关键词: 多丽丝·莱辛; 对位阅读; 自我; 后殖民主义; 《刻骨铭心》

Abstract:

Under My Skin (1994) is the first volume of Doris Lessing’s autobiography. From a postcolonial perspective, Under My Skin is an autobiography that explores and reconsiders the “self”. In a painful yet assertive manner, Lessing recalls the first third of her life, deeply analyzing her inner mind and providing a unique interpretation of the social phenomena around her. Through the construction of various real “others” in Under My Skin, Lessing depicts the irreparable effect of colonization and empire that deeply affected her family, herself, and the African population in Southern Rhodesia with the intention of implying the end of imperialism. By drawing on Edward Said’s postcolonial concept of “contrapuntal reading”, this paper analyzes Lessing’s fearless attempts to gain independence despite her feelings of solitude and guilt, and reveals the cruel reality experienced by an intellectual woman in the pursuit of freedom during the imperial colonial period.

Keywords: Doris Lessing; contrapuntal reading; self; postcolonialism; Under My Skin