The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing (Book Analysis)

This practical and insightful reading guide offers a complete summary and analysis of The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. It provides a thorough exploration of the novel’s content, characters and main themes, including the clash between capitalism and communism and the position of women in society. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time.

This clear and detailed 60-page reading guide is structured as follows:

• Biography of Doris Lessing
• Presentation of The Golden Notebook
• Summary of The Golden Notebook
• Character study
  • Anna Wulf
  • Molly Jacobs
  • Tommy Portmain
• Analysis of The Golden Notebook
  • Politics
  • Fragmentation and chaos
  • Feminism

About The Golden Notebook

The Golden Notebook tells the story of Anna Wulf, a writer who is struggling with writer’s block and turns to a series of colored notebooks to organize her thoughts. Through her writing and her experiences, we witness the egotism of capitalist society, the failures of communism around the world and women’s struggle to claim space for themselves in a world that still seems to be dominated by men. The Golden Notebook is seen by many critics as Doris Lessing’s finest achievement, and in 2005, TIME magazine named it one of the 100 best English-language novels since 1923.

About Doris Lessing

Doris Lessing was a British writer who was born in Iran and grew up in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), which was at that time a British colony. Her first novel, The Grass is Singing, was set in the country; her later works include The Good Terrorist, The Golden Notebook and Briefing for a Descent into Hell. She won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007, with the Swedish Academy lauding her as “that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny”.