Open AccessEmergence of New Women in Doris Lessing’s (The Summer before The Dark)
Author(s) -
Smt. Sarit Kiran
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
smart moves journal ijellh
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2582-4406
pISSN - 2582-3574
DOI - 10.24113/ijellh.v7i11.10133
Subject(s) - housewife , theme (computing) , drama , storytelling , character (mathematics) , doris (gastropod) , period (music) , history , premise , gender studies , literature , art , sociology , art history , narrative , aesthetics , philosophy , linguistics , geometry , mathematics , computer science , operating system
The Summer Before the Dark was first published in 1973. At the time it must have been a very contemporary novel, and perhaps a little controversial, because its central theme is the role of women in society. The main character, Kate Brown, is a domestic goddess who spends one summer rediscovering herself and her place in the world after some 20 years of marriage and motherhood. It might sound like a relatively dull premise for a novel, but in Lessing’s hands the book sings with great storytelling, intellectual insight and drama. Kate Brown is no dull housewife: She’s complex woman suffering what can be best described as empty- “nest syndrome”. Her grown up children are getting on with their lives and her husband is working in America for an extended period, leaving her to her own devices for a summer.