DORIS LESSING
literature; or that people should not read novels; but that it
must be obvious she can't be expected to read novels.
I had been visiting her flat for years before I noticed
two long shelves of books, under a window, each shelf filled
with the works of a single writer. The two writers are not, to
put it at the mildest, the kind one would associate with Judith.
They are mild, reminiscent, vague and whimsical. Typical
English
belles-lettres,
in fact, and by definition abhorrent to
her. Not one of the books in the two shelves has been read;
some of the pages are still uncut. Yet each book is inscribed
or dedicated to her: gratefully, admiringly, sentimentally and,
more than once, amorously. In short, it is open to anyone who
cares to examine these two shelves, and to work out dates, to
conclude that Judith from the age of fifteen to twenty-five
had been the beloved young companion of one elderly literary
gentleman, and from twenty-five to thirty-five, the inspiration
of another.
During
all
that time she had produced her own poetry,
and the sort of poetry, it is quite safe to deduce, not at all
likely to be admired by her two admirers. Her poems are always
cool and intellectual; that is their form, which is contradicted
or supported by a gravely sensuous texture. They are poems
to read often; one has to, to understand them.
I did not ask Judith a direct question about these two
eminent but rather fusty lovers. Not because she would not
have answered, or because she would have found the question
impertinent, but because such questions are clearly unnecessary.
Having those two shelves of books where they are, and books
she could not conceivably care for, for their own sake, is
publicly giving credit where credit is due. I can imagine her
thinking the thing over, and deciding it was only fair, or per–
haps honest, to place the books there; and this despite the fact
that she would not care at all for the same attention to be paid
to her. There is something almost contemptuous in it. For she
certainly despises people who feel they need attention.
