 | |
| Author | Doris Lessing |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Children of Violence |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | MacGibbon & Kee |
Publication date | 1969 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Preceded by | Landlocked (novel) |
The Four-Gated City, published in 1969, is the concluding novel in British Nobel Prize-winning author Doris Lessing's five-volume, semi-autobiographical series The Children of Violence,[1] which she began, in 1952, with Martha Quest. In The Four-Gated City Lessing moves the setting from Zambesia, a fictionalized version of Southern Rhodesia, to London. Martha "is integrally part of the social history of the time - the Cold War, the Aldermaston Marches, Swinging London, the deepening of poverty and social anarchy."[2] The novel extends into science fiction, depicting a dystopian future following the destruction of Britain.
When published it created a stir with claims that it promoted communism.[3] The Four-Gated City is one of Lessing's most important works.[4]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
jacketwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Dust jacket of the first edition, DorisLessing.org
- ^ "The Four-Gated City; By Doris Lessing," by Mary Ellmann, New York Times, May 18, 1969.
- ^ Prof. Horace Engdahl, the Permanent Secretary at the Swedish Academy said that The Four-Gated City is Lessing's most important work. In Dagens Nyheter, October 12, 2007.