Timing Is All: The Golden Notebook Then and Now

Abstract

Fifty-plus years ago, in 1963, I read The Golden Notebook and two years later decided to add it to my freshman writing course. By then, I had become The Nation’s reviewer for Doris Lessing’s Children of Violence series. In 1966, I spent a long afternoon with Lessing at her home. Our conversation, mostly tape-recorded, has been used by innumerable doctoral candidates, and in part has also been published. Since then, I corresponded with Doris, saw her twice more, and sent her copies of all the African books published by The Feminist Press during my tenure as founding director (1970–2000) and as publisher (2006–2008). As I will explain, the three long essay-reviews I wrote about the five volumes of Children of Violence are indirectly connected to the way in which The Feminist Press came to be—in 1970.