The Grass Is Singing

The Grass Is Singing, published in 1950, is the first novel by British author Doris Lessing. The story takes place in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) during the 1940s, a time when the area was a British Colony. The book explores the complex relationships and tensions between white and Black people living in that part of Africa.

The novel follows a woman who quickly marries a farmer who is struggling to succeed. As the story unfolds, she faces many challenges and her mind begins to weaken. Sadly, she is eventually killed, and the reactions of the people around her show much about the society of that time.

When the book was first shared, it created a lot of interest and was very popular in Europe and the United States. Many years later, in 1981, a film version was made in Sweden, called Gräset Sjunger, and it was shown in English.

Plot

The story begins with news about the death of Mary Turner, a white woman, who was killed by her servant, Moses. The book then tells the story of Mary’s life.

Mary had a difficult childhood and worked in an office in a city in Rhodesia. She decided to get married after hearing her friends laugh at her. She agreed to marry Dick Turner, even though she had only met him twice. Dick wanted to marry quickly because he felt lonely and struggled to make his farm work. They were not close, and Mary sometimes felt ashamed of their poor life. As Mary helped more on the farm, she saw that Dick was not good at running it.

The people who worked for them caused more problems. Mary did not understand them well and treated them poorly. Moses, the best worker, was given to work in their home, though Mary had hurt him before. As things got worse, the three of them became trapped in a sad and difficult situation.

Title and epigraph

The title of the novel comes from a line in a poem by T. S. Eliot called The Waste Land. The line is:

In this decayed hole among the mountains
In the faint moonlight, the grass is singing

This line is part of a section that talks about nature and renewal. The novel starts with fifteen lines from this poem, followed by another saying: "It is by the failures and misfits of a civilization that one can best judge its weaknesses." This second saying comes from an unknown source.

Adaptations

The book was turned into a movie in 1981 by a Swedish company. The film was shot in Livingstone and other places in Zambia. The movie stars John Thaw, Karen Black, and John Kani. It is also called Gräset Sjunger in Swedish and Killing Heat in English.

Publication history

The first American edition of the book was published in 1950 by Thomas Y. Crowell Co.. A paperback version came out in 1964 from Ballantine Books. Later, in 1973, the book was included in the well-known Heinemann African Writers Series.