Golden mobius strip: Lessing’s “the golden notebook” as a fragmented narrative

Abstract

The post-war period literature, or postmodern literature, is generally described with the adjectives duplication, contradiction, chaos, and fragmentation. However, fragmentation is the key concept among them as the term is employed in a wide range of fields. Witnessing the failure of humanist ideal of wholeness, postmodern world has acknowledged its fragmented nature. On the other hand, fragmentation has become one of the popular concerns of postmodern novelists. This concern does not only show itself in thematic sphere, but also it echoes in the structures of many postmodern novels. In this respect, the Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook is quintessential as the novel displays an almost obsessive concern in fragmentation. The book is not only about fragmentation, but also structurally is fragmented. The present study, therefore, attempts to discuss the multi-faceted structure of the twentieth century which found its reflection also in the narrative strategies of the novelists as the natural outcome of what may be called the postmodern condition by citing examples from the abovementioned novel.