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My Nobel prize? A "bloody disaster"

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Nobel Prize-winning author Doris Lessing told the BBC that winning the award had been a "bloody disaster" for her as a writer.

The 88-year-old author said that media attention has made writing a new novel almost impossible. She added she does not have that energy any more and that her writing ability is "sliding away like water down a plughole". She also urged younger authors to use their talent before it's too late.

Lessing — whose best-known works include "The Golden Notebook" and "The Good Terrorist" — is the 11th woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature in its 106-year history.
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8 responses // My Nobel prize? A "bloody disaster"

  • Hmm. Kinda depressing huh? I bet she still has it though...

    Writing is one of those arts where people can get better at it as they get older, not like music where most people's stuff really starts to suck by the time they are 40...

    Some of my favorite books were written by authors in the twilight of their lives.. Ham on Rye by Bukowski is one example... can anybody think of more...?
    critter
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_qyvU6_7nE
    She wasn't very happy when she was told she'd won the prize as you can see in this You Tube video. She obviously had an idea about how it would effect her. Such a shame though. She's written books that are really different, but the Golden Notebook is a feminist classic and as well as just being a brilliant and exceptionally well crafted novel.
    ksimpson
  • She probably just needs a vacation - she'll get it back.
    patsarts
  • Writers have primes...if they're lucky, several. Zones when they're on fire...productive, brilliant, almost impossibly creative. And then they drop out of them. They don't usually peak in their 20s or even 30s, but it's a little unreasonable to expect top pilot skills at 88, esp. from someone who has had several writing reincarnations. I suppose she's earned her crankiness though.
    24French
  • Heard Cecil Taylor the great pianist at 72 and he still had it.
    Heard Sam Rivers play saxophone at 77 and he did too.
    Heard Sonny Rollins play sax last year. He's in his late 70s and still is great.
    Heard Alberta Hunter when they discovered her at 83 in the late 1970s and she was the bomb.
    TouchArt
  • Gotta add one more to TouchArt's list,

    Heard Buddy Guy in his seventies and he definitely still had it.

    But you have to figure though what else does this woman have now. She's won one of the most prestigious prizes in literature, her follow up "album" pretty much has to cure cancer, AIDS, and gonnaherpalitis (my own disease thank you) in one fell swoop to surpass what she has already done. Doesn't it?
    M_Pavlov
  • Of course she's having trouble working...She's so old o_o;;;
    MissJonaLyn
  • Do people who write things like "She's so old" as if that is the ultimate dis, realize how ageist and just plain dumb their bias against older people is?

    There are plenty of progressive, accomplished, and innovative people in the arts and all endeavors that produce well into their senior years.

    Judging people's worth based on age is as ignorant and inaccurate as judging them based on race, sex, ethnicity, religion and sexual preference. It's as silly as saying that just because someone is young, they can't be brilliant.

    My grandmother and mother always told me there are good and bad in every group. My life experience has taught me this is true.

    I've also observed that there is usually a little bad in the good ones, and a little good in the bad ones, ourselves included. (Like the small spots in the yin/yang symbol).

    When will all people respect differences without judgment?

    That is what Dr. King dreamed of, a time when people "would be judged not on the color of their skin,... but on the content of their character."

    Indigenous, some ancient western, and even our Colonial and early U.S. post-Constitution cultures, valued age and the wisdom it can bring. Since the mid-20th century, the increasingly youth-obssessed consumer-driven culture elevates youth and its fleeting beauty, and teaches youth to fear and despise age.

    How counterproductive, because it is certain that most youth will inevitably age. If they are terrified of age and despise the old, how will they feel about themselves when they age? The indoctrination to value only youth, will make them hate themselves and their bodies as they age and be perfect targets for multinational corporations that sell anything to combat age. Hanging with people of all generations and backgrounds gives youth helpful information about what paths worked for others, and how people's choices in each decade determine whether they stagnate and close down, or continue to grow and evolve as they age.

    Doris Lessing's GOLDEN NOTEBOOK was brilliant. Her subsequent novels, in this avid reader's opinion, not so much. Will pick up The Good Terrorist" and see if it changes my mind. Lessing is an individual. Her feeling she is unable to write another masterpiece at 88, is about her personally. It is not just because she is "old". Her experience does not reflect on the ability or inability or others her age or older to continue to produce excellent work well into their 90s and beyond.
    TouchArt

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