intelligent people should recognize that good writing comes from all parts of the world and should be separate from politics even if it concerns politics. keeping someone from winning a prize/ reward because of their nationality is akin to racism or sexism. when people attack American writers that way, it just shows that all of these so called humanitarians are full of prejudice. petty, petty , petty. ( and before i get labeled a conservative, i always vote for socially progressive causes. i include many people in my life, not just in my "speeches".) and while i understand that 9/11 does not compare to the amount of lives lost or years of constant attacks suffered by other countries, one should never compare tragedies in that way. Lessing is effectively saying it is ok these people died because they are American. first, not only Americans died. and second, if she wants to talk terrorism, let us talk about her work because it bores me to death. i hope she reads this so she can see that that she is outdated, bitter and ugly, the worst things for an artist to become. no wonder she retired---she should have retired before she started. who gave this woman a typewriter? at least she will die soon and we can all be thankful that she will not write anymore. THE GRASS IS SINGING---so are the angels, Doris! listen!

Intelligent people understand the common courtesy of using capitalization and proper paragraph structure. For those of a certain, keeping track of lines on the page is difficult enough without hide-and-seek sentences.

I read one book by her a long time ago that was fabulous. It was about reality. Everytime this one guy dreamt something, it changed reality. I forgot the name of the book but it was stunning, scary and well done...

I believe you're referring to The Lathe of Heaven, by Ursula K. Le Guin.

News Flash: It's not socially progressive to hope that Doris Lessing dies soon. You undercut your argument, and bolster hers. Basically you appear to be the generically and stereotypically insular, ignorant, aggrieved, out of your mind, uneducated American she is railing against. The Ugly American. Nice work. But when you (like her) are awarded the Nobel, you can give your rant to a wider audience. Holding my breath, NOT!

Yes, thats it. Thanks for correcting me.