The 20th century zeitgeist in Doris Lessing's fiction: a reading of the children of violence series

Abstract

This paper attempts to explore the forces that defined the twentieth century through a reading of Doris Lessing's Children of Violence series and the Golden Notebook. Each century is defined by the mass consciousness of the time, and the twentieth century has seen through the greatest changes in history. Each chapter attempts to explore different changes and its impact on the individual. The first chapter describes change occurring in the most basic institution of an individual's social life, that is, family. The second chapter describes the individual in collaboration with her society and the roles she is expected to play. The third chapter outlines the psychological impact of change on the individual. The stories and the author's autobiography span from 1919 to 1997, telling us the story of an era, thus capturing the twentieth century zeitgeist.