The Golden Notebook

This novel is widely considered to be Lessing`s masterpiece. Anna Wulf, a writer living in London, attempts to conquer the chaos of her life by using five notebooks as journals: the black one deals with her life in colonial Africa, the red is her Communist experiences, the yellow is a more or less fictionalized chronicle of Anna`s alter ego Ella, and the blue is a diary of Anna`s day to day life. The golden notebook involves Anna`s integration of herself through analysis. The novel also contains Anna`s own novel, called Free Women. Complex, layered, psychological, The Golden Notebook was hailed as a feminist work when it was originally published--yet its appeal goes beyond sexual politics to consider the construction, disintegration, and rebuilding of a personality in a way that has reached readers, both male and female, for many years since. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.