Writing inspired by four visits to Zimbabwe, her childhood home, from the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2007, Doris Lessing.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Doris Lessing made several visits to her homeland, Zimbabwe, a country from which she had been banned for twenty-five years for her opposition to the government of what was then white Southern Rhodesia. Mingling memory and reportage in vivid detail, Doris Lessing pays passionate and profound testament to an extraordinary country, its landscape, people and unquenchable spirit. ‘African Laughter’ is both a shrewd and perceptive protrait of a modern African state emerging from its bloody and terrible colonial history, and a candid and moving insight into the mind of one of this century’s finest writers.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
‘An eloquent statement, one of the strengths of this account of a nation’s tragedy is that Doris Lessing evokes not sadness but laughter. She describes this as “the marvellous African laughter born somewhere in the gut, seizing the whole body with good-humoured philosophy. It is the laughter of poor people”.’ TLS
‘Innumerable conversations - of Africans, among them poets and teachers and cooks; of whites, some of whom have “taken the Gap” to South Africa then returned, disillusioned - contribute to Doris Lessing’s picture of the new Zimbabwe. Enthralling, significant and provocative.’ Independent
‘“African Laughter” conveys a country and its people more completely than any other book I have read. It is filled with stories, anecdotes, newspaper cuttings , poems, obituaries, songs, even Doris Lessing’s synosis for a film - the cumulative effect is extraordinary. As well as a remarkable immediacy, the narrative has an irrepressible physical vigour which reflects perfectly the vitality of the Zimbabwean people.’ Daily Telegraph
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Doris Lessing made several visits to her homeland, Zimbabwe, a country from which she had been banned for twenty-five years for her opposition to the government of what was then white Southern Rhodesia. Mingling memory and reportage in vivid detail, Doris Lessing pays passionate and profound testament to an extraordinary country, its landscape, people and unquenchable spirit. 'African Laughter' is both a shrewd and perceptive portrait of a modern African state emerging from its bloody and terrible colonial history, and a candid and moving insight into the mind of one of this century's finest writers.
"An eloquent statement, one of the strengths of this account of a nation's tragedy is that Doris Lessing evokes not sadness but laughter. She describes this as 'the marvellous African laughter born somewhere in the gut, seizing the whole body with good-humoured philosophy. It is the laughter of poor people'."
TLS
"Innumerable conversations – of Africans, among them poets and teachers and cooks; of whites, some of whom have 'taken the gap' to South Africa then returned, disillusioned – contribute to Doris Lessing's picture of the new Zimbabwe. Enthralling, significant and provocative."
INDEPENDENT
"'African Laughter' conveys a country and its people more completely than any other book I have read. It is filled with stories, anecdotes, newspaper cuttings, poems, obituaries, songs, even Doris Lessing's synopsis for a film – the cumulative effect is extraordinary. As well as a remarkable immediacy, the narrative has an irrepressible physical vigour which reflects perfectly the vitality of the Zimbabwean people."
DAILY TELEGRAPH
An Aristophanic counterpoint, between the comic and the serious, zigzags like a golden thread from the start to finish of this marvellous book. Delightful and profoundly moving."
LISTENER
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Seller: Borg Antiquarian, Lake Forest, IL, U.S.A.
Cloth and boards. Condition: Very Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Fine. First American Edition. SIGNED by the Author on the half title, 8vo, black quarter cloth over white boares, Mylar-protected dust jacket, xiii + 442 pages. Doris Lessing became the 2007 Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Seller Inventory # 355
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Armadillo Alley Books, Carrollton, TX, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. SIGNED, LIMITED FIRST EDITION. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. NF/VG. Copy Number 88 of 125. Stated First Edition. First printing with number line ending in 1. Signed on the limitation page. The book is tight with solid hinges, good tips, and clean unmarred boards. The textblock is clean with no writing, bookplate, or markings and not BCE, ex-library, or remaindered. Slipcase is Very Good with light soiling and chip to bottom. 442 pages. 6½ x 9½. A rich and penetrating portrait of Lessing's homeland, "African Laughter" recounts the visits she made to Zimbabwe in 1982, 1988, 1989, and 1992, after being exiled from the old Southern Rhodesia for 25 years for her opposition to the minority white government. Lessing uses memory and reminiscence with recent experience to depict a country in the process of change. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 10755
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Turgid Tomes, Nashville, TN, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Like New. HarperCollins, 1992. Hard cover, first edition; special limited edition signed by author. Fine condition in Fine slipcase. One of 26 lettered copies; this is copy "h.". Signed. Seller Inventory # SKU1077019
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Dale Steffey Books, ABAA, ILAB, Bloomington, IN, U.S.A.
Cloth. Condition: As New. Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket, As Issued. Limited, Signed First Edition. Copy Number 25 of 125 in a Specially Bound Slipcased First U.S. Edition. There were also 26 copies lettered A-Z. As New in As New decorative slipcase. SIGNED AND NUMBERED LIMITED EDITION. Book. Seller Inventory # 002285
Quantity: 1 available