Lessing, Doris: 1919 - 2013
Mara and Dann, 1999 - Information about the Book
- General Information
- A story of an orphaned brother and sister wandering northwards through Africa in search of water during a new ice age, 25,000 years hence. Lessing's post-tech world is utterly strange, detailed and absorbing as a long bright dream.
- Information from Doris Lessing's Homepage. "Through the remarkable odyssey of a brother and sister living in the imagined future, Lessing manages to tell us a great deal about the present."
- Facts
- Doris Lessing said at a chat at BarnesAndNoble, January 20, 1999, about THE FIFTH CHILD:
And now MARA AND DANN is being liked by adolescents. Sometimes toward the middle of writing it, I thought, My goodness, kids will like this, and in experimental tests, we tried the book out on young folks and they do indeed like it. This pleases me very much. I have gotten many letters over the years from librarians and teachers, and my reply is always the same -- that the things I have written that kids like were never written deliberately for children. Three of my short stories have been particularly liked by children. One is "Flight," another "Through the Tunnel," and also "The Story of Two Dogs." I didn't write them specifically for children, though. It gives me so much pleasure that young people like MARA AND DANN. - Awards: The novel did not win major literary awards.
Developed by ChatGPT AI
- Mara - Mara is the protagonist of the novel. She starts as a young girl and the story follows her growth into adulthood.
Dann - Dann is Mara's younger brother. Like Mara, he grows and evolves throughout the story, and his experiences significantly shape his character.
Developed by ChatGPT AI
- Post-Apocalyptic Setting
The story is set thousands of years in the future after a new Ice Age has covered the northern hemisphere in ice and snow. The action takes place in the southern continent of "Ifrik" (Africa), which is suffering from drought and desertification.Survival and Migration
The protagonists, young siblings Mara and Dann, are abducted from their home and raised as outsiders in a poor village. They face hardships from the harsh climate, dangerous animals, and hostile communities. Eventually, they join a mass human migration northward in search of water and food to sustain life.Societal Breakdown
As Mara and Dann travel across the continent, they encounter cities plagued by crime, power struggles, and corruption. The novel explores the breakdown of societies and human nature in the face of scarcity and environmental catastrophe.Loss of Knowledge
The novel depicts a future where most technology and history have been forgotten, with only remnants of the past civilization remaining, rarely understood or functional. This loss of knowledge is a central theme.Enduring Love and Resilience
Despite the bleak setting, the novel celebrates the enduring love between Mara and Dann, as well as the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity.In summary, Mara and Dann is a thought-provoking science fiction tale that uses a post-apocalyptic setting to explore themes of survival, societal collapse, loss of knowledge, and the enduring strength of human bonds and perseverance.
Developed by Perplexity AI
- Reader Rating:
- Doris Lessing said at a chat at BarnesAndNoble, January 20, 1999, about THE FIFTH CHILD:
- Articles
- Review. "'Mara and Dann' suggests that Lessing can sometimes be oblivious of her greatest strength as a writer: her ability to dissect the vacillations and delusions of 20th-century people living in a 20th-century world." New York Times; January 10, 1999
- Tomorrow never knows. "It is a perverse chemistry typical of Lessing at her exasperating best." Jonathan Keates reviews Mara and Dann. April 5, 1999
- Analysis. "Climate change is not just loss of biodiversity, loss of life forms, but it is the loss of human knowledge." Dr. Bellarsi;, Université Libre de Bruxelles