On Female Spiritual Growth In Love, Again

As a female Nobel Prize winner on Literature, Doris Taylor Lessing (1919---- ) is one of the most world famous and prolific contemporary British writers. In recent sixty years, she has written a great number of works. In the sense of literary form, her works include novels, short stories, drama, autobiography, poetry, etc. In the sense of themes, her works demonstrate feminism, Marxism, post colonialism, mysticism, etc; in the sense of writing styles and techniques, her works range from tragedy, parable, to science and realistic writing. Lessing is one of the most important representatives and a good example of female writers in contemporary world of literature. Her works attract more and more attention from both female and male readers. She attaches great importance to women's life in some of her important works which why the criticism of her works always connects her with Feminist theories. Her concerns on women's life, self-cultivation, self-realization and spiritual growth have been demonstrated in various ways in many of her works. This thesis is to study the three major female figures in Doris Lessing's love, again from the angle of female Bildungsroman, especially female spiritual growth.It includes five parts. In the first part Introduction, Doris Lessing's works and her influence to the society have been discussed. Several theories on Female Bildungsroman have also been introduced in this part. The second which is Chapter One analyzes the spiritual growth of one major female figure in the novel. Part Three (Chapter Two) concentrates on another heroine of the novel. Chapter Three mainly focuses on the cycle of growth formed by the three female characters. After analyzing the relationship between the above three figures, a total picture of female's spiritual growth has been unfolded from young to old, from failure to success. The last part is a conclusion based on the former parts, summarizing the main ideas that have been discussed. It finally concludes that Lessing's novel love, again can be read as a female Bildungsroman in which women's spiritual growth has been carefully deployed.