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Considers how Lessing's exposure to a particular aspect of tasawwuf, the classical Sufi Way, has shaped her work. Impresses upon the reader the degree to which Lessing is seriously offering her space-fiction utopias as plausible and even necessary alternatives to our present Western ways of life.
East and West applies Sufi thought to some of Doris Lessing's novels and studies the manifestations of Sufi influence on Lessing. Various Sufi-like characters and their unconventional lifestyles are evaluated and explicated for Western readers unfamiliar with Sufism. This book also evaluates the role of spirituality in Lessing's work and considers the implications of taking Lessing's Sufism seriously when reading her works or when doing Lessing criticism. It also impresses upon the reader the degree to which Lessing is seriously offering her space-fiction utopias as plausible and even necessary alternatives to our present Western ways of life.
"This book offers an accessible introduction to Sufism and a clear correlation between Sufism and the works of Doris Lessing." — Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Golden Sufi Center and author of The Paradoxes of Love and Sufism, The Transformation of the Heart
"Galin's book does an excellent job of incorporating the current available scholarship while adding a unique and informed perspective. This is a wonderful addition to Lessing scholarship." — Marilyn Dallman Seymour
"The author has translated numerous Sufi (and other) passages that rarely, if ever, are found in English to document the extent to which Sufi themes and concepts are found throughout Lessing's work. Galin's knowledge of previous Lessing scholarship is as thorough and accurate as is her profound understanding and ability to communicate the beliefs of Sufism. She continually relates one to the other, confronting complex issues of interpretation and influence with ease and clarity." — Paul Schlueter
Preface: Toward Border-Crossing
I. Orientations
Introduction: Lessing and Sufism between East and West
1. Sufism in Lessing's Work
II. Consequences
2. Lessing's Vision
3. Lessing's Teaching Stories
III. Implications
4. Lessing between Spirituality and Science
IV. Appendixes
A Tasawwuf in Islam
B Scholarship on Lessing's Mysticism
Notes
Bibliography
Index