• CommentAuthoradmin
    • CommentTimeNov 20th 2008
     

    This thread is for discussions about Page 246 of the online edition of The Golden Notebook, and the readers' comments. Please show a courteous regard for the presence of other voices in the discussion. We reserve the right to edit or delete comments that do not adhere to this standard.

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    I'm sure Lessing is using colors for codes, and maybe this color system is tongue-in-cheek, but along with the colors of notebooks, If you pay attention to when certain colors are mentioned it's kind of fun. The producer who wanted to make Frontiers of War into a t.v. film offered to take her to 3 pubs which were the Black Bull, the Red something and then the White Tower. Here she's meeting with M. Brun. And one of her progatonists says, the most important theme of the book (F of W) was the colour bar.
    • CommentAuthorphilippa
    • CommentTimeNov 22nd 2008
     
    I love this idea. I was rolling when I got to the section with the three restaurant invitations Anna gets from slimy Reginald Tarbrucke. At the time I thought Lessing was just poking fun at some quintessential English names (and why not?). But when I read marthaquests' comment back I went and lo and behold, Edwina Wright's production company is the "Blue Bird' and the description of EW is all about colour -- she's a "pink-and-white" woman, and we even get to know the colours of her make-up. And just a few pages on (269-270), Anna's dream is about colour, and the colours melt into contemporary politics before dissolving. Not yet sure what to make of this, but there clearly is something going on here.
    • CommentAuthorSamsara
    • CommentTimeDec 20th 2008
     
    I like the question that the readers propose on this page: has TGN changed anyone's life?

    One part a little bit before this page really resonated with me: when Tommy chides Anna for being irresponsible by not presenting her real self to the world, or by compartmentalizing herself. I think about this often now. I am made more aware of the values I present at my day job versus with friends versus at home and I'm beginning to realize how dishonest it is to not try to integrate my selves more. So in a fashion, yes it's changed my life.