Hide Article Text (OCR)
Doris Lessing’s ‘Marriages’ murky, shallow love storyThe Marriage* Between Zonet Three, Foot and Five, by Dorit letting. New York: Alfred A Knopf SIOBy Lucille dr View ' ChrllUu Science MonitorThe first rule ol a good romantic-novel is that we he moved by the plight ot the starcrossed lovers This does not happen, at least not (or this reader, in Dons l-essing's latest so cnce-flction (able. 'The Marriages Be tween /ones Three, Four and Five.The love scenes seem labored in stead o( lyncal; the sparse dialogue seems stilted mstead ol soanng; and the characters, lar (rom being (resh as the- author Intended, have the (amil unity ol childhood (airy tales with a little Walt Disney throw n in.Al-llh. the beautiful. peace-loving queen o( a mythical kingdom, rides on her faithful horse through wind swept plains into a (oreign land, where she us lorced into a marriage lo Ben Ala. a gruff w arrior kingThey learn (rom each other’s divergent concepts o( love to care deeply (or each other but are artntrar• ily parted by their rulers, the ITovid ers. whom they blindly obey The king goes on to ot her wives and seems to win all. while the queen loses all — the king who Is her one love, their childDoris LessingReviewand her kingdomBereft and in exile. Al 1th '••arches (or a new sense o( belonging, (re quenlly riding into the blue” o( the mountains and clouds she and her peo pie have been forbidden even to look uponKventually she disappears alto gether. possibly signaling transfer ence into another level of conscious ness This is not certain, however, since much of what us meant to be pro (ound in this book us merely murky I'erhaps the fault us that we are asked to view passion with detachment — not an easy task — and that the story ts told by chronicles who in terrupt ihe plot at critical moments to comment or forecast how it will all come outThis puts a distance between reader and story ami turns what could be a romance ol powerful emotions into a calculated intellectual game, which the author obviously delights in playingShe* creates man woman relationships that parallel many eontem porarv dilemmas Arc* egalitarian marriages possible' Is war man’s work and nurturing womans work Must a wife become less romantic with motherhood ’ Must a husband be jealous of his offspring’U-ssing. as always, is a master of showing that Ufe us inconsistent and full of surprisesWe learn that Ben Ala’s warmak ing us just a bluff, the ’’invulnerable vests” worn as a protection against death rays are only good for keeping off the rain, the death rays them selves are only rumors But the con struction of gray, round buiklings to make Ihe rays employs a lot of people — and we are k*fl lo draw whatever comparison we wish to modem timeslocille deVtew, a Monitor edi tor, it the outhor of Up North. A Contemporary Woman t Wolden.
Newspaper Details
, ,
Mon, Jan 01, 0001
Page 32
Full Page
Clipped by
Bruce T.
ZA 05 May 2017
Other Publications Near ,
Peoples News
Madison Patriotic Crusader
Madison Democrat
Madison Password
Our Church Home
