled that, in the 1960s, 'they sent one of their minions especially to tell me they didn't like me at the Nobel Prize and I would never get it'.

'So now they've decided they're going to give it to me. So why? I mean, why do they like me any better now than they did then?'

The author, who turns 88 on 22 October, said she thought she had become more respectable with age.

'They can't give a Nobel to someone who's dead so I think they were probably thinking they had better give it to me now before I popped off,' she said."

]]> James http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/doris_lessing_to_the_nobel_committee_wha#c823382 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/doris_lessing_to_the_nobel_committee_wha#c823382 Books Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:55:28 -0800 Comment by punninglinguist @1 See, if I won the Nobel in Economics, I'd have the economic sense to set up a 900-number!

]]> punninglinguist http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/doris_lessing_to_the_nobel_committee_wha#c823439 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/doris_lessing_to_the_nobel_committee_wha#c823439 Books Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:38:30 -0800 Comment by Cuspy Yet another awesome person born on October 22nd!

]]> Cuspy http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/doris_lessing_to_the_nobel_committee_wha#c823448 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/doris_lessing_to_the_nobel_committee_wha#c823448 Books Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:48:21 -0800 Comment by Sam Wow, kind of a bitch. That's awesome. I feel sorry for her grandchildren, though. That's probably who was on the other end of the telly!

]]> Sam http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/doris_lessing_to_the_nobel_committee_wha#c823479 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/doris_lessing_to_the_nobel_committee_wha#c823479 Books Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:37:39 -0800 Comment by Muggle The lady who wrote Harry Potter should have won.

]]> Muggle http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/doris_lessing_to_the_nobel_committee_wha#c823487 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/doris_lessing_to_the_nobel_committee_wha#c823487 Books Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:44:48 -0800 Comment by Greg Funny... they spelled my grandma's name wrong. No mistaking her, though.

]]> Greg http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/doris_lessing_to_the_nobel_committee_wha#c823678 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/10/doris_lessing_to_the_nobel_committee_wha#c823678 Books Fri, 12 Oct 2007 08:17:55 -0800