The Cleft
March 1st 2008 23:40
There are not a lot of pluses about getting older, but one of them (if you are an accomplished author) is to be able to write pretty well anything you want. Say, for example a totally fictitious and unconventional novel on the origins of men and women. Everyone, if pressed, could have a view on this, but in The Cleft, Doris Lessing (a strapping 89 years old), has created a world that exists far beyond the imagination of even the most creative writers.
Lessing is one of the most acclaimed novelists of our time. Her work has won just about every major literary prize there is and has been translated into all the major languages, and in picking up The Cleft I was looking forward to being introduced to her work.
The Cleft inhabit a world where only women are born. Believed to be impregnated by the sea in which they swim, this all female commune become alarmed when small “Monsters” start appearing from the womb; malformed infants with horrific growths where there should be nothing (earning the unaffectionate name of “squirts”). Although they try to rid themselves of these terrifying beings, more and more of them are born until the only solution is to abandon them to the eagles. But instead of perishing, they flourish on the other side of the island in a small and unstable band. This marks the beginning of men and a tumultuous relationship between the sexes.
Told by an ageing Roman historian who has happened on an ancient text, this story stretches the imagination to its limit. A limit you’d have to be willing to go to. I cannot say I was overly impressed by the writing itself. I found it repetitive and slightly childish. But in saying that, I feel the style was intentional. Our historian is piecing together a primitive account of an early civilization, so, sophisticated it wouldn’t be.
There are some rather profound moments though, when you can clearly see what the author has discovered about the opposing sexes in her advancing years. The differences have always been there, from the very beginning, and as far back as forever men and women have been discovering and pondering these disparities. Strip away the money, jobs, cars, houses and possessions and men and women will still disagree over … well, they’ll find something!
In one particular chapter a matriarchic Cleft becomes incensed with one of the male elders for his seemingly negligent care of the young boys who are constantly hurting themselves and dying through dangerous acts of daring. She rails at him that ‘it takes a long time and much effort for a Cleft to raise a boy, and only a moment for them to die.’
Any mother that has lost a son through war or other male created risks could certainly relate to this, and through the simple dialogue and ineloquent style, I believe Lessing has plenty to say about the origins of Venus and Mars.
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