The Mystical Experience in Doris Lessing’s Early Fiction
Hajer El Arem
Les enjeux de l’écriture mystique December 15, 2020 DOI: 10.17184/eac.3666 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mystical experience |
| Key points | Argues that Doris Lessing's engagement with Sufism provides a template for her protagonists' reconstructive journeys, and that Martha Quest in Children of Violence escapes solipsism through spiritual assent, best incarnating the Sufi concept of awakening by moving beyond ego-centeredness to become a witness of others' lives. |
Abstract
In her later career, the British woman writer Doris Lessing (1919-2013) becomes interested in Sufism, which “believes itself to be the substance of that current which can develop man to a higher stage in his evolution”[^1]. This interest in Sufi philosophy provides a template for the protagonists’ reconstructive journey in Doris Lessing’s novels. In fact, the heroines transcend the limits of ego-centeredness and gain the kind of superior knowledge beyond immanence—“the limits of the matter, the body, sensibility, being worldliness.”[^2] This article therefore sheds light on this specific dimension and reveals how Martha Quest, the protagonist of _Children of Violence_, manages to escape her solipsistic world through spiritual assent and best incarnates the concept of awakening central to Sufism. No longer individualistic and self-centered, the heroine of Doris Lessing’s novel stands as a witness of and reflector upon the surrounding selves and their life conflicts.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mystical experience, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Psychedelic Mystical Experience in the Human Encounter with Death | 1969 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Vectorial Cerebral Hemisphericity as Differential Sources for the Sensed Presence, Mystical Experiences and Religious Conversions | 1993 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The epistemic innocence of psychedelic states. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mystical Experience and Religious Doctrine | 1982 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |