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Doris Lessing lamented a “fragmenting culture” in which “it is common for young
men and women who have had years of education to know nothing about the
world, to have read nothing, knowing only some specialty or other, for instance
computers.” Ms. Lessing, 88, was unable to attend the awards ceremony in
Stockholm yesterday because of ill health. Her British editor, Nicholas Pearson, read
her speech. Ms. Lessing, who grew up in Africa, wrote of poverty-stricken schools
in Zimbabwe where students yearn for books, while students at a privileged
London school that she once visited read little. She criticized the Internet for
having “seduced a whole generation into its inanities” and ended with an anecdote
about a pregnant mother of two “somewhere in southern Africa” who must travel
to procure scant water for her family and yet craves a copy of “Anna Karenina.” Ms.
Lessing concluded: “I think it is that girl and the women who were talking about
books and an education when they had not eaten for three days, that may yet
define us.” MOTOKO RICH
