Doris Lessing Wins Nobel for Literature

Writer Doris Lessing, 86, sits in her home in a quiet block of north London April 17, 2006. Lessing was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature for "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny." (AP Photo/Martin Cleaver) (Martin Cleaver - AP)

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Doris Lessing, author of dozens of works from short stories to science fiction, including the classic "The Golden Notebook," won the Nobel Prize for literature Thursday. She was praised by the judges for her "skepticism, fire and visionary power."

The Swedish academy's announcement was stunning even by the standards of Nobel judges, who have been known for such surprises as Austria's Elfriede Jelinek and Italy's Dario Fo.

Lessing, 11 days short of her 88th birthday, is the oldest choice ever for a prize that usually goes to authors in their 50s and 60s. Although she is widely celebrated for "The Golden Notebook" and other works, she has received little attention in recent years and has been criticized as strident and eccentric.

Even Lessing apparently was not expecting to win, the academy's permanent secretary Horace Engdahl told The Associated Press.

"I've phoned her but there's been no answer. She was not sitting and waiting for my call," Engdahl said. "She doesn't know yet, and I'm afraid she's out taking a stroll somewhere in the park and people will attack her with the news."

Lessing's agent, Jonathan Clowes, said the London-based author was out shopping when the prize was announced.

"We are absolutely delighted and it's very well deserved," Clowes said.

However, American literary critic Harold Bloom called the academy's decision "pure political correctness."

"Although Ms. Lessing at the beginning of her writing career had a few admirable qualities, I find her work for the past 15 years quite unreadable ... fourth-rate science fiction," Bloom told The Associated Press.

A largely self-taught author who ended formal schooling at age 13, Lessing has drawn heavily from her time living in Africa, exploring the divide between whites and blacks, most notably in 1950's "The Grass Is Singing," which examined the relationship between a white farmer's wife and her black servant. The academy called it "both a tragedy based in love-hatred and study of unbridgeable racial conflicts."

A prolific author even in her 80s, Lessing was born to British parents who were living in what is now Bakhtaran, Iran. Her many works include short stories, essays and such novels as "The Good Terrorist" and "Martha Quest," the latter part of her semi-autobiographical "Children Of Violence" series.

But to millions she is known for "The Golden Notebook," published in 1962 and still a feminist classic although Lessing does not consider the book a political statement.