ABANDONING YOUTHFULNESS IN THE SUMMER BEFORE THE DARK
ABANDONING YOUTHFULNESS IN THE SUMMER BEFORE THE DARK

Summary/Abstract: This paper presents one of Doris Lessing’s inner space novels, The Summer Before the Dark which follows the inner and outer journey of a middle- aged woman, Kate Brown, who suffers of the empty-nest syndrome and tries to find her way in life beyond the motherhood and wifehood. Her inner journey is a painful and difficult one trying not only to accept the coming of old age but also to discover that all her life she played roles (wife and mother) and she dressed up and groomed herself according to those roles that now seem pointless and insignificant to her.

• Details
• Contents