Welcome to A Narrative of their Own, a weekly publication exploring the lives and literature of women.
This month we have been reading the short stories of Doris Lessing, with a particular emphasis on ‘To Room Nineteen.’
How did you find Lessing’s stories? Was this your first time reading her work?
I came to Doris Lessing’s story ‘To Room Nineteen’ several years after reading her complex and multi-layered novel The Golden Notebook. Originally published in Lessing’s short story collection A Man and Two Women in 1963, the story takes place in 1960’s London.
In ‘To Room Nineteen’ Lessing gives a representation of a generic couple of the era, Martin and Susan, who meet and marry a little later than their circle of friends. This feels important, as both have decent careers and are portrayed as equals. They have four healthy children and that epitome of middle-class solidity: the large suburban house.
So far, Lessing has portrayed a somewhat ‘golden couple’, an…
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