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Literary Half-Lives: Doris Lessing, Clancy Sigal, and Roman à Clef PDF

232 Pages·2014·2.39 MB·English
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Literary Half-Lives This page intentionally left blank Literary HaLf-Lives Doris Lessing, CLanCy sigaL, anD Roman à Clef Roberta Rubenstein literary half-lives Copyright © Roberta Rubenstein, 2014. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-41365-9 All rights reserved. First published in 2014 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-48998-5 ISBN 978-1-137-41366-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137413666 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rubenstein, Roberta, 1944– Literary half-lives : Doris Lessing, Clancy Sigal, and roman à clef / Roberta Rubenstein. pages cm. Includes bibliographical references. 1. Lessing, Doris, 1919–2013—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Sigal, Clancy—Criticism and interpretation. 3. Romans à clef. I. Title. PR6023.E833Z86 2014 8239.914—dc23 2013045999 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: May 2014 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For Chuck— again and always This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction Where the Story Begins 1 1 Hall of Mirrors 13 2 Truth Values and Mining Claims 53 3 Plays and Power Plays 77 4 Will the Real Saul Green Please Stand Up? 99 5 A Rose by Any Other Name 119 6 Life in the Interior Zone 131 7 Poetic License and Poetic Justice 145 8 Variations on a Theme 165 9 Of Parent and Child 179 Conclusion His, Hers, Theirs 195 Notes 201 Works Cited 211 Index 221 This page intentionally left blank aCknowLeDgments am grateful to many people who supported me during the writ- ing of this book. First and foremost, I thank—but cannot suffi- Ic iently thank—my husband, Charles R. Larson, without whose love, encouragement, patience, good humor, and unstinting support at every step of this project and in every way—including editorial and, not least, gastronomical—I could not have brought the book to fruition. Without the generous cooperation of Clancy Sigal, this book would not have been possible. I am especially grateful for his permis- sion to quote from unpublished materials in the Clancy Sigal Archive at the Harry Ransom Center, the University of Texas at Austin, and for his answers to questions concerning several details in his archive. Thanks also to Ernest Rodker for permission to quote from unpub- lished material in the Joan Rodker Archive at the Harry Ransom Center. Thanks to Brigitte Shull, my editor at Palgrave Macmillan, who was enthusiastic about this project from the beginning and contin- ued to encourage me during its path to publication. I am especially grateful to Alice Ridout, who read the manuscript incisively and with exceptional care under difficult circumstances and whose judicious suggestions have made this a far better book than it otherwise would have been. I thank Paul Schlueter, fellow scholar of Doris Lessing and friend over the years, who has enthusiastically supported my scholarship and who generously provided pertinent materials from his own library for my use. William Roger Lewis, professor of English History and Culture at the University of Texas at Austin, invited me to speak on Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook at the British Colloquium, an occasion that fortuitously opened the door to this project. Thanks to Phyllis Perrakis and Debrah Raschke for their collegial support of the project at an early stage and to Bernth and Judy Lindfors for their hospitality while I was in Austin. Ryan Jenkins, editorial assistant at Palgrave, was unfailingly helpful dur- ing the production phase of the manuscript.

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