"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
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9780060924331
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. A highly personal story of the eminent British writer returning to her African roots that is "brilliant . . . [and] captures the contradictions of a young country." -- New York Times Book ReviewA 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. A nostalgic and highly personal series of journeys to the author's homeland of Zimbabwe are recounted in this book, which also captures the essence of a nation coming to terms with political corruption, the spread of AIDS, new roles for women and rural Blacks, and other areas of social change. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780060924331
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. reprint edition. 464 pages. 8.50x5.25x1.25 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # 0060924330
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # V9780060924331
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # V9780060924331