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The relation between form and ideology in Doris Lessing's Children of violence
The aim of this study is to examine Doris Lessing's relationship to Africa and to politics as reflected in the Children of Violence series, and to examine the impact of this on the form of the texts. The study plots the ideology of the series (which is strongly autobiographical) by examining Lessing...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of English Language and Literature
2016
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| _version_ | 1867614153970024448 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Kapp, Rochelle Lynne |
| author2 | Bertelsen, Eve |
| author_browse | Bertelsen, Eve Kapp, Rochelle Lynne |
| author_facet | Bertelsen, Eve Kapp, Rochelle Lynne |
| author_sort | Kapp, Rochelle Lynne |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | The aim of this study is to examine Doris Lessing's relationship to Africa and to politics as reflected in the Children of Violence series, and to examine the impact of this on the form of the texts. The study plots the ideology of the series (which is strongly autobiographical) by examining Lessing's own biography over the seventeen years of writing the series, and by means of close textual analysis of narrative focalisation and representation of subjectivity. It is a central contention of the study that literature is influenced by political and historical events and emerges from a social and cultural milieu which helps shape form and content. The importance of engaging with rupture as it manifests itself in the text in the form of silences and contradictions, is stressed. The first two novels, Martha Quest and A Proper Marriage were written while Lessing was still a member of the Communist Party; A Ripple From The Storm, Landlocked and A Four-Gated City after she had left. Despite this, the ideology of the series is remarkably consistent in that we are presented with a humanist perspective which poses the conception of an essential self throughout, despite Lessing's political affiliation. Whereas the ideas of individual essence are evident only in silences and contradictions in the earlier texts, Lessing's romanticism is increasingly openly expressed in the texts which were written after she leaves the Party. Her increasing sympathy with her protagonist is represented in the change in narrative focalisation from omniscience to free-indirect speech. The central change in the series is in Lessing's depiction of her protagonist's relationship to Africa. Before Lessing leaves the Party, her protagonist desires a construction of herself as African, after Lessing leaves, her protagonist is described as alienated from Africa and having no role to play there. The Children of Violence series enacts the reworking of the protagonist's (and Lessing's) contradictory position as African and exile. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/18829 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:47:31.597Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publishDateRange | 2016 |
| publishDateSort | 2016 |
| publisher | Department of English Language and Literature |
| publisherStr | Department of English Language and Literature |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/18829 The relation between form and ideology in Doris Lessing's Children of violence Kapp, Rochelle Lynne Bertelsen, Eve English Language and Literature The aim of this study is to examine Doris Lessing's relationship to Africa and to politics as reflected in the Children of Violence series, and to examine the impact of this on the form of the texts. The study plots the ideology of the series (which is strongly autobiographical) by examining Lessing's own biography over the seventeen years of writing the series, and by means of close textual analysis of narrative focalisation and representation of subjectivity. It is a central contention of the study that literature is influenced by political and historical events and emerges from a social and cultural milieu which helps shape form and content. The importance of engaging with rupture as it manifests itself in the text in the form of silences and contradictions, is stressed. The first two novels, Martha Quest and A Proper Marriage were written while Lessing was still a member of the Communist Party; A Ripple From The Storm, Landlocked and A Four-Gated City after she had left. Despite this, the ideology of the series is remarkably consistent in that we are presented with a humanist perspective which poses the conception of an essential self throughout, despite Lessing's political affiliation. Whereas the ideas of individual essence are evident only in silences and contradictions in the earlier texts, Lessing's romanticism is increasingly openly expressed in the texts which were written after she leaves the Party. Her increasing sympathy with her protagonist is represented in the change in narrative focalisation from omniscience to free-indirect speech. The central change in the series is in Lessing's depiction of her protagonist's relationship to Africa. Before Lessing leaves the Party, her protagonist desires a construction of herself as African, after Lessing leaves, her protagonist is described as alienated from Africa and having no role to play there. The Children of Violence series enacts the reworking of the protagonist's (and Lessing's) contradictory position as African and exile. 2016-04-12T14:39:46Z 2016-04-12T14:39:46Z 1991 Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18829 eng application/pdf Department of English Language and Literature Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | English Language and Literature Kapp, Rochelle Lynne The relation between form and ideology in Doris Lessing's Children of violence |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | The relation between form and ideology in Doris Lessing's Children of violence |
| title_full | The relation between form and ideology in Doris Lessing's Children of violence |
| title_fullStr | The relation between form and ideology in Doris Lessing's Children of violence |
| title_full_unstemmed | The relation between form and ideology in Doris Lessing's Children of violence |
| title_short | The relation between form and ideology in Doris Lessing's Children of violence |
| title_sort | relation between form and ideology in doris lessing s children of violence |
| topic | English Language and Literature |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18829 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kapprochellelynne therelationbetweenformandideologyindorislessingschildrenofviolence AT kapprochellelynne relationbetweenformandideologyindorislessingschildrenofviolence |