The Cleft

A plot-less, character-less novel shouldn't work but, in Doris Lessing's expert hands, The Cleft most certainly does.
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The nearly people who inhabit The Cleft are seen at a remove, but are, in any case, impossible to understand. They are simply too far away from us; they have no concept of individuality, or love.

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In her incantatory rhythms, like in oral storytelling, Lessing seems to allow too much to happen and too little. Generations come and go. Individuals flare into visibility, then fade. There is rape and murder, a devastating wind and an expedition, but time sweeps on and the survivors stumble forward.


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Novels are nothing if not a testament to the significance of individual experience; it's as if Lessing is trying to make things as difficult for herself as possible. The subject matter strains at the form. And yet, at the end, I was left with an acute sense of human ambition and vulnerability. Despite an infuriating absence of character and plot, Doris Lessing writes movingly of the human desire for change, revolutionary and evolutionary, and for things to stay the same.

In the end, she conveys a powerful belief in the impermanence of any situation in which human beings find themselves and the paradoxically unchanging nature of human relations. Topics Books The Observer. Soon, as more boys were brought by the eagles, a tribe emerged. One day, a female wandered over to the valley and was raped by the now adult men. She fled and gave birth to a new, mixed child nine months later.

Women and children first

When she told her story to the rest of the clefts, the two tribes soon came into contact with each other. The matriarchs of the clefts, however, feared the "monsters" and decided to try to kill them off.

The Cleft - Running The Night

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The Cleft First edition. Works by Doris Lessing.

The areas surrounding the Cleft also serve as the exit of the Star Fissure as indicated by the Telescope and Wahrk remains found nearby. When the explorer jumps inside, they are taken to the cleft near the Riven remnants. Several small rooms were carved out of the walls of the cleft as living space. Entrance to the cleft was achieved by a rope ladder.

Review: The Cleft by Doris Lessing | Books | The Guardian

At the bottom of the ladder is a small landing where there were two bridges; one leading to the kitchen and the other to the lab. At one end of the cleft is a tree at the bottom of which contains a door that will only open to explorers who have touched all seven Journey Cloths in the surrounding area. In side is a small room similar to a Bahro Cave. Retrieved from " http: Earth Locations in Uru: