"Born Out of My Ownself': (Re)claiming the self in Doris Lessing's "Under My Skin Volume 1, 1919-1949"

Abstract

This paper seeks to explore how self-identity is (re)constructed through the narrative act of autobiography in Doris Lessing’s Under My Skin, Volume 1, 1919-1949 (1995). The paper argues that the authentic self is born in the process of narrative writing and that the self coexists with other selves that are a result of socialisation. It also seeks to interrogate how this process of identity formation is realised through the prisms of memory, history, culture and social environment and the unconscious self. The fluid or provisional nature of identity, and the subjective nature of the above factors will be critically examined in an attempt to better understand the nature of life narratives in the broad scope of literary study.