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

232 Pages·2014·2.39 MB·English

by  Roberta Rubenstein

Literary Half-Lives
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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
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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
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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.